I got home late last night after flying all day. I was coming home after 17 days away. The GF informs me that the floor is "squishy" in places. There was a strong weather system that came through a couple of days before I got home that dumped rain. Like inches of rain which is significant since this area only receives about 12 inches of rain a YEAR.
Sure enough, there are two large areas that has water squish up between the laminate floor planks when you step there.
After some sleuthing with my bore scope, I'm guessing that all the rain got under the foundation and came up where the pipe for the condensate drain goes through the slab. The furnace and water heater are in the laundry room which is dead center in the house.
Pretty much half the laminate flooring has to come up and there is water damage to the wall in the laundry room.
This is the last thing I need right now 
.
In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :
There's a reason you pay your monthlies homeowners premium
In reply to Toyman! :
i think the best (or at least most apparent to me) example of this is Boeing. When the engineers ran things in the 60's, they were going to make the best dang airplane they could. They'd probably make some money too, but the plane was the important part. Now...we all know what happened. Profit at the expense of all else, including the airplane and ultimately the life of some citizens.
In reply to prodarwin :
I know there is but this is the only place I hang, I read that sub reddit on occasion and formula dank but that's about it.
Toyman! said:
NY Nick said:
I hate to be the miserable old guy at work that says I told you so but damn they make it hard sometimes. Mega corp has flipped management at a site I have been involved in for almost 15 years. Actually this is the 4th leadership team since 2018. They don't want to hear what I (or anyone that isn't in the new regime) has to say. 3 times in the last week things I have directly proposed and been rejected has been regurgitated by new management as their idea. Nice job new team, in most cases the wording wasn't even changed. In one case we have wasted months that will be key to making the company successful on deliveries. The same people that told me the ideas sucked and we shouldn't do it will be breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back while beating on me to get the project done faster as it is critical to success.
Somehow it is surprising that a new team of management, regardless of how good they are, may not see all the pitfalls of a manufacturing process that takes ~12 months in their first 6 months on the job.
This is what happens when MBAs with zero field experience take over. This is what hedge fund buyouts get you.
This is why I left corporate America. It's not about doing a job to the best of your ability and turning a profit. It's about turning a profit even if it means doing a E36 M3ty job.
This is much of what's wrong with so many things right now. About 15 years ago we got this slogan about running the agency like a business. On paper it sounds like a good plan. A business has to provide a service customers want to use so maybe that would be our eventual goal. It is on paper, but in reality we had a grant program to get people MBAs, for the most part the people had the time to do it weren't very busy with their current jobs because they didn't know which end was up. No we took the worst parts of the business world, think endless TPS reports and constantly making sure no one is happy, with less focus on our actual business.
I've reached a point where I have a newfound appreciation for Surfacing by Slipknot for the quantity and genuineness of anger it contains.
gixxeropa said:
Hmm this racing class has been seeing decreasing participation over the last decade, what should we change to solve this?
The Facebook group: nothing! I've been racing this class for 40 years and if you make me spend 1 penny on safety or performance upgrades I'm gonna throw my toys and leave.
Looks like they found what needs to be changed 
In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
The beans are thoroughly counted. That's all that really matters, not making a great product, not providing a great service, not being a great place to work...
An experienced leader adding an MBA to their toolkit can really grow an organization. Conversely, a bunch of MBAs will run an organization into the ground stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
Holy berkeley, I hadn't been that sick in years. I got half way to work, and called off. The stabbing pain in my backside was too much. I imagine that's what it feels like to get Gaddafi'd. Then the excruciating headache. Then the vomiting.
I was up every half hour re-heating my hot pack for my head, because once it started to cool, the pain would wake me back up.
Carrying a mouth full of puke to the bathroom to keep from spewing all over the carpet was a new experience.
I still feel like E36 M3, but compared to yesterday, I feel great.
Scheduled service visit for the Supra-- service campaign, have them change oil and filter while it's there 'cause I'm busy.
Arrive, working through things with service writer, "Oh, we don't have any qualified technicians available today to work on your car-- we need to reschedule"
Wonder if the GR86 owners have similar issues.
In reply to Karacticus :
Yep. And iAs.
From what a friend at a Toyota dealership has been telling me, a lot of the guys refuse to work on the "not Toyota" cars.
If I hired on at a Toyota dealer, and they wanted me to work on BMW's and Subaru's, I'd probably write something about it in the minor rant thread.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Don't forget the Mazda's, though they're probably not as miserable to work on as a Subaru or BMW.
Holy carp, I did the first oil change on PW's car today and the GM mechanic must've put that oil filter on with an impact. It took an 18" pipe wrench to crack it, and two complete turns before I could turn it by hand.
mtn
MegaDork
8/20/24 4:34 p.m.
In reply to Peabody :
Not a filter, but I once had to use a floor jack to get enough force to get an oil drain off. The astounding thing was that nothing was buggered up. I replaced the drain plug and it went in smoothly with no leaks.
Appleseed said:
Holy berkeley, I hadn't been that sick in years. I got half way to work, and called off. The stabbing pain in my backside was too much. I imagine that's what it feels like to get Gaddafi'd. Then the excruciating headache. Then the vomiting.
I was up every half hour re-heating my hot pack for my head, because once it started to cool, the pain would wake me back up.
Carrying a mouth full of puke to the bathroom to keep from spewing all over the carpet was a new experience.
I still feel like E36 M3, but compared to yesterday, I feel great.
Well, made it to work. Lasted about an hour before I had enough. My ass hurts like never before. Rectum? It damm near killed me.
Doctor visit at 9 tomorrow.
Yes, when you add 3 weeks of work to a job it adds money but it also......adds 3 weeks to the completion date. Shocking I know.
So when you attempt to negotiate because we are 2 weeks ahead of schedule but the "super secret actual timeline" that has never been mentioned in any way is mentioned towards the end as an attempt to negotiate price.....it means bullE36 M3. I don't do bullE36 M3.
I'm ok and paid up thru what I've done but I still don't like dealing with it.
You know that Firefly scene where it goes " I do a job, I get paid" ? That's essentially me
In reply to Antihero :
Some people.
I did a job for the county. Installation of maglocks and assorted hardware to secure the council chamber with panic buttons in the event of an emergency or active shooter. When I provided the estimate I told the building manager he needed to bring in his fire inspector and verify that locking the set of doors was allowed by the building's life safety plan.
He signed the quote and told me everything was good to go. We installed all the hardware, did all the wiring, and were waiting for his people to provide 120v power to energize the equipment.
Crickets since May.
Called today to ask what the holdup was. His answer was the fire inspector wouldn't allow them to lock down the door.
OK, so when are you going to pay the $5700 invoice you received on May 30th?
He's hemming and hawing about how he shouldn't have to pay the full amount since the system doesn't work and they can't use it. That's when I reminded him about the email I sent telling him that he needed to verify with the fire inspector that the system was allowed and that we had done our part but he hadn't done his. Pay up ass hole, or I'll be at the next council meeting in person asking some pointed questions. We should have a check by Thursday.
I'll be stealing this one by the way. "I do a job, I get paid"
In reply to Toyman! :
When my Dad worked for himself as a journeyman plumber, he would get the work agreement signed off, take the invoices and agreement down to the courthouse, and file a lien on the property.
"We didn't agree on this or that!"
Uh, yeah, you did; on top of that, the guy that did the work (Dad), is entitled to legally remove all the work he did since you won't pay...
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:
Toyman! said:
NY Nick said:
I hate to be the miserable old guy at work that says I told you so but damn they make it hard sometimes. Mega corp has flipped management at a site I have been involved in for almost 15 years. Actually this is the 4th leadership team since 2018. They don't want to hear what I (or anyone that isn't in the new regime) has to say. 3 times in the last week things I have directly proposed and been rejected has been regurgitated by new management as their idea. Nice job new team, in most cases the wording wasn't even changed. In one case we have wasted months that will be key to making the company successful on deliveries. The same people that told me the ideas sucked and we shouldn't do it will be breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back while beating on me to get the project done faster as it is critical to success.
Somehow it is surprising that a new team of management, regardless of how good they are, may not see all the pitfalls of a manufacturing process that takes ~12 months in their first 6 months on the job.
This is what happens when MBAs with zero field experience take over. This is what hedge fund buyouts get you.
This is why I left corporate America. It's not about doing a job to the best of your ability and turning a profit. It's about turning a profit even if it means doing a E36 M3ty job.
This is much of what's wrong with so many things right now. About 15 years ago we got this slogan about running the agency like a business. On paper it sounds like a good plan. A business has to provide a service customers want to use so maybe that would be our eventual goal. It is on paper, but in reality we had a grant program to get people MBAs, for the most part the people had the time to do it weren't very busy with their current jobs because they didn't know which end was up. No we took the worst parts of the business world, think endless TPS reports and constantly making sure no one is happy, with less focus on our actual business.
I"ll take it one step further. After WWII we were in the catbird seat in terms of manufacturing, and this continued (mainly) through the 1960s. The 1970s were something of a reset, when we were trying to figure out where we were and where we were going, and our confidence in our government waned. In the 80s, it was figured out that we were so damn wealthy that we could live off that wealth indefinitely. That meant leveraged buyouts, the plundering of established businesses, and debt. Lots of debt. That mindset continues. Short term profits and hope that you already have your shelters in place when the house falls down.
Rant number 2.
Dear E36 M3ty National Service Company,
I sent you an estimate for your customer's repairs. Sign off on it or don't.
You want me to do the same estimate again but use your phone app so you can track it?
Yeah, that's not going to happen. I'm already working more hours than I want to and I'm damn sure not going to do the same work twice.
So with that in mind, berkeley off and call someone else. I don't like working for service companies to start with and we already have more work than we can keep up with.
Oh, there isn't anyone else local to call? Yeah, the last company pulled out of the area about 6 months ago. That's why we are so so damn busy.
From where I'm standing, you have two choices.
Drive your happy ass down here from New York City and do the work yourself.
Enter those numbers I gave you into your damn app yourself, sign my estimate, and send it back to me. I'll make your problems go away.
Your choice.
In reply to Toyman! :
Amazing how everyone is super happy until they have to pay isn't it?
In this case, it's a long project and all the checks are a series of advances to start the next phase. Admittedly I didn't really like the guy so I set it up that way so I'm not out anything, but I am still just gonna move onto the next job. I think he thinks that this is all easy and he could totally do this because he built a doghouse, so he can learn the hard way.
Plus, there are 3 payments left til completion, and the last one is after all is done and signed off so I guarantee he's gonna be a bitch about at least that one.
It's funny because I managed to save him some money already and we are ahead of schedule so essentially he's annoyed that we are doing too good
In reply to Recon1342 :
It is funny to see the realization that they won't be getting anything for free and in fact will be going backwards lol
In reply to Toyman! :
I haven't been able to get thru to people that I don't wanna work 80 hours weeks either, the customer I'm ranting about is a salesman and works 5 12s himself so one of the other things he's pissy about is that when it was 105 , we worked 6 hours a day or until the glue we were using started separating and running out of the caulk gun.
I wanna work about 30 hours a week and I'm over that too, I don't care if you work 12s selling fish to restaurants ( literally his job) and make less a day than us. Building is significantly harder and you accepted the timeline and figures.
mtn said:
In reply to Peabody :
Not a filter, but I once had to use a floor jack to get enough force to get an oil drain off. The astounding thing was that nothing was buggered up. I replaced the drain plug and it went in smoothly with no leaks.
I had that happen with The Dancer's old Mariner after she'd been in a hurry and taken it to an oil change place- I didn't have access to my compressor to use the heavier impact myself and eventually had to take it to a different oil change place and tell them (and watch to make sure they did not) not tighten the drain plug with an impact- it took them a while to get it loose themselves.
