Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

Not really a rant but...

So, you bought $4k worth of hardware online because it was cheaper.

Then you called me to install it.

I had the privilege of telling you that you bought the wrong parts and they wont fit.

You don't think you can return the parts in question...

toyman....me thinks you've been down this path at least onst....BWaHahahaaaa

Jumper K. Balls wrote: Seriously!?! I have to special order a plain black welding hood yet this E36 M3 is readily available? And people buy this garbage? It doesn't even make sense. 'Mericun flags and Gorillas?

MIGs out for Harambe?

Its been a slow couple of days in the shop. When I don't have anything going on, I get to do other things outside the shop, like roadside assistance calls.

I get called to a flat tire call this morning. It was literally 2 blocks from the shop. I get there and procede to change the tire. It was on the rear of a newer Grand Vitara. The conversation went like this:

Customer: "I called your shop because I found out that I my car doesn't have the jack or lug wrench. I just bought this."

Me: Looks at temp tag in rear window. Its 2 days away from expiring. Its a 30 day temp tag. "Uh huh. Well I'll get the spare swapped on so you can be on your way."

Customer: "Thanks. I'd help you but I'm on my way to a meeting. I don't want to show up filthy".

Me: "No problem. I've been there before. It will take me just a few minutes."

I get all of my crap out of the response vehicle (shop owner's beat to hell Isuzu Trooper). I find an aluminum floor jack with only half of the handle and the world's smallest 4-way lug wrench. Greeeaaat.

I proceed to get the wheel off with the flat. It has a big gash in the sidewall.

Me: "Looks like you hit a piece of metal or something. The sidewall has a big gash in it."

Customer: "Yeah, the tire just went BOOM; scared the E36 M3 outta me."

I get the PITA spare tire cover off and notice the lug lock on the spare. Wonderful.

I have the customer try his ignition key in the lock. It works! What a lucky break!

I get the spare down on the ground. It's even aired up!

Customer: "Does the spare look bigger than the other tires?"

berkeley. Yep, the spare tire is 235/60r16 and the other four are 225/60r16. Its very noticable.

Customer: "Will it be alright to have two different size tires? Why are they different sizes?

Me: "Well, it will probably be OK for a short distance. I'd visit a tire shop TODAY and get matching size tires. Who ever owned this before you probably bought the smaller tires because they were less expensive than what the factory put on. In fact, let's look at the sticker in the door jamb and see what is the correct size from the factory."

Customer: Deer in the headlights look.

I go open the driver's side door and find the decal which calls out the factory tire size and pressure. Hmmm, 235/60r16. The spare tire is the correct size.

Customer: "I didn't even know that was there!"

I continue to swap the wheels and show the customer the factory jacking point on the frame so he won't kill himself if he has to do it again. Maybe. Hopefully.

Me: "Alright, you're all set. Remember, don't drive with this tire on for very far. Get a new pair of tires ASAP.

Customer: "Uh huh. Thanks!"

And then he sped off. I feel like he won't heed my warning and drive with mismatched tires until the diff explodes. And then of course blame the underpaid schmuck who changed his tire.

TL;DR: Clueless "professional" guy buys an orphan SUV with E36 M3ty, undersize tires. Proceeds to get a flat, finds "car he just bought" didn't have any tools necessary to change said flat. Calls roadside assistance. Spare tire is bigger than tires on car. Will probably ignore underpaid schmuck's dire warning about tire sizes.

Ugh. People are dumb

My FIL has a fishing boat. An 18' Deep V Aluminum. He is so damn proud of the fact that this thing doesn't have a floor. Yeah. So instead of having an open floor plan, we have to trip over the 3 bench seats, have nearly no storage, and can't put anything down without it falling over. That's great--we don't have to worry about replacing the floor every 20 years now!

I hate this damn thing. Stop saying you don't need to deal with the "bullE36 M3" of the floor.

Oh, and he's got it insured and triple locked because "they don't make this one anymore, you have to get a floor now". Yeah, no E36 M3, no one bought them because why would you?

Oh, and before anyone says it: Yes, I'm complaining about a boat I get to use. It is being stored in my yard right now, and every single time it goes out I'm there with them to basically be their guide--that means unhooking the fish, netting it, and tripping over the goddamn bench seats and tackle boxes that have no place to go.

At 2:14pm, August 29th, 2017, my body decided to stop working right. Not quite "nuclear fire" but all of my joints and muscles are burning and my face and inner ears feel hot and "pressured" if that makes sense. With great effort, I can stand and walk, but it takes a force of will to get out of a sitting position.

I was so close to getting the twin turbo T/A running today. As of this week, my duties at work have been shifted to 100% performance work, no daily driver stuff. And I can't be there to do it.

Dammit dammit dammit. I got STUFF TO BUILD.

Berkin' dealership surveys...

"Hi! We go out of our way to make almost every encounter with you stressful and annoying, but if you would, go ahead and give us perfect scores on every survey sent your way and maybe we'll throw you a free car wash or something!"

I'm about to fill the stupid surveys out honestly just out of spite...

In reply to Tactical Penguin:

I filled them out honestly once. They were pissed.

E36 M3. Primer reacted with topcoat. Glad i sprayed a test piece so i didn't waste too much material.

But tomorrow is the only day not calling for rain. So there goes spraying the challenge car this week. But, at least i can sand some more. Joy....

mtn wrote: My FIL has a fishing boat. An 18' Deep V Aluminum. He is so damn proud of the fact that this thing doesn't have a floor.

I don't know squat about boats, so this renders me confused. If the boat doesn't have a floor, what do you stand on??

In reply to EvanR:

A very steep and annoying V shaped bottom, that if one person is lucky, has a flat spot at the back.It still has a bottom, but no actual flat floor that makes doing anything at all easy.

Our John boat wasn't bad, but the 16 foot deep V we had for a few years sucked because of that. I got really really good at just fitting my fishing stuff on my person.

So it's Friday at work and I am trying to get a set of switches into the ceiling so our prefunction area works on switches rather than plugging and unplugging a bunch of unlabeled cords hanging from the ceiling hidden behind some curtains.

Every single time I get into the ceiling, I get a call for something inane. The last one, and the one that made me put my tools away and go to lunch, was a call from two of my co-workers, they had forgotten the safety cables for their project and were wondering if I could walk them across the building to them (because they are close to me) yea, sure. I do it and both of them are just standing in a lift yapping.

I had been there since 6:30 in the morning (they just came in at 1) and it was 2, I had not had lunch, and that was the final straw for my projects.

good news is: my switches are mounted. Bad news: none of them are wired up.

The day I learned to say, "No" at work was the best day ever. Those lazy berkeleyers have trained you well.

KyAllroad wrote: I drink regularly but very rarely get drunk (never while out at a bar). Drinking is just a thing I enjoy, discovering new flavors and experiences. Moderation is the key.

A man never knows what he is worth in a crisis situation until he wakes up in jail and they tell him he won!

Appleseed wrote: The day I learned to say, "No" at work was the best day ever. Those lazy berkeleyers have trained you well.

it's unfortunate, but it's one of those things were if I don't do it.. nobody will. Then management comes down on all of us for failing. I go on vacation in a month, we will see how they do without me, I got out of a lot of trouble last spring when things failed but I was not even in the state :)

I'll be making more (temporarily) during a cross-train in the deli than I do normally working in the photo lab or pharmacy.
Boss says it's because 'they deal with raw food, someone could get really sick'
Yay corporate BS!

OK, I expect fairly stupid lowball offers when selling a car- it comes with the territory and I'm fine with either saying, "Yeah, no..." if it's completely out of line or countering with a more sane number if it's within striking distance. But I don't get people texting and offering an amount that is on the low side but within what I'm willing to do- and then never responding when I say, "OK, I can do that." (Or, 'OK, I can do that- but at that price I'm keeping the nicer set of wheels that are currently on it but will include them for another $100').

If I make an offer on a car (or anything, really), it means I'm willing to buy it for that price- not just disappear.

Also, getting older sucks. Yeah, I know it beats the alternative- but it's really frustrating at times.

EvanR wrote:

mtn wrote: My FIL has a fishing boat. An 18' Deep V Aluminum. He is so damn proud of the fact that this thing doesn't have a floor.

I don't know squat about boats, so this renders me confused. If the boat doesn't have a floor, what do you stand on??

What revrico said.

Here is a picture of the boat at the back--not so bad over there in terms of flatness (ignore the junk, we just used the boat as more storeage while moving out).

The bigger issue for me is how inefficiently the space is used, and how hard it is to get around.

This is not his boat, but the same idea:

Real pain in the ass to move around it. Here is a similar boat but with a floor:

It costs about $32.34 more when you consider he bought this thing used anyways, and it just makes it so much easier to fish, boat, everything. There is no good reason to have bench seats in a boat this big.

In reply to mtn:

That is the dumbest layout I have ever seen.

Also shoulder is still kind of berkeleyed. Surgery is being scheduled.

On a good note I sold the STI as I cannot really drive it without pain, The new Thunderbird is gone as well and the Cadi may be going to Finland. Sold the last of the Hot Rod shells as well. I only have drivable cars now and its kind of sad.

wearymicrobe wrote: In reply to mtn: That is the dumbest layout I have ever seen.

The bench seat layout? It really is. It makes sense for boats that live outside without a cover, as a wood floor would eventually rot (and without the floor you need the benches for stability/rigidity), but on a boat that big it doesn't make any sense--especially as this one doesn't live outside.

Costochondritis.

I exercise.

A lot.

There is a small group of like-minded jackasses at my gym just like me and we all lift weights together almost every morning as a midlife crisis of sorts and a form of sweaty catharsis. We're all in our mid to late 30's and trying to fight off the middle age spread.

Over the past few months I've been making a conscious effort to improve my deadlift. My numbers have been slowly rising but, I had also noticed as soon as I started creeping up on a decent amount of weight, there was a persistent and troubling pain where my abs meet my rib cage, below the left side of my chest.

Being your typical gymrat/musclehead (just on a smaller, non-roided scale) I steadfastly ignored it, figuring it was just muscle soreness and it would eventually go away. It kept getting worse. Then one morning as I swung my legs out of bed I felt like I had been stabbed.

I freaked out thinking hernia but luckily that wasn't the case. So from now until our Disney trip (during which I will not lift at all) I'm doing a light circuit, running more and taking anti-inflammatory meds.

The_Jed wrote: Costochondritis. Being your typical gymrat/musclehead (just on a smaller, non-roided scale) I steadfastly ignored it, figuring it was just muscle soreness and it would eventually go away. It kept getting worse. Then one morning as I swung my legs out of bed I felt like I had been stabbed.

This is how I ended up tearing my shoulder. Get some rest then come back at the weight. I was so close to my record Deadlift when my shoulder gave out.

In reply to mazdeuce and Tactical Penguin:

The MAJOR issue with surveys, and I've dealt with this at a retail pharmacy and now a car dealership. Management loves to give customers a scale to rate their experience on. However, when corporate looks at the surveys. They see anything other than a 10 (or whatever the highest numerical is) as a negative. Therefore, you may feel you didn't get excellent service, but it was good service, and give a 9 out of 10. If surveys had yes/no responses, the customers would have a better understanding of the impact from their survey.

The major issue with surveys is they are used as a customer conversation and connection piece, not a method to collect feedback.

The dealership is trying to continue it's conversation with you as a sales tactic, it's not going to change a damn thing based on what you say.

All 10s mean the customer is a good mindless drone with money to burn! And they will focus advertising efforts based on that.

Craigslist: your 10 year old harbor freight trailer is not worth more than a new harbor freight trailer.