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

Yesterday I got handed a repair order for a '14 Cadillac SRX that was dropped for the rear toe link recall, which is easy money. You unbolt the old toe links, bolt the new ones in and perform a 4-wheel alignment. Find the vehicle and it's FWD, which is considerably easier than the AWD models and only pays 0.1hrs less labor. Even better. Go to start it and the battery is flat dead, no dome lights or gauge cluster even. Jump start it, move it inside, test it quick and find it's junk, so I send an estimate up to the service writer. She then comes out and tells me that "Oh, this was supposed to be on the appointment but it never got written down, she's had a battery put in this and it keeps going dead. You need to look into that too." So now my easy recall turned into chasing a parasitic draw. Delightful

<sarcasm><rant>
 

Homelessness rocks.
 

</sarcasm></rant>

Five months between when we lost our cat Linus, and our other cat Lucy gets diagnosed with pancreatitis.  Generally, she's been the healthy one, but she is almost 17 years old.  I really hope this is just a blip for her, as she deserves as good of a life as possible after having to put up with her brother for so long.

In reply to tester (Forum Supporter) :

I love using a phone versus a headset. My house is like a faraday cage (old plaster over mesh walls) so wireless headsets die out after about two walls. How else am I going to listen to people off on tangents while I'm throwing a load of laundry into the wash?

I spent about $120-$150 to enroll my eldest in the class to be a soccer referee and get the uniform and other kit she needs to be able to ref games.  In order to start getting paid, all she needs to do is email the local referee coordinator and let them know she's ready to accept jobs.  For at least two weeks she keeps forgetting to do that.  When I remind her, she gets huffy with "I know! I know! Leave me alone!"

Today she texted me and asked me to bring her $20 so she can get snacks after school.

#1 - Must be nice to be able to spend $20 on a "snack".

#2 - Oh wait.  You don't have $20.

#3 - You're not getting my $20.

In reply to wae :

Sounds like my 9 year old when she goes shopping with my parents. "Oops I forgot my wallet!" Followed by "I will pay you back Mimi." Then followed by her not paying Mimi back. 

I knocked a gallon can of carburetor cleaner off a workbench and the lid came off and most of it was on the floor before I could grab it.  I did that on Sunday.  I've cleaned the concrete floor with a variety of cleaners and the shop still reeks.  Part of the problem is that the concrete is untreated and, therefore porous bu,t the bigger issue is that some of it apparently ran into the seam between two slabs.

Curse my lack of space.  My absolute dream station wagon is for sale in Michigan for a price I would readily pay.  A 1977 Mercury Cougar Villager for $13,999.  The chances of me ever seeing another one is slim to none. But I have no room for a beast like that, even if I sold every car I have. It just wouldn't fit in my garage (too wide).  I've wanted one of these since I was 8 years old. The Matchbox version I got when I was that age started my life-long love of station wagons. 

Just look at all that green!  Made from the finest green Naugas! 

Topped off with Ford's finest 351 cubic inches of wheezy power:

At least it has A/C - converted to R134a - meaning it'll probably need to be recharged every season...

Oh well... thank you for indulging 8 year old me... 

APEowner said:

I knocked a gallon can of carburetor cleaner off a workbench and the lid came off and most of it was on the floor before I could grab it...

Ufff. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I worked a a couple retail auto parts stores in HS and college. During that time I had to deal with a few carburetor cleaner spills. Honestly, they should have been required to call a Hazmat team out. That E36 M3 burns everything and of course there was zero ventilation or PPE available. 

Had I known this griddle was coming FedEx I would have paid the difference for Prime shipping.

Supposed to be here tomorrow at the latest. Initial estimated delivery was Monday, then it spent 12.5 hours on a truck to go to the same shipping depot and has since fallen off the face of the earth. 

Bing has more detailed tracking information than FedEx website, so keep that in mind in the future. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Buy it and put it in a storage unit. You will kick yourself repeatedly if you don't. 

It's just money. 

In reply to Toyman! :

I think that thing is both 'unit' and 'storage'.

We wanted to remodel our kitchen. We took our time, talked to lots of people, got a few estimates and ultimately went with a local company. They've been in business for years and we even had a personal recommendation so we expected an pleasant experience.

berkeley no.

These guys are clowns. The quality of work is borderline shody and since I work from home, I'm always pointing out E36 M3 that is unacceptable.  Either this is the best that they can do or they're just trying to push my bottons. 

I've about had it. I'm very close to firing them and not paying them the last third of the price. 

Ranger50 said:

<sarcasm><rant>
 

Homelessness rocks.
 

</sarcasm></rant>

You good? That doesn't sound good. 

In reply to jimbob_racing :

We had struggles with our remodel last year.  

Excellent cabinet builder recommended a clown then he burned us with a big no show.  Then cabinet guy had us use his 2 factory workers to install them.  We paid a lot for 2 guys for 2 days but it's outstanding.   I can cut trim but nothing like these guys.   

In reply to wae :

You have a different situation.  I work in an office in a manufacturing facility. If I was in your scenario, I would not be using an actual phone in my hand or the car infotainment system; it would be earbuds or a headset. If I work from home, I still use a headset and the computer. Taking calls in a moving car is actually against company policy where I work.
 

I get it. You have to do what works. 
 

Mndsm said:

Ranger50 said:

<sarcasm><rant>
 

Homelessness rocks.
 

</sarcasm></rant>

You good? That doesn't sound good. 

I've been homeless   It does not,  in fact, rock.  I feel for you. Can we help?

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

Curse my lack of space.  My absolute dream station wagon is for sale in Michigan for a price I would readily pay.  A 1977 Mercury Cougar Villager for $13,999.  The chances of me ever seeing another one is slim to none. But I have no room for a beast like that, even if I sold every car I have. It just wouldn't fit in my garage (too wide).  I've wanted one of these since I was 8 years old. The Matchbox version I got when I was that age started my life-long love of station wagons. 

Just look at all that green!  Made from the finest green Naugas! 

Topped off with Ford's finest 351 cubic inches of wheezy power:

At least it has A/C - converted to R134a - meaning it'll probably need to be recharged every season...

Oh well... thank you for indulging 8 year old me... 

Ford's MO at the time was that an A/C system must leak a certain amount of refrigerant per year.  Ensured that regular servicing was required.

I had converted my '72 to R-134A with a half charge (system held 4.5 pounds! And R-12 was $90 a pound then, when I was making $7 an hour) and it cooled just fine.  Of course, a T-bird had probably 2/3rd the glass area and 1/2 the interior volume, with the same size A/C system...

(That car was built on the same chassis as the '72-on Torino.  The '72-76 T-bird was built on that chassis with a stretched wheelbase.  When Ford "downsized" they just reverted to the original Torino wheelbase)

   I'm working toward taking a pay cut and losing a pension in the interest of preserving/repairing my mental health and actually living to retirement age. For my caste this also means the first 90 days I work at the new job I will be classified as "supplemental" with no health insurance, etc. until my probationary period passes.

   I'm looking forward to working with my hands again but, berkeley I'm sick of starting over at the bottom of the heap.

In reply to The_Jed :

Side note, I was just thinking I haven't see Jed post in a while. (Seriously.)

Toyman! said:

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Buy it and put it in a storage unit. You will kick yourself repeatedly if you don't. 

It's just money. 

I could... but then it would just be yet another vehicle I don't have time for, made worse by not being readily accessible.  I already run into that problem with my Spitfire, which I keep at my mother's house. And now it won't start and I can't easily figure out why.

In reply to Appleseed :

It's been a bit rough for the past several months (I had greatly reduced my social media and online presence) and it's getting worse with alarming rapidity. I made a wrong turn in my career and it's been affecting me quite a bit lately. The money is good, the benefits and retirement are great but the nature of the work is taking me down a road I'd rather avoid.

In reply to The_Jed :

The first step is recognizing that there's a problem.

Incompetentence.  I had a set of wheels refinished due to chemical staining. Should be factory finish. Paint color looks good but the finish is orangepeeled. They'll need to be wet sanded.  Also, I had another wheel with a directional snow tire mounted on it straightened. They put the tire on backwards. Now I have to go deal with getting it remounted.  I'm asking for a credit on that since the shop is out of my way and I don't have time to go back.

EDIT: they said they would issue a credit. Still have to deal with getting the tire remounted locally though.. 

Plumbing.  Lord, how I hate doing plumbing.  Especially the drain-cleaning portion of it.