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

My rant of the day, and I'm sure every small business owner gets this, is the "rough estimate" ask.

See when people arm wave and give vague details and say " just give me a rough estimate of what it'll cost" it doesn't mean that. What it DOES mean is " this is a figure that I'm holding onto no matter what level of reality it is. I will go to my berkeleying grave with these figures set in stone, they are more precious to me than my offspring"

I hate it. I usually tell people time and materials for this sort of thing and this is our hourly figure. The smart ones realize that what I'm saying is that it's time and materials and they stop asking. The dumb ones think that I'm being cagey and this is a negotiation stage.

It is not a negotiation. You have give me zero details on what you want, have or want to see. I cant bid on ether, show me actual details. You might as well ask me how much a house costs, it greatly depends on what goes into it

Antihero said:

Really everyone is busy so if someone isn't busy, chances are he sucks.

I think especially right now it's more than "chances".

BoxheadTim said:

Antihero said:

Really everyone is busy so if someone isn't busy, chances are he sucks.

I think especially right now it's more than "chances".

Exactly and I'm pretty sure I know who it is.

His last job ended up with him dragged off the still wet concrete after getting in a fight with the home owner and breaking the owners dogs leg.

But he's available and usually cheaper than me.

In reply to Antihero :

people used to do that E36 M3 to me when I made screens at the store. It got to the point I refused to do quotes on the phone or in person without measurements. And when they argued my quote was off, I'd tell them their measurements were off. My personal favourite was when they'd argue cost and say the materials cost xxx right over there (usually about 50% of my quote give or take) and I would hand them the tool and say "alright, go for it". Screen making isn't hard, nor is paint, or making keys, or programming your car, or any number of things I used to do. But you're not paying for the materials. You're paying for me to know how to do it and do it well. 

Antihero said:

Scotty Con Queso said:

Is it like this for everyone right now?

Things at work are wild. Every day is a new emergency problem. Tons of phone calls.  I need it now demands.  I'm not burnt out from the hours I put in because I made a commitment to not work any overtime  hours that aren't 100% necessary, but I am burned out by the constant insanity. 

Construction is pretty much the same here. I get calls that seem to think I'm just sitting by the phone ready to run out the door like Ghostbusters here.

Seriously, yes I am months out, no I can't jump you ahead of everyone else, yes this will be expensive......stuff like that.

 

Really everyone is busy so if someone isn't busy, chances are he sucks.

I get that.

I just wish I could get any electricians to call me back about coming out to give me a quote to wire my garage.

In reply to 93EXCivic :

I've got a few contractors that I'm trying to get quotes from for a double bathroom renovation - they keep sounding interested but nobody will send me a final quote.  I'm ready to spend $50k-$60k with someone and I can't get anyone to take my money.

93EXCivic said:

Antihero said:

Scotty Con Queso said:

Is it like this for everyone right now?

Things at work are wild. Every day is a new emergency problem. Tons of phone calls.  I need it now demands.  I'm not burnt out from the hours I put in because I made a commitment to not work any overtime  hours that aren't 100% necessary, but I am burned out by the constant insanity. 

Construction is pretty much the same here. I get calls that seem to think I'm just sitting by the phone ready to run out the door like Ghostbusters here.

Seriously, yes I am months out, no I can't jump you ahead of everyone else, yes this will be expensive......stuff like that.

 

Really everyone is busy so if someone isn't busy, chances are he sucks.

I get that.

I just wish I could get any electricians to call me back about coming out to give me a quote to wire my garage.

" I need my garage wired.  When can you do it?"

"I can't do an estimate for an unreasonable time."

"Didn't ask for an estimate.  Are you going to berkeley me when you make the bill?"

"Nope."

"When can you wire my garage?"

Two weeks ago dude knocks on FIL's door and makes a cash offer for the Cummins. A reasonable offer for anyone not familiar with the current market. 2001 4x4 2500 5.9 manual. 
I told him not to sell. I told him the guy was a flipper and I could sell the truck for double within a week. 
He sold. Yesterday the truck pops up on CL. For double. Now I'm the bad guy. 

The Roku Ultra is the most frustrating piece of consumer electronics I've ever had the misfortune to own.  I bought it because my DirecTV receiver died and I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to switch to streaming. 

I messed around with the Raspberry Pi that I had been using to stream Amazon Prime trying to get it to work with Fubo or Sling so I could get the channels I want but between Linux DRM issues and the minimal hardware I wasn't able to get it to work. 

I finally bit the bullet and sprang for the Roku Ultra thinking I could just plug it and watch tv and that's been a horrible experience.  I've never been able to get the Fubo app to work and the Sling app only works after removing the app, rebooting the device and then reinstalling.  Then it'll sometimes work for a while.

I don't want watching TV to be an engineering exercise.  I just want the damn thing to work.  The Roku is going back and I may just buy a cheap PC and use a web browser. 

barefootcyborg5000 said:

Two weeks ago dude knocks on FIL's door and makes a cash offer for the Cummins. A reasonable offer for anyone not familiar with the current market. 2001 4x4 2500 5.9 manual. 
I told him not to sell. I told him the guy was a flipper and I could sell the truck for double within a week. 
He sold. Yesterday the truck pops up on CL. For double. Now I'm the bad guy. 

My BIL has an ext cab 2001 5.9 4x4 long bed in mint condition (which is a big deal in NW Ohio) and he said people offer to buy it every time he drives it, what's he going to replace it with though? New similar trucks are $60k plus and aren't as reliable as the end of the 12valves. It's light blue metallic with a silver bottom and looks stellar.

In reply to chandler :

FIL let his go well south of 10k, and that was exactly what I asked him. Especially considering he owns a 5th wheel and tows regularly. Idk. Not my problem. Frustrating though. 

Yeah, they aren't bulletproof but everything that can go wrong with them is fixable in your driveway (except the trans rebuild). They are relatively cheap to run and they are the end of the really fuel efficient diesel pickups.

"Use Chrome or Edge" is not a valid response to any issue with a website.

Jesse Ransom said:

"Use Chrome or Edge" is not a valid response to any issue with a website.

I see you tried to buy parts from ipd.

Every parts department motto:

If I (employee) make a mistake, it costs me money.

If you (customer) make a mistake, it costs me money.

Especially wholesale.

Jerks.

I feel better now.

Mndsm said:

In reply to Antihero :

people used to do that E36 M3 to me when I made screens at the store. It got to the point I refused to do quotes on the phone or in person without measurements. And when they argued my quote was off, I'd tell them their measurements were off. My personal favourite was when they'd argue cost and say the materials cost xxx right over there (usually about 50% of my quote give or take) and I would hand them the tool and say "alright, go for it". Screen making isn't hard, nor is paint, or making keys, or programming your car, or any number of things I used to do. But you're not paying for the materials. You're paying for me to know how to do it and do it well. 

Exactly, they aren't paying you for the (example) 15 minutes of work, they are paying you for the (example) 30 years it took to get great at it.

These butts are taking forever. I'm at 12 hours and nowhere near done. That's more than double my average cook time. 

Starting my weekend off right. At the hospital with Queso kid 1 and her broken collar bone. She's one tough kid. 

Streetwiseguy said:

93EXCivic said:

Antihero said:

Scotty Con Queso said:

Is it like this for everyone right now?

Things at work are wild. Every day is a new emergency problem. Tons of phone calls.  I need it now demands.  I'm not burnt out from the hours I put in because I made a commitment to not work any overtime  hours that aren't 100% necessary, but I am burned out by the constant insanity. 

Construction is pretty much the same here. I get calls that seem to think I'm just sitting by the phone ready to run out the door like Ghostbusters here.

Seriously, yes I am months out, no I can't jump you ahead of everyone else, yes this will be expensive......stuff like that.

 

Really everyone is busy so if someone isn't busy, chances are he sucks.

I get that.

I just wish I could get any electricians to call me back about coming out to give me a quote to wire my garage.

" I need my garage wired.  When can you do it?"

"I can't do an estimate for an unreasonable time."

"Didn't ask for an estimate.  Are you going to berkeley me when you make the bill?"

"Nope."

"When can you wire my garage?"

Problem is I can't even get to that point of talking to someone on the phone. I call and no answers. Leave a message never get a call back.

Had the whole day cleared up to spend messing with the exhaust on the project car.  Stomach went off after crawling around under it a couple times, and hasn't gotten better.  Guess I'll spend a bunch of time on the couch for now instead.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Jesse Ransom said:

"Use Chrome or Edge" is not a valid response to any issue with a website.

I see you tried to buy parts from ipd.

I wish it were such a specialty response.

And I'd drive the ten minutes to grouse at them in person if I had that much trouble with their site

I get irrationally irritated when a Tesla pootles away from a stoplight.

For all the 0-60 figures EVs excel at I'm pretty sure most people get them so they don't have to deal with the oil change guy selling them an air filter.

Yesterday some jackass decided to empty this carpet cleaning truck into the storm drain in front of my house. Took me a second to realize what he was doing. Once he saw me watching him he slammed the doors shut and took off.....to the condos around the corner. So I waltzed down there and found the truck, snapped pics of the plate and sent them to the city. That storm drain actually flows into my back yard, it doesn't just magically disappear. Hope the EPA fines the E36 M3 out of him.

j_tso said:

I get irrationally irritated when a Tesla pootles away from a stoplight.

For all the 0-60 figures EVs excel at I'm pretty sure most people get them so they don't have to deal with the oil change guy selling them an air filter.

There is someone on my drive to work with a dual motor Tesla like this.  Many house lengths to amble up to 25 in a busy 35mph area.  Has to have absolutely zero cars visible before he will turn left.

I am pretty sure the guy used to have a Legacy 3.6R, because the Tesla showed up when the Subaru disappeared and they are both driven maddeningly slowly.

Over ten years after he passed away, some family members are wanting to revisit my dad's will.  I suspect they are not going to be happy about it when they learn their assumptions are wrong.  I'm annoyed because it is one more thing to stress my mom out about while she's recovering from Covid, and of course I am getting dragged into it, too.