Rant VIII: The Reckoning
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figmentPez
Staff member
I need more sleep, I originally read this as unicorns.
It made sense until I got to "states going to right to work."
GasBandit
Staff member
Unicorns are notorious communists.
Dave
Staff member
So today my dog, Dallas, tried to stand up, failed, then fell to the floor. Soon after he wet himself and vomited, then just laid in in. We moved him and got him cleaned up, but he's unable to move on his own. I think he had a stroke. So tomorrow I get to take him in and get him put down. If he makes it that long. Right now he's laying on the floor and breathing very labored.
I wanted to take him in tonight, but no place is open.
I wanted to take him in tonight, but no place is open.
So, at this point I'm going to have to recommend that if anyone else lives in the greater Seattle-Tacoma metroplex, that they not take their car to the Jiffy Lube on East Hill in Kent for an oil change and/or a serpentine belt replacement. This morning marks the second time the belt has just slipped off the pulleys right after I turned the car on in the morning. The first time I was just going for cigarettes and I was unemployed, but this time it was on my way to work this morning and now my wife has to wake up extra early to take me to Tacoma, then turn around and drive all the way back to Seattle; and of course I have to find a way to get the belt back on the car even though I'm going to be working from roughly 7am to oh, about 6pm.
Your A/C compressor or water pump is likely out. Sorry, you'll have to see a mechanic soon.
I've had terrible service at a local Jiffy Lube. Eff that place.
They brought me out to show me "stuff that was wrong with my car" and I told them that I can handle all that myself. The next day the car was running terribly and the check engine light came on. The assholes left my air filter lid open.
I won't go to any quick service oil change place any more. Last time I did, they put an oil filter on that was half the size it should have been. They wrenched the damn thing on so hard I could barely get it off myself. I should've known something was up when they told me they didn't have a filter that would fit, but came back a second later saying they found one that would.
These are the same guys who fucked it up the first time I had them change it. I had to file a BBB complaint just to get them to stop ignoring my calls and contact me to come fix it. The excuse the manager gave last time was that he had the routing path wrong the first time he put it on, but this time I'm just taking the car to a dealership and letting them take care of it. There's no way in hell I'm giving Jiffy Lube a 3rd attempt to fuck it up.
But of course that means that I have to have a free minute at work to call Ford to see if I can either a) get an early morning appointment and hope that they're able to fix the problem in 30 minutes or less or b) drop the car off, get a ride to work with my wife, and pick the car up the next day. Why couldn't this have happened on a Friday?
But of course that means that I have to have a free minute at work to call Ford to see if I can either a) get an early morning appointment and hope that they're able to fix the problem in 30 minutes or less or b) drop the car off, get a ride to work with my wife, and pick the car up the next day. Why couldn't this have happened on a Friday?
Dave
Staff member
I'm always amazed at how difficult it is to find a mechanic that you can trust. Once you find one, hold on to that guy like a diamond because he's going to be rare and popular.
My mechanic is Keith and he's cheap, he gets the job done right the first time, and he doesn't try and rook us out of every cent we have. I had to take the car in for the third time in three weeks because it was leaking transmission fluid. Turns out it was a hose. He fixed the hose and filled it with fluid. The charge? Nothing. He said his only cost was a couple minutes to change the hose and the cost of the fluid. And after spending $420 for the other two fixes, he knew we didn't have it.
My mechanic is Keith and he's cheap, he gets the job done right the first time, and he doesn't try and rook us out of every cent we have. I had to take the car in for the third time in three weeks because it was leaking transmission fluid. Turns out it was a hose. He fixed the hose and filled it with fluid. The charge? Nothing. He said his only cost was a couple minutes to change the hose and the cost of the fluid. And after spending $420 for the other two fixes, he knew we didn't have it.
GasBandit
Staff member
A good mechanic is a godsend to find. I wish my last one hadn't decided to retire.
Dave
Staff member
So @Gared, what my suggestion would be to look at some of the local "neighborhood" mechanics. Check out reviews. LOOK AT THE PARKING LOT! A good mechanic will be busy as all hell. Go there for something relatively minor like an oil change. See how much he charges and whether he tries to sell you a ton of crap you don't want. Basically, shop around. Jiffy Lubes and their ilk for the most part suck because they work on such a small margin that they make more money off of selling you additional stuff like filters and the like. Dealers charge way too much for everything. So find that local guy who does it not because he wants to be a millionaire but because he is a gear head who turned what he knows and loves (loved) to do into a business.
You'll certainly be thankful you did.
You'll certainly be thankful you did.
Also, talk to people in your community. Friends, neighbors, local family all have cars which have needed fixing they couldn't do themselves. You'll quickly get an idea on who is doing a good job, not just the cheapest. When someone starts to rave or get excited about their mechanic, you know they've been through a lot of crappy ones and are more than happy to share their discovery.
They just announced yesterday that the site I am currently working at is being sold. So I will be out of a job but they haven't said when I will be out of a job. In fact they didn't even tell me or my coworkers what was going on initially. I am a contingent worker who is hired through one company to work at another for IT services. But since we are not actual employees we were not told anything, we found out when we were told by actual employees (which is technically something they aren't supposed to) so we found out before the leads at our company even knew (they are all located in another state).
What is killing me is that we have no idea of what is fully going on. We just know the site is going to be put up for sell and eventual closed, but since me and my coworkers are contingent workers we haven't heard any specifics and we don't even have an idea of what will happen to our job. We can assume that we are going to have our contracts terminated or at the least cut back. So now everyone is busy trying to find out more details/work on our resumes. The stupid things is that we could theoretically still have a job for a year or so or we could be dropped tomorrow for all we know. The uncertainty is what is really killing me, but in any case no one here (not even actual employees) have any motivation to do any work right now. We are all trying to find out what is going on first.
I was offered another position but I would have to move to California with no relocation help and no pay increase. So I was forced to tell them "no thanks" since the cost of living is higher in California I would be practically living in a cardboard box if I didn't get a pay increase. But in any case this has been a really crappy week so far.
What is killing me is that we have no idea of what is fully going on. We just know the site is going to be put up for sell and eventual closed, but since me and my coworkers are contingent workers we haven't heard any specifics and we don't even have an idea of what will happen to our job. We can assume that we are going to have our contracts terminated or at the least cut back. So now everyone is busy trying to find out more details/work on our resumes. The stupid things is that we could theoretically still have a job for a year or so or we could be dropped tomorrow for all we know. The uncertainty is what is really killing me, but in any case no one here (not even actual employees) have any motivation to do any work right now. We are all trying to find out what is going on first.
I was offered another position but I would have to move to California with no relocation help and no pay increase. So I was forced to tell them "no thanks" since the cost of living is higher in California I would be practically living in a cardboard box if I didn't get a pay increase. But in any case this has been a really crappy week so far.
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Yeah I work at the DuPont site (at least for the moment)
Wish I could help, but we're slowing down and just laid off 16 people. Besides, the type and amount of IT support we need is nothing compared to what your current company's demands are. Though you might be able to help our current IT guy get a better handle on the spam filter so we quit getting so many damn email interruptions throughout the week (by which I mean that the spam filter is a little too filter-y and we keep not getting emails for hours at a time and then getting hit by 20+ emails all at once).
I appreciate the thoughts but I am sure I will be able to find another job. What is currently stressing me out is the lack of any clear information on what is going on. They could theoretically let us go tomorrow (although that is almost certainly not going to happen) or they could keep us for another year. But so far my company hasn't given us any words other than what we had already heard. Hopefully they will give us some more info coming up soon and when they do hopefully I can get a better idea of what I need to do.
Fixed that for ya, hope you don't mind
GasBandit
Staff member
That's no way to slice a cabbage...
A
Anonymous
Anonymous
I've been out of work for awhile now. Long enough that my savings, which I thought would be enough to weather me through this storm, are now completely dried up. This drought lasted much longer than I expected, with simply no place willing to hire me. I've applied everywhere, both within my experience, outside of my experience but maybe worth a shot, down to everything from fast food to store clerk. Literally any job is worth taking at this point, just to have some income. Even McDonalds, long held as being the home of 'well, at least you can always flip burgers if need be' have told me they don't want me, because I appear too qualified and would just leave.
I'm now out of money. I can scrape together just enough to cover my essential bills for one more month (the non essentials were put on hold long ago) and today my car won't start. The battery is dead. Not unheard of, the battery is five years old, but I simply cannot afford to replace it right now. I have a battery charger hooked to it right now, hopefully I can get it to keep a charge long enough to find a job.
I've never been in this position before. I hate not knowing what I'm going to do next month. I've been relying on my parents for a lot of this, but my dad is disabled and my mom makes just enough to get by. Before this I was actually helping to support them, and I fucking hate that I've been forced to ask them for money that I know they don't have.
I just had to get this off my chest.
I'm now out of money. I can scrape together just enough to cover my essential bills for one more month (the non essentials were put on hold long ago) and today my car won't start. The battery is dead. Not unheard of, the battery is five years old, but I simply cannot afford to replace it right now. I have a battery charger hooked to it right now, hopefully I can get it to keep a charge long enough to find a job.
I've never been in this position before. I hate not knowing what I'm going to do next month. I've been relying on my parents for a lot of this, but my dad is disabled and my mom makes just enough to get by. Before this I was actually helping to support them, and I fucking hate that I've been forced to ask them for money that I know they don't have.
I just had to get this off my chest.
This company cannot catch a frickin' break. Lost another good worker, and one of the friendliest guys you could ever meet, Saturday morning to a heart attack while he was driving home from hanging out with a bunch of the guys from our shop. He always had a kind word or a story to tell about damn near everything. He was a true jack of all trades, and will be sorely missed around here.
This might be a long rant. I don't know.
Today, I dropped out of the Human Services program at the local community college. It's the result a very heavy, long-term depression that I've been going through for a few weeks now. The worst of it came out a few weeks ago when I had a complete emotional breakdown and suicide attempt. I spent that weekend in the psych ward at the hospital.
I've been struggling to recover from that breakdown ever since. I tried catching up with school work, but then had another breakdown when the instructor wouldn't take one of my late assignments. It was a reflective journal of the first three chapters in our Psychology text, which was due on the Friday I was in the hospital. His argument? That because I wrote the assignment after it was due (something he asked and I answered honestly), that there's a difference between needing time to hand something in and time to actually do the assignment. That it was supposed to be done throughout the term. I STILL don't understand the logic behind that. For one, did he ask every other student whether they did the assignment in one night like he did me? I doubt it. Two, who the hell cares when I did them? I have NEVER been asked that by any instructor before.
So yeah, I had another breakdown last week because of that and hadn't gone back to school since. After talking with my sister and my parents, I made the decision to drop out.
And now I'm just...Christ, I don't know. I've just given up. I have nothing in my life to speak of. I come home every day to a cat because I have no one in my life; certainly no social life to speak of. I have no skills that would give me anything more some stupid fucking minimum wage crap job...if I was lucky to even get that because New Brunswick (certainly Fredericton) has next to no employment available.
So yeah, I've given up. I don't know what to do anymore.
EDIT: It's just ironic that in the program, one of the things we discussed was how people in society who aren't ideal for whatever reason (health, wealth, culture, etc) are devalued. Yet ironically, I've never felt so devalued since High School.
Today, I dropped out of the Human Services program at the local community college. It's the result a very heavy, long-term depression that I've been going through for a few weeks now. The worst of it came out a few weeks ago when I had a complete emotional breakdown and suicide attempt. I spent that weekend in the psych ward at the hospital.
I've been struggling to recover from that breakdown ever since. I tried catching up with school work, but then had another breakdown when the instructor wouldn't take one of my late assignments. It was a reflective journal of the first three chapters in our Psychology text, which was due on the Friday I was in the hospital. His argument? That because I wrote the assignment after it was due (something he asked and I answered honestly), that there's a difference between needing time to hand something in and time to actually do the assignment. That it was supposed to be done throughout the term. I STILL don't understand the logic behind that. For one, did he ask every other student whether they did the assignment in one night like he did me? I doubt it. Two, who the hell cares when I did them? I have NEVER been asked that by any instructor before.
So yeah, I had another breakdown last week because of that and hadn't gone back to school since. After talking with my sister and my parents, I made the decision to drop out.
And now I'm just...Christ, I don't know. I've just given up. I have nothing in my life to speak of. I come home every day to a cat because I have no one in my life; certainly no social life to speak of. I have no skills that would give me anything more some stupid fucking minimum wage crap job...if I was lucky to even get that because New Brunswick (certainly Fredericton) has next to no employment available.
So yeah, I've given up. I don't know what to do anymore.
EDIT: It's just ironic that in the program, one of the things we discussed was how people in society who aren't ideal for whatever reason (health, wealth, culture, etc) are devalued. Yet ironically, I've never felt so devalued since High School.
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Same as Hylian above, @ThatNickGuy. I've always got time for you.