Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!
- Thread starter strawman
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GasBandit
Staff member
Other way around, I'm training my replacement. He's learning quick, but it's still exhausting.
I hope you are charging them nosebleed wages.
It's always a Doomie trap, cheri.This is actually a Doomie trap isn't it.
its been almost 4 years, but lately I've been missing my dad. Recently ive been getting a myriad of "you are the best of us..." comments in my life. It bothers me, because im far from being anything resembling a success, But the old mans last words still ring home everyday. "You are the best of me but carry none of my faults, my greatest work, and my defining mark on the world. My son, you bring good and justice in your wake. You bare your fangs at evil, you stare the horrors of the world in the eyes unblinking. I can face this end knowing you learned not just from your own mistakes but from the mistakes of those around you. You are the best of all of us." All of this weighs heavy on my mind, to do right, to make every moment of effort count.
I'm so fed up with forced obsolescence. It's going to be cheaper to buy a replacement blender than get the part to fix the one we have. But it's mostly still good, so ... that's really wasteful.
I'll keep both, because you never know, and maybe someday I'll cobble together an ultimate blender.
I'll keep both, because you never know, and maybe someday I'll cobble together an ultimate blender.
We have a Ninja blender combo thing in a box in the garage due to this exact problem. The motor went out. It's an older model and the newer motors don't fit the old caps (of course). And, a brand new unit is almost as cheap as finding an older motor unit on ebay.
That's where I'm torn; do I buy another older model so I can mix and match later, or do I buy something newer that's parts will be readily available ... until eventually it's also outdated?
I guess I answered my own question.
figmentPez
Staff member
Also consider that a new unit of the same model will most likely fail in the same way.
We'll crap. I don't know what to do then. Julie needs her morning drink and making them myself is waaay cheaper than Starbucks.
As someone who grew up fixing all his own stuff and thumbing his nose at the "no user-serviceable parts inside" sticker whenever possible, I feel you.
I know that some of it is planned obsolescence, but I also wonder how much of it is just the manufacturer's expectation that either making it repairable would cost too much extra, or that your modern average Joe doesn't know how to safely handle a screwdriver.
For me it's always CHiPs. The bathroom door's hydraulic closer at work matches the rhythm of that theme. It's distracting.
--Patrick
There's a third option: It's cheaper to make the parts out of plastic, which will fail due to mechanical stresses faster than parts out of metal. And because they know the average consumer will just chuck the thing and buy another if it's cheap enough, that's what they do.
So, not so much planned obsolescence as "expected obsolescence". And, so, since they know they don't need to make many parts for serviceability (which is part of the JIT/LEAN principles to keep unused inventory low), they can iterate on the models and change them at whim and not care so much about backward compatibility.
Do you know just how long it took us to finally acquire an Alligator made of metal? Every time we went to buy one, they would be out of stock, please try back in a month, whoops you missed it they’re out of stock again, etc. I swear they must only make a dozen every month or something, and then whoever DOES buy them puts them on eBay at twice the price.
And don’t even get me started (again) on the post-Hobart KitchenAid era...
But then again I’m one of those weirdos who will happily pay twice as much for something that lasts 10 times as long, it’s just too bad that’s not a sustainable business model in today’s short-term-focused economy.
—Patrick
I guess I should just buy a new blender and not worry about it, but I'm trying not to contribute to more junking things up.
I got a couple of plastic mandolins (cooking, not music) over the years for Xmas gifts. I finally had to set my wife down and explain why they were crap, and point her to a good all-metal option.
I have to go to a multi-day out-of-town meeting next week. (That's not the whine)
I finally found a draft agenda for it. (Partial whine, because this should have been available a while ago.)
The first item of the morning is at 7am. The last is at 9:40pm.
For 3 days. Plus a half day at the beginning, and a half day at the end.
For reference, I usually get up at 8am and am in bed by 9:30pm (Because chronic illnesses suck, and one of my meds is a sedative).
I'm screwed.
And then! Once I get home Sunday afternoon, I get no time to recover and start my week again on Monday morning, even though my "weekend" was taken up with work/meetings.
I'm gonna get so sick! Between the people and the exhaustion... definitely getting sick after I get home. (This is a prediction, not a sure thing... but very likely.)
I finally found a draft agenda for it. (Partial whine, because this should have been available a while ago.)
The first item of the morning is at 7am. The last is at 9:40pm.
For 3 days. Plus a half day at the beginning, and a half day at the end.
For reference, I usually get up at 8am and am in bed by 9:30pm (Because chronic illnesses suck, and one of my meds is a sedative).
I'm screwed.
And then! Once I get home Sunday afternoon, I get no time to recover and start my week again on Monday morning, even though my "weekend" was taken up with work/meetings.
I'm gonna get so sick! Between the people and the exhaustion... definitely getting sick after I get home. (This is a prediction, not a sure thing... but very likely.)
A
Anonymous
Anonymous
The company that I work for is in a weird spot. We had a meeting with a big client. It didn't go great. The CEO has way too much on his plate. He needs to either quit his other job/projects or at least take a leave of absence and focus on this company. There are 5 of us working full time to try to make things work, but i don't know if they will. Two of us (me included) are full-time employees. The rest are contract workers who still have jobs at the local university in the lab of the CEO. So, they don't have a lot to lose if it all falls apart. The financing is in place, but we have inconsistent leadership. I've started looking for a new job. It took several months to get this one.
Aargh. I just finished cleaning most of the house, was about to leave to go and treat me to Chinese food as a reward (gf has been on a stomach-saving diet for 6+ months and she can't have it anymore)...and then I notice the freezer is unplugged. Probably my fault, mind, but...ugh. luckily it wasn't too full as I defrosted it just last week or so, but still. I'm now trying to cram 4 portions of spaghetti in my mouth (spoiler: I'm pretty sure I'll manage), but that still leaves 5 pounds of salmon, 10 pounds of lamb, several big steaks, several portions of soup, and a lot of lesser meat to be somehow uses before tomorrow or so.
Two stews, a soup, and since we have a family gathering tomorrow evening anyway, well, the family is getting quite a different meal from what we had planned
the amount of waste will all in all be fairly limited, but it's going to take a few hours at least to save as much as possible.I feel so shitty when I throw out food. Glad you were able to use the food!