Rant VIII: The Reckoning
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I've had MULTIPLE customers like this. Raging at me until they realize it was their own fault.
On the bright side, the Amazon agent I spoke with is giving me a full refund, even after I admitted it was my own mistake.
I asked Mom to go check for me, since they still live near our old place. She's going to contact the building manager and if it's still there, Mom will go get it for me. Our place is in a MUCH nicer place than here, so I have some faith it'll be there
In the end, if I can retrieve the package, that means I get free movies. But fucking hell, it wasn't worth this emotional rollercoaster.
For the record, this is what I ordered. It includes one of my all-time favorite movies, Out of the Past.
EDIT: Mom called back. It wasn't there. So no movies for me.
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WILL THIS ROLLERCOASTER EVER END?
The building manager called Mom back. They found the package. I don't know if they just happened to look again or what, but they found it. Mom will pick it up for me tomorrow. I get my movies, after all.
At this point, I'm expecting another plot twist in this saga.
The building manager called Mom back. They found the package. I don't know if they just happened to look again or what, but they found it. Mom will pick it up for me tomorrow. I get my movies, after all.
At this point, I'm expecting another plot twist in this saga.
Turns out it has one of your mom's favorite movies that she hasn't seen since she was younger and so she keeps the set for herself.
Some good movies there. Glad Amazon is willing to help too.
The movies are in the correct packaging, labeled correctly on the disc, but you actually have 15 hours of the song Baby Shark.
I feel triggered by the bad use of technology in this post.
GasBandit
Staff member
It was 20 years ago man
couldn't exactly get a blu ray yet, and I was still on dialup so movie piracy wasn't really a thing for me yet.
Intelcom sucks. They delivered a super expensive price of electronics to a home 1.5km away. They denied it and Amazon said it wasn’t yet delivered, but I had a picture of someone else’s garage.
I was very lucky the other person was honest. They found me on FB messenger and we collected it.
I was very lucky the other person was honest. They found me on FB messenger and we collected it.
I still don't understand how leaving it near your residence when you're not there is a thing in the US...
GasBandit
Staff member
Every delivery used to require a signature. I'm not sure at what point we got away from that, but there was a brief golden few months between that and the first porch pirates where everything was wonderful.
These days most apartment complexes in my area have a set of lockers set up by a company called parcelpending.com and the delivery dude just leaves the thing in there and it sends you an e-mail with a one-time-use code to open that particular locker.
I feel lucky my house's front door isn't visible from the street so a casual drive-by won't reveal packages. Also I have very obvious cameras everywhere, not that some of these turds are scared off by cameras.
More North in Nick's case, but also yes.
Most modern developments do the lockers thing, placing them near a centralized set of mail boxes instead of putting them at your house/driveway (usually near the guard if it's a gated community).
I've been telling my mother to buy a big locker for all of her purchases for a long time now. You can literally just give the code to Amazon and they'll lock it after.
Ah shit. Sorry man.
That sucks but if they caught it early enough there is very low risk from it. My dad had it and did nothing for two years because the doctors told him it wasn't even worth going through the surgery until it got bigger. Hopefully thats the case for him.
GasBandit
Staff member
Apparently they're doing the hormone and radiation thing with him, and he's also going to be part of a study that tests whether or not this pill for bone cancer also does anything to prostate cancer. Though, of course, he doesn't know if he'll get the real thing or the placebo.
Treatments have come a long way in the past few years. My Uncle has it, just doing a little radiation and pill form light chemo, he is a life long heavy smoker.
The apartment where I'm staying (for another 19 days) has had numerous issues, which I don't remember if I've mentioned on the board*.
-The fridge wasn't working right when I got here (in Feb), had to fix that myself.
-One of the floorboards in the bathroom (laminate) is lifting up as though it was very wet for an extended period of time (foreshadowing!).
-Some of the provided pots and pans and other implements have issues. The large frypan has a multitude of dents on the bottom like someone must've used it as a hammer.
-Other furnished items were obviously hastily acquired. The vacuum and hair dryer look like they had been sitting in a Goodwill showroom for many months before being snapped up and placed in my apartment.
-The sprayer hose for the sink was tangled up in the other junk under the sink, had to free it and tie the other stuff out of the way.
-The Internet went out for almost an entire week.
-The doors on the washer & dryer combo face the wrong way, interfering with opening and closing the doors that lead to the alcove where they are located. The appliance doors are reversible, so this should be easily fixed, buuuut...
-The water and gas have been cut off over the weekend twice.
-There are no curtains in the bedroom, so even though the shade does close all the way to the bottom, after 7am the Sunlight forms a blazing rectangle around the entire window area.
-The sink stopper in the bathroom was not installed properly, so it was always either closed or really closed. I had to fix that, too.
-The bathroom has motion-sensing lights which cannot be dimmed, so if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you will be paparazzi'd in the face as soon as your body breaks through the plane of the doorway.
-Similarly, all the other room lighting is dimmable EXCEPT for the one in the hallway right outside the bathroom. It's like they want the path to the bathroom to be AS BRIGHT AS POSSIBLE.
-The shower curtain does not actually enclose the shower. It's close, but there's no way to keep from having one end or the other open while you shower (or both ends a little bit, if you really want to ruin things).
That's all that I can remember off the top of my head.
...But that brings us to last night. Yesterday was the hottest since I've been here (96F/36C). I'm relatively eco-conscious, so I've avoided running the A/C in here unless it was verifiably, insufferably hot, such as when playing video games while doing 5 loads of laundry. Otherwise, I've just been an open-the-windows-and-doors kind of guy. I set the A/C for 74F/23C and settled in for a night of gaming. I could tell the A/C was working hard because I could hear it burbling away as it squeezed moisture from the air, the same noise it's made every other time I've used it. But this time, after about an hour, I also heard newer dripping noises. So I get up from my keyboard and mouse and head into the bathroom to look up at the ceiling where the big panel is that covers the climate machinery, and, sure enough, there's a slow drip of water coming from one corner of it. And of course now it's too late to call any of the people I'm supposed to tell about this sort of thing, because it's midnight on a Friday night and nobody's going to come anywhere near a business number until Monday morning at the earliest.
Now I'm no HVAC tech, but I've no shortage of levels in Hardware, and I brought a knock-off Leatherman with me, so if anything is going to get done about this (especially if I want to have any hope of running the A/C over the weekend and OH BOY WILL I), it's obvious I'm going to have to do something about this myself. There are no security locks or screws, it's just 6 Philips-type screws holding the hinged panel in place, so I put a couple of their towels on the floor and dragged a chair over (because they did NOT provide me with any kind of ladder/stepstool--add that to the list). I start taking out the screws, and if you have any knowledge of sitcom logic, you can guess what happens next. Sure enough, once enough of the screws have been backed out of the panel, the weight of the gallon-plus worth of water that's been sitting on top of it encourages the panel to swing open faster than I am expecting, and I get gadooshed with a truly shocking amount of chilled water. None of it hits the chair, fortunately. The next hour is a blur of piling up towels, wringing them out in the bathtub, and repeating until the ceiling is done peeing all over everything, at which point I can finally open the panel wide enough to look inside. I'm expecting to find that the drain is clogged, or the sensor is bent/stuck/whatever and forgetting to pump everything out, or maybe even that there's a leak where they join. Y'know, something like that.
No, that's not it.
The effing drain outlet isn't even connected to anything. There's just a bare, 3/4in threaded, somewhat rusted outlet that goes...nowhere! I kid you not, this thing just opens up into empty air and I guess whoever installed it just prayed that there would never be a time when it would pull more water from the air than it could hold up to this level during normal operation. WELL WHOEVER THAT GUY IS HE WAS VERY VERY WRONG. Now I gotta see if I can find the manual for this thing so I can find out whether this is actually supposed to be the air inlet instead of the drain, in which case I just need to get a short length of hose and install it pointing up high enough that the water will go out the other end (which does appear to be connected to a drainpipe of some sort) before the level rises high enough to flow out the end of the hose. I swear I should bill this place for all the work I've done so far.
Oh, and there's a label on the outside of the panel that says the drain mechanism needs to be inspected every three months to make sure it's still working. I've been here four. Guess what I've never seen happen? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go empty the bucket I have placed on the floor underneath it.
--Patrick
*Couldn't find me mentioning them, at least.
-The fridge wasn't working right when I got here (in Feb), had to fix that myself.
-One of the floorboards in the bathroom (laminate) is lifting up as though it was very wet for an extended period of time (foreshadowing!).
-Some of the provided pots and pans and other implements have issues. The large frypan has a multitude of dents on the bottom like someone must've used it as a hammer.
-Other furnished items were obviously hastily acquired. The vacuum and hair dryer look like they had been sitting in a Goodwill showroom for many months before being snapped up and placed in my apartment.
-The sprayer hose for the sink was tangled up in the other junk under the sink, had to free it and tie the other stuff out of the way.
-The Internet went out for almost an entire week.
-The doors on the washer & dryer combo face the wrong way, interfering with opening and closing the doors that lead to the alcove where they are located. The appliance doors are reversible, so this should be easily fixed, buuuut...
-The water and gas have been cut off over the weekend twice.
-There are no curtains in the bedroom, so even though the shade does close all the way to the bottom, after 7am the Sunlight forms a blazing rectangle around the entire window area.
-The sink stopper in the bathroom was not installed properly, so it was always either closed or really closed. I had to fix that, too.
-The bathroom has motion-sensing lights which cannot be dimmed, so if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you will be paparazzi'd in the face as soon as your body breaks through the plane of the doorway.
-Similarly, all the other room lighting is dimmable EXCEPT for the one in the hallway right outside the bathroom. It's like they want the path to the bathroom to be AS BRIGHT AS POSSIBLE.
-The shower curtain does not actually enclose the shower. It's close, but there's no way to keep from having one end or the other open while you shower (or both ends a little bit, if you really want to ruin things).
That's all that I can remember off the top of my head.
...But that brings us to last night. Yesterday was the hottest since I've been here (96F/36C). I'm relatively eco-conscious, so I've avoided running the A/C in here unless it was verifiably, insufferably hot, such as when playing video games while doing 5 loads of laundry. Otherwise, I've just been an open-the-windows-and-doors kind of guy. I set the A/C for 74F/23C and settled in for a night of gaming. I could tell the A/C was working hard because I could hear it burbling away as it squeezed moisture from the air, the same noise it's made every other time I've used it. But this time, after about an hour, I also heard newer dripping noises. So I get up from my keyboard and mouse and head into the bathroom to look up at the ceiling where the big panel is that covers the climate machinery, and, sure enough, there's a slow drip of water coming from one corner of it. And of course now it's too late to call any of the people I'm supposed to tell about this sort of thing, because it's midnight on a Friday night and nobody's going to come anywhere near a business number until Monday morning at the earliest.
Now I'm no HVAC tech, but I've no shortage of levels in Hardware, and I brought a knock-off Leatherman with me, so if anything is going to get done about this (especially if I want to have any hope of running the A/C over the weekend and OH BOY WILL I), it's obvious I'm going to have to do something about this myself. There are no security locks or screws, it's just 6 Philips-type screws holding the hinged panel in place, so I put a couple of their towels on the floor and dragged a chair over (because they did NOT provide me with any kind of ladder/stepstool--add that to the list). I start taking out the screws, and if you have any knowledge of sitcom logic, you can guess what happens next. Sure enough, once enough of the screws have been backed out of the panel, the weight of the gallon-plus worth of water that's been sitting on top of it encourages the panel to swing open faster than I am expecting, and I get gadooshed with a truly shocking amount of chilled water. None of it hits the chair, fortunately. The next hour is a blur of piling up towels, wringing them out in the bathtub, and repeating until the ceiling is done peeing all over everything, at which point I can finally open the panel wide enough to look inside. I'm expecting to find that the drain is clogged, or the sensor is bent/stuck/whatever and forgetting to pump everything out, or maybe even that there's a leak where they join. Y'know, something like that.
No, that's not it.
The effing drain outlet isn't even connected to anything. There's just a bare, 3/4in threaded, somewhat rusted outlet that goes...nowhere! I kid you not, this thing just opens up into empty air and I guess whoever installed it just prayed that there would never be a time when it would pull more water from the air than it could hold up to this level during normal operation. WELL WHOEVER THAT GUY IS HE WAS VERY VERY WRONG. Now I gotta see if I can find the manual for this thing so I can find out whether this is actually supposed to be the air inlet instead of the drain, in which case I just need to get a short length of hose and install it pointing up high enough that the water will go out the other end (which does appear to be connected to a drainpipe of some sort) before the level rises high enough to flow out the end of the hose. I swear I should bill this place for all the work I've done so far.
Oh, and there's a label on the outside of the panel that says the drain mechanism needs to be inspected every three months to make sure it's still working. I've been here four. Guess what I've never seen happen? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go empty the bucket I have placed on the floor underneath it.
--Patrick
*Couldn't find me mentioning them, at least.
Just a reminder on your way out of that place that it's morally ok to punch a landlord. If they're one of the rare "good" landlords then I guess just not in the face, but otherwise go nuts
I was placed here by an agency. They have a representative that is my direct contact with any concerns. That representative reports back to the agency, and then the agency deals with the apartment management. So even if I could get in touch with any one of them, unless I go through all three in the proper order, I'm probably better off just fixing it myself like I said.
--Patrick
So a bit of an update. Here's what I'm dealing with:
See those three points I've labeled A, B, and O? A is plumbed into a drain line, O has the overflow cutoff switch attached, and B? B is just an open pipe. I don't even have to worry about a hose, A and B are interchangeable and set up for the convenience of the installer so the drain can be attached to whichever side is most convenient (or both, I suppose). All I need is a 3/4in cap to stick on B and everything will be solved. If I'm really lucky, I might even find a cap lying around next to the pump itself, left there by whatever contractor went home an extra ten minutes early that day.
--Patrick
A coworker's wife just passed away. Our group wants to donate sick time to him because he is down to only 3 weeks worth. NOPE, you can only donate while his loved one is sick and still alive.
I don't think I've ever worked anywhere that had a "donate days" policy, and I'm horrified when I see it come up in (internet) conversation. That should never be a thing, especially in Sixpack's situation.
I feel very sorry for your co-worker, @sixpackshaker ,and I'm disgusted with your company that that would even need to be a consideration for both your co-worker AND the other employees.
I was lucky that when I had cancer I had enough vacation, sick, and overtime hours to cover 3 months. I was down to 60 hours after that, but I built it back up to 4 months.
What makes you think the US is a civilized society? This is Mad Max except instead of fetish wear the warlords wear business suits.
figmentPez
Staff member
My apartment management just marked my maintenance request to fix my air conditioning "complete" with no other note of what was done. This is the third time I've requested that they fix the damn thing, and I've spent most of the last two days sitting in an 80+ degree room, and there's at least a week of high temperatures ahead.
They didn't contact me in any way. They did not call, or come to my door. All I got was an automated email saying "complete", when there's no evidence they did jack shit to fix my fucking broken air conditioning! I realize that 99 degrees outside is hot, even for Texas, but the other day it was 94 and the system couldn't even keep up. Temperatures of 94 or higher are more than a quarter of the year here. Air conditioning should be able to handle that. The system handled it last summer.
They didn't contact me in any way. They did not call, or come to my door. All I got was an automated email saying "complete", when there's no evidence they did jack shit to fix my fucking broken air conditioning! I realize that 99 degrees outside is hot, even for Texas, but the other day it was 94 and the system couldn't even keep up. Temperatures of 94 or higher are more than a quarter of the year here. Air conditioning should be able to handle that. The system handled it last summer.