The pet peeve thread

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

The whole supply issue is still nutty. I've been car shopping recently. The Chevy dealer says that some features are missing (heated seats and the like), but they will be treated like a recall once the chips are available. Reasonable enough. Mazda on the other hand are also missing features (sat radio, power lift gate), but with no plans to take care of it later. They just knocked a couple hundred bucks off the price.

I actually ended up ordering a Honda CR-V, but without being able to test drive it or have any idea of when I'll get it. That was about 3 weeks ago, and I still don't even have an estimate of any kind. 

I really like the look of the Mazda CX-5, but the controls are really wonky. Instead of a touch screen, they have this weird control knob on the console between the two front seats. I don't think that's any sort of supply issue, but was designed that way. Hated it. 

[Biff Mayhem]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

Although I laugh at the recent trend of "hey, pay us $50 extra and we will unwrap it for you"

The nice thing about Ashley was they gave me free white glove set up because I'm a veteran. So I got that going for me. 

[Tigeraholic1]

48 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

The nice thing about Ashley was they gave me free white glove set up because I'm a veteran. So I got that going for me. 

That's nice they took careof you like that, thanks for your service.

 

I am a La-Z-Boy for life. We have 4 of there recliners at our house now. The oldest I bought in 2001 my 1st ever furniture purchase. I have had springs replaced once for $80 at our local warhouse that has a repair shop. I estimate to have watched well over 500 Tigers games in that chair and rocked all my kids and still going strong.

[djhutch]

UPDATE:

Delivered & set-up this morning - except they didn't bring a long enough cord for the electric dryer. I took an hour off & picked one up @ Ace.  Finally, clean underwear! 

[oblong]

Speaking of dryer pet peeves.... in 2014 I moved a few blocks away.  When I sold my house, to get the C of O, I needed to update my gas pipe for my dryer, copper was no good anymore.  Ok.  My HVAC friend who lives in the city didn't get it but went to the city, watched a video to get educated so he could serve other customers in the area.

New house.  Order washer and dryer.  They won't hook up the dryer because it's copper fittings and pipe.   Yeah, I had to do the same thing to the house I bought that I did to the house I sold.   The seller got a C of O.  

 

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, oblong said:

Speaking of dryer pet peeves.... in 2014 I moved a few blocks away.  When I sold my house, to get the C of O, I needed to update my gas pipe for my dryer, copper was no good anymore.  Ok.  My HVAC friend who lives in the city didn't get it but went to the city, watched a video to get educated so he could serve other customers in the area.

New house.  Order washer and dryer.  They won't hook up the dryer because it's copper fittings and pipe.   Yeah, I had to do the same thing to the house I bought that I did to the house I sold.   The seller got a C of O.  

 

I'm familiar enough with the chemistry to accept that is was a good code change, but the mitigating factor in a place like SE MI is that our gas is clean and dry enough that in *practice* a copper supply probably never fails. But there is no easy systematic way to build a reg around that.

[CMRivdogs]

Finally got an "honest" answer from one of those "police benevolence " organizations. I stopped him in the middle of his spiel and asked how much $$ police officers actually saw from his organization. The answer 12% after "expenses"

I politely told him I'd support the blue by giving directly to my local police dept.

edit

While I probably can't make direct donations, things like giving to their annual food drives, Christmas charities, etc still work better than giving to some private "non profit" coffers.

Edited October 13, 2022 by CMRivdogs

[chasfh]

On 10/12/2022 at 7:49 AM, Shades of Deivi Cruz said:

The whole supply issue is still nutty. I've been car shopping recently. The Chevy dealer says that some features are missing (heated seats and the like), but they will be treated like a recall once the chips are available. Reasonable enough. Mazda on the other hand are also missing features (sat radio, power lift gate), but with no plans to take care of it later. They just knocked a couple hundred bucks off the price.

I was lucky to have bought my car when I did. I closed the deal in March 2021, just as the vaxes were coming out but overall supply chain issues were accelerating. The only thing my car ended up missing was the adjustable lumbar for the passenger seat. I got $250 off for that.

Also was lucky that I bought my car when prices were highly negotiable. You may remember that car sales tanked the prior year and dealers were forced to actually deal. I was able to knock more than $10K off the MSRP. Had I waited just one more month, I'd've been paying some amount over MSRP.

[oblong]

They are doing pipe construction on my street.  Been going on since late August. Where I live is near a cross street that's often used as a shortcut to avoid a 3 way intersection nearby.  It's a one way to alleviate some of that.  There's "no thru traffic signs up" but off to the side to allow residents to get to their house. Today they are working right on the corner and put the sign right in the middle. because the earth movers are in the middle of the street.  

So many times just today I've seen cars pull right up to the sign and then sit there confused as to what to do because the sign is blocking the road.  After about 20 seconds they begin the "back up of shame" and turn around, now turning their shortcut into an even longer ordeal.  It's fun to watch actually.

I saw this last week at the Free Press marathon in Detroit.  Roads were blocked off for runners.  So many times I'd see cars pull up to the barricade then just sit there dumbfounded as to why nobody will move it for them so they can cross.  One person asked me.  "I need to get over there, can you move that?" 

Do people just think these things are suggestions?

 

[djhutch]

This isn't exactly a peeve, but I've got to vent somewhere.

As someone who's been in radio for 33 years, I have learned to be careful what I say publicly about struggles in the office.  Our executive director is out of the country for 2 weeks.  Every time he is gone, almost without exception, our pd/morning guy calls in on the first morning shift.  As the asst. pd, it is my job to cover the show.  I have no problem with that - I am up anyway & prefer mornings. This week however, he just completely no-showed for his Monday shift.  Didn't contact anyone until 1/2 hour after he was supposed to be on the air - & then another hour later texted back & said he still hadn't made it in.  He is in incredibly poor health, but what happens now is the rest of us have the inner battle of do we report our supervisor to his boss and risk the consequences of him doing nothing - which is a distinct possibility - or do we do nothing? 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, djhutch said:

This isn't exactly a peeve, but I've got to vent somewhere.

As someone who's been in radio for 33 years, I have learned to be careful what I say publicly about struggles in the office.  Our executive director is out of the country for 2 weeks.  Every time he is gone, almost without exception, our pd/morning guy calls in on the first morning shift.  As the asst. pd, it is my job to cover the show.  I have no problem with that - I am up anyway & prefer mornings. This week however, he just completely no-showed for his Monday shift.  Didn't contact anyone until 1/2 hour after he was supposed to be on the air - & then another hour later texted back & said he still hadn't made it in.  He is in incredibly poor health, but what happens now is the rest of us have the inner battle of do we report our supervisor to his boss and risk the consequences of him doing nothing - which is a distinct possibility - or do we do nothing? 

your org doesn't even have controls in place to the level of a month timesheet/log people turn in or does your guy just fudge his?

Edited October 26, 2022 by gehringer_2

[djhutch]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

your org doesn't even have controls in place to the level of a month timesheet/log people turn in or does your guy just fudge his?

We have exactly 6 people employed .. All on salary.  A very small, non-commercial radio station.  After coming from a much larger organization 5 years ago, my biggest ongoing complaint has been the lack of protocol in almost every area.  Even some holidays are just given on the whim of the exec. dir., because he wants to feel like he's benevolent.  Every ethical bone in my body wants to run & find other work - but my wife & I made this move to be closer to kids/grandkids.  That is the one saving grace, but it can get pretty maddening.

[LaceyLou]

It's a little annoying when I finally have a Saturday off, but my eyes still pop open at 4 am. 

[LaceyLou]

On 10/26/2022 at 4:36 PM, djhutch said:

We have exactly 6 people employed .. All on salary.  A very small, non-commercial radio station.  After coming from a much larger organization 5 years ago, my biggest ongoing complaint has been the lack of protocol in almost every area.  Even some holidays are just given on the whim of the exec. dir., because he wants to feel like he's benevolent.  Every ethical bone in my body wants to run & find other work - but my wife & I made this move to be closer to kids/grandkids.  That is the one saving grace, but it can get pretty maddening.

I feel for you. I'm guessing it would be hard to find a similar position close by? 

[djhutch]

On 11/5/2022 at 7:28 AM, LaceyLou said:

I feel for you. I'm guessing it would be hard to find a similar position close by? 

Yeah. This is all I've ever done/wanted to do. & living in northern Michigan limits the # of opportunities.

[oblong]

My internet usage has been about 65% of our allotment all year. I’m working from home. We have 4 people. Never really gave it much thought. Last month we got up to 85% and this month on pace for the same. I smell a rat as xfinity probably wants me to upgrade to unlimited.  I’ve tried to see if I can track by device but cannot find anything. 

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

13 hours ago, oblong said:

My internet usage has been about 65% of our allotment all year. I’m working from home. We have 4 people. Never really gave it much thought. Last month we got up to 85% and this month on pace for the same. I smell a rat as xfinity probably wants me to upgrade to unlimited.  I’ve tried to see if I can track by device but cannot find anything. 

It's all those comedy skits you've been streaming.

[oblong]

For fun I would check it at night before Bed and it would say something like 474GB.  I wake up and it says 475.  Then a few hours later  it's 490.  I'm the only one here doing anything.  I have the TV on Fox 2, so I'm not sure that's eating up internet, its through the cable box.  I checked our laptop and tablet, both have no apps open.  I'm not downloading anything heavy for work. Just emails and such.  I'm sure there's a delay in the numbers. I'm not a conspiracy guy but still..... in the summer of 2021 we went over but I discovered it was due to my special needs son binging on the Muppets on Disney Plus on the ipad.  So I downloaded all of it, problem solved.  Our usage went down considerably ever since.

 

[Biff Mayhem]

Security cameras/system? 

[Screwball]

46 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Security cameras/system? 

Highly recommend.  I have 4, 2 in front, 2 in back.  I can see most of the perimeter of my house (but all entrances).  I bought them through Amazon.  I won't recommend a particular brand as it depends on what you want to do.  Mine are night vision capable, have sound, I can talk though them, and they trigger on motion.  They run on battery, not hard wired like the expensive systems. One is mounted on the peak of my garage, which charges via a solar panel (sold separately), while the others I charge manually when needed.

You can set the sensitivity for triggering. How long to record, and what to do with the video.  It can be stored locally to a SD card in the camera, or to a cloud (I don't do clouds), and is connected to my secure WIFI network. You will get an alert on your phone when triggered. You can view the video on your phone, or there is computer software as well.  You can hit any camera at any time to see a live feed via your phone rather you are home or not.  You can also set it up to send you an e-mail with a screenshot of what triggered the camera.  I turn this off since it would send a million e-mails. I don't have a sign in the yard or the window warning of a security camera/system.  I mounted the two in the front right on my front porch for all to see.  Smile, you're on candid camera.  At night someone would see the LED's turn on when triggered.

They pissed off some people that walk their dog past the house, one young guy in particular, who almost ran by the house after seeing them.  What he doesn't know, and I didn't tell him, they are not set sensitive enough to pick up the dog walkers, only if someone approaches the front porch.  The second camera in the front is pointed directly at the door and front steps.

One night a cop was banging on my door at 2:30 am.  He was looking for someone I never heard heard of, so it was all good.  But I had video of him walking up the front walk, then the other camera picked him up at the steps, and recorded our entire conversation at the door.  I wondered what he thought about being watched as he came to the house.  I don't know if our cops have body cams, but it didn't matter, I had the whole thing anyway.  I saved the video to a directory on my computer.

I have the 4 cameras, a charger for the batteries. The old style used 4 small batteries, but the newer ones have a single battery that charges with a USB.  Takes about 2 hours to charge, and I charge them on average once a month, depending on how much they are triggered.  The solar panel was extra, but I only have one, which is mounted on the garage peak and looks down my driveway.  The entire system ran me around $400.

You are at the mercy of your wireless, since they are connected to that network. I couldn't hit the one on the garage if I didn't have the Mesh wireless system which allowed me to put a WIFI device in the garage.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Screwball
Added picture

[oblong]

48 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Security cameras/system? 

nope. Put everything back in the box.

Their app tells me connected devices and history.  Things look good there. I wish it would tell me usage by device.

I guess it could be my older son playing video games.

[Motor City Sonics]

Anyone have Paramount's TV app?     

 

It's the worst one I've ever used.     Good luck trying to rewind or fast forward..........you will never find your spot again and you'll have to sit through at least 2 rounds of commericals,  the exact same commercials every time. 

And you know, this happens with Hulu too.............commercial cues are f'ed up.  Where it should play it does not, but 2-3 seconds into the next scene the commercial starts.   We flew a missile into a moving asteroid and knocked it off course and we can't conquer this?  

[LaceyLou]

2 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Anyone have Paramount's TV app?     

 

It's the worst one I've ever used.     Good luck trying to rewind or fast forward..........you will never find your spot again and you'll have to sit through at least 2 rounds of commericals,  the exact same commercials every time. 

And you know, this happens with Hulu too.............commercial cues are f'ed up.  Where it should play it does not, but 2-3 seconds into the next scene the commercial starts.   We flew a missile into a moving asteroid and knocked it off course and we can't conquer this?  

I haven't tried that one, but it feels like channels are taking turns pixelating on my tv... seems to be a problem Xfinity has been having in general lately. I'm moving soon, and the new place only has Fios available... maybe that's not such a bad thing after all. It'll be fun to compare the problems of each provider, at least.

[Motor City Sonics]

Also................You Tube TV is dropping in quality quickly.  Video quality and it's become very very buggy.   You'll be watching something and BOOM, it kicks you out.    If you pause a live show and go back, it kicks you ou.  

[chasfh]

17 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Anyone have Paramount's TV app?     

 

It's the worst one I've ever used.     Good luck trying to rewind or fast forward..........you will never find your spot again and you'll have to sit through at least 2 rounds of commericals,  the exact same commercials every time. 

And you know, this happens with Hulu too.............commercial cues are f'ed up.  Where it should play it does not, but 2-3 seconds into the next scene the commercial starts.   We flew a missile into a moving asteroid and knocked it off course and we can't conquer this?  

I’ve been watching Amazon’s FreeVee for Mad Men reruns. The show has natural commercial breaks built into it and, of course, the commercials come mostly mid-scene, even mid-sentence. And, also of course, the same spots endlessly. The only lemonade in the situation is that they must have client-side frequency caps in place, so once you get deep enough into a show, or a second episode in the same night, the breaks are more like 30 or even 15 seconds, versus 120 or more seconds.