Topic: Shit Days (Read 215992 times)

R^2 · « **Reply #1740 on:** October 29, 2010, 12:59:42 PM »

So, I'm about ready to give up on my van. Given what I paid for it and all the repairs, I could have just as easily purchased a brand-new Vespa or something. ("But R^2!" protest many people when I recite this particular gripe, "A scooter isn't safe to take on busy highways!" Yeah, well NEITHER IS MY VAN.)

Anyway.

Since I bought this from a friend of my father's, my father doesn't want me to sell it for scrap and collect a few meager hundred for it. He's willing to foot the bill for repairs (up to a point) if it means I keep the "investment".

However, this means I have to take it to a mechanic he trusts for the new transmission/cooling system problems. Since he lives 250 miles away, this means he gets a referral for an Atlanta-area mechanic from the guy he's taken his cars to for longer than I've been alive.

He referred me to two places. The nearer of the two is a radiator shop 25 miles away.

So I went and dropped my van off. The angry djinn who lives in my radiator was in a particularly bad mood, so the van overheated twice on the way. I left it there for two days, and got the report back that since there were so many transmission errors popping up, I need to get it properly diagnosed at a place that specializes in transmissions because it probably needs a rebuild (this is the same diagnosis I got two weeks ago, paying my own money and a lot less trouble for). And there's no reason to investigate or repair the radiator if I'm going to decide not to bother with the transmission and scrap the vehicle, so they didn't fix (or apparently charge my father) anything.

The recommended transmission shop is nearly 40 miles away, and I'm pretty sure the van just plain won't make the trip.

And when I left the radiator place? Not only had they consumed the rest of the gas in the tank, but I oerheated within five minutes on the road. They hadn't bothered to put any coolant in the radiator, you see, making the angry djinn quite furious indeed. Thankfully I broke down right in front of a Walgreen's that happened to sell what I needed at a price I could still afford after refilling my gas tank.

Oh, and my tags expire in three days, which is why I'd decided to scrap the goddamned thing two weeks ago -- I knew I couldn't afford to fix it, get it inspected, and get my tags renewed in time. I may very well get a traffic ticket on my way to getting the fucking thing fixed now.

Zaratustra · « **Reply #1741 on:** October 29, 2010, 01:12:19 PM »

My father was pretty much the smartest, most friendly, hardworking manager you could ever find. He worked for 25 years for a typically Germanic company which seemed solid like the mountains. Made me angry at times because I knew I could never get job security like that.

A year before retirement, he gets the pink slip.

Shinra · « **Reply #1742 on:** October 29, 2010, 01:14:40 PM »

This is becoming increasingly more common, actually. If they can cheat you out of your pension, they'll get rid of you at the first opportunity.

Zaratustra · « **Reply #1743 on:** October 29, 2010, 01:17:14 PM »

His contract is rather old-fashioned so my family is mostly safe, but still, it's an entirely unexpected backstab.

R^2 · « **Reply #1744 on:** October 31, 2010, 07:40:23 AM »

It took me an hour to get to the train station, including the van shutting off at a stoplight twice, and overheating once. I spend more on coolant than fuel to keep it moving at this point.

Once I got to the station, I was shat on by a pidgeon. (Forced thread-title joke goes here.)

11:34 <Ridley> Man
11:34 <Ridley> When you get shit on
11:34 <Ridley> you literally get shit on.
11:34 <Ridley> you just don't do it by halfs, do you.

TA · « **Reply #1745 on:** October 31, 2010, 07:43:31 AM »

The rally yesterday was awesome. The four hour trip back was not, especially since the destination was maybe 14 miles away in a straight line.

Envy · « **Reply #1746 on:** October 31, 2010, 10:20:28 AM »

Got my first customer complaint which happened to be during my probationary period. I somehow managed to not do a complete 360 degree turn to notice this woman dropping her cookies and appologising and saying it's my fault she dropped them. Keep in mind this woman complained that she was from lane 2 and I was the bagger on lane 4 and I was currently bagging someone elses groceries and putting them in. Needless to say I may have lost my job on one random bitter old lady.

Stush · « **Reply #1747 on:** October 31, 2010, 07:29:07 PM »

It'd be pretty ridiculous if you got fired for that, since you didn't even serve her, and you were busy serving another customer.

R^2 · « **Reply #1748 on:** November 01, 2010, 07:13:04 AM »

Stush perhaps you underestimate the douchbag potential of your average grocery store frontside manager.

Büge · « **Reply #1749 on:** November 01, 2010, 08:21:17 AM »

Quote from: Envy on October 31, 2010, 10:20:28 AM

Got my first customer complaint which happened to be during my probationary period. I somehow managed to not do a complete 360 degree turn to notice this woman dropping her cookies and appologising and saying it's my fault she dropped them. Keep in mind this woman complained that she was from lane 2 and I was the bagger on lane 4 and I was currently bagging someone elses groceries and putting them in. Needless to say I may have lost my job on one random bitter old lady.

Wait, I'm confused. You had your back to someone who dropped their groceries, then you apologized and said it was your fault?

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #1750 on:** November 01, 2010, 10:21:44 AM »

Envy, while it may be endearing otherwise, in this case your disjointed narrative style makes it a bit hard to tell exactly what happened, so you might want to clarify for those of us who actually want to know.

Envy · « **Reply #1751 on:** November 01, 2010, 12:44:10 PM »

Little old lady drops her cookies, I'm too busy bagging for another customer to notice it had happened. Little old lady is angry for whatever reason and decides to customer complaint me for this.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #1752 on:** November 01, 2010, 12:47:42 PM »

Ok yeah, that's an incredibly dumb and spurious reason to complain, and if they try to fire you over it...wow.

Brentai · « **Reply #1753 on:** November 01, 2010, 07:12:25 PM »

If the service industry took every formal complaint it received seriously, there would be nobody left working in the service industry. It'll go in a nice manila folder somewhere and forgotten about until bonus time.

ObliviousObi · « **Reply #1754 on:** November 03, 2010, 10:34:17 AM »

I work in a restaurant, all my complaints end in an "Aaron they said this, don't do it again" /slaponwrist

R^2 · « **Reply #1755 on:** November 04, 2010, 08:05:02 AM »

The punchline to yesterday's Pen and Paint is that when I got to work, they had posted next week's schedule. My hours got cut again; I'm only called in for Saturday and Sunday.

(two workdays a week) x (minimum wage, heeyah) = I need a new job, like now.

The bottom of the schedule has a note on it that says "Please note changes in schedule. We're going to learn something new this week!" I crossreferenced it with this week's schedule, and the only big change is that I'm out a shift. Two other dishwashers are working six days next week. Apparently what we're going to learn is whether or not I'm really necessary there at all.

ObliviousObi · « **Reply #1756 on:** November 07, 2010, 09:46:29 AM »

My parents are out of the town for the weekend going to the horse races and such, so everything around the house is calm and quiet. This morning I got a call from my mom at 7am, turns out my dad had a heart attack last night. His main artery into his heart was almost completely blocked. Luckily they were able to get him to the hospital and put in 3 stints, so he's ok and recovering in the ICU.

Of course I am stuck at home because I have "volunteer work", can it even be called that if you HAVE to do it for a grade, and class in the morning. Doctors said he should be released some time tomorrow though.

R^2 · « **Reply #1757 on:** November 08, 2010, 07:41:40 PM »

Today I drew a webcomic about a vomiting duck dragon.

Lottel · « **Reply #1758 on:** November 08, 2010, 07:42:14 PM »

Wrong thread, bro.

This should be in Good Times.

Lottel · « **Reply #1759 on:** November 11, 2010, 05:07:53 PM »

Ex got a hold of me. Which she only does after she hooks up with some guy. She never tells me but I always find out afterwards some how. So with that firmly planted in my head, she tried to make chit chat in which she referred to me as "friend" several times.

Motherfucker.

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Author Topic: Shit Days (Read 215992 times)