Random Fail: First World Problems

[Yuri-G]

some people have a green thumb


I have a wilting thumb of death and decay


GOD DAMN YOU POINSETTIA WHY DO YOU HATE BEING ALIVE SO MUCH

[dasva]

I recommend using water instead of thumbs

[Zetanio]

Did you tell the plant all your boy problems?

I bet you did.

[dasva]

I think I'm gunna murder someone before the day is thru.

So technically my job is doing regular office work. Scheduling, data entry various quickbooks stuff not really running the store. But I'm here so I often get roped in especially when people often show up when we aren't open and so our part time guy whose main duty is to run the store isn't here obviously. Or like today when we needed him to go out on a route. So it's just me in the boss here and today promised to be a busy day since for the last 2 weeks almost everyday we've been open has been raining hard. Boss is like you got this fam and heads out to have a nice long lunch with his wife... of course before he does this he makes sure to tell someone that called in that yes we can take apart her computers and the harddrives in them while she watches... without telling me or thinking hey this is something that takes a long time and there's no way 1 person could do this while handling other customers.

So sure enough things get super busy and she shows up. Super nice and pretty good looking (solid 8-8.5) so don't really mind spending the 20 or so minutes this will take with her... but already have 4 customers waiting and this isn't something we normally do and I haven't been told. End up trying to do her after that batch of customers. 2 of them were in a hurray that thought hey it would save time and money to combine things. Sure whatever we don't normally do this but I got people waiting. Except one lady had 6 times as much as the other lady and wanted to split the bill 60/40. Other lady gets somewhat understandably mad since she ends up paying the same if they didn't combine. I try to stay out of it and let them work things out but then the lady who felt she was being cheated starts accusing me of cheating the other lady and charging too much saying how she was quote half that price for about half that much stuff. Yeah lady more costs more and wtf do you care if I cheat her you were just fighting with her a second ago. Go thru that a few times how that was more and she just gets more pissy and says she's calling my boss. Whatever bitch I got like 2 more customers before I can start working with someone I actually want to so just give me money and leave.

Finally get done with that batch get half way done taking apart the first computer though having trouble since one hard drive is stuck and it appears whoever put this together loved using rivets in places screws should have gone 4 more customers show up. Mid way thru them boss gets back and for ultimate fail I have to keep helping shitty customers while he takes computer chick.

Edit: oh yeah still haven't had lunch

[Brill Weave]

Found a million dollar mistake that my boss and his boss completely missed. Which is going to remove a million from our shoestring operations budget. Hurray......

[Vandalhart]

The latest rainstorm has us without power for a possibility of a couple/few days so we're camping out in a hotel with our 12 day old... huzzah.

[Tokitoki]

At some point they're going to push the carless Manhattan idea further along and it's gonna be amazing.

Won't happen any time soon, if ever. I'd rather not drive around Manhattan or the city in general, but I have to for my job. I wouldn't be able to get half the things done I normally would in a day without a car. To get from a field office to my main office, or vice versa, would mean 1 meeting would take up my entire day. Forget about having to go to multiple locations for my various jobs.

Also, I find that pedestrians are a problem. It isn't just the drivers. Because they're pedestrians and it's been drilled into their heads that they have the right of way they'll walk into traffic against a cross signal causing traffic to stop. It's usually one person that starts it and then a crowd follows them because they're not actually paying attention.

[BaneTheBrawler]

a truly carless city is unfeasible, but it would be relatively easy to solve many traffic problems by putting traffic underground, with the surface available only to pedestrians/human-powered traffic like bikes. in an existing city like NY the simplest solution is probably to build up. create a new surface layer above the streets for pedestrians. you'd still have the occasional asshole darting through traffic but that would be eliminated as the city adapted to the new surface level (moving storefronts up a floor, enforcing fines for jaywalking, adapting to it socially where everyone gives you dirty looks if you do The Thing), and eventually you'd have truly a truly modern city. Really, the only reason to have pedestrian and vehicle traffic on the same plane is because we lacked the capability to do anything else when most of our cities were built and it costs money to change shit.

combine the separation of pedestrian and vehicle traffic with automated vehicles and you'd begin to see truly wonderful travel times. hop in your car, punch in your destination, arrive in subterranean parking, possibly at the building or maybe just nearby, take an elevator up a floor, walk (or bike) the remaining distance and you're golden.

[Tokitoki]

To move traffic or pedestrians to a higher or lower level, especially in a city like NYC, is not feasible either. Even considering cost, which you mentioned, there is still the issue of the structures themselves. If you're building above the roadway you're going to need to support the structure which means putting columns and footings on existing sidewalk and roadways. Now try doing this across and entire city that is laid out in a grid.

Can't go underground, either, since the city has several different tunnels for trains, subway, and vehicles that already exist. In addition you have building basements, parking garages, utilities, old structures, etc. Take all that and add in the fact that a good portion of Manhattan is fill material taken out from the center of the island when it was being built and you have crappy soil conditions to deal with on top of it.

It can be done if the city is planned and built that way to start, but you won't be able to retrofit a city with that type of infrastructure. Well, I guess you could if you wanted to spend the entire federal budget on a single city.

[BaneTheBrawler]

yeah. it can be done, but as you say, fantastically expensive. it's just that putting traffic under the existing ground level would be even MORE expensive.

honestly I think the best way to approach it is to set the ball in motion with smaller stuff, like elevated crosswalks. you climb the stairs or ride an elevator up a story, cross, then back down. maybe have huge lifts, or something, to elevate a bunch of people. hell, maybe a mini-trolly: have it work kinda like a roller coaster. have a continual track with waiting "cars" where you press a button and it grabs onto a chain, pulling the car up and across to the other side where it detaches from the chain and comes to a stop. be difficult to do with the limited roadside space available but not prohibitively expensive, and since you're eliminating one of the major traffic obstacles it might be possible to eat a lane to make room. Eventually, you can expand that into elevated walkways, from which point the existence of a subterranean traffic level is just a matter of self interest. Once you have elevated walkways, people are gonna want shortcuts. Shortcuts mean bridges to the buildings, which means increased foot traffic on the second story, which means storefronts moving up a floor, which means increased foot traffic on the second story, which requires more/better walkways, and eventually you end up with a true artificial ground level.

[Jefe]

There was an experiment cunducted by MIT (?) about this subject. Their conclusion was that automated vehicles were the better option (and cheapest) w/ 40% of traffic reduction (in NYC).

[dasva]

Yay swamped again today customer asks me if some guy can use the bathroom... we got a line going out the door and I can't see him but I assume she is asking for the guy she came with so I just say sure without thinking. No she's asking if some dirty smelly homeless guy who walked by... who rushes into the bathroom and stays there for a good 20 minutes before leaving it uninhabitable. Who the hell asks someone if some random homeless guy can use the bathroom. Wtf people

[tyven]

There was an experiment cunducted by MIT (?) about this subject. Their conclusion was that automated vehicles were the better option (and cheapest) w/ 40% of traffic reduction (in NYC).

i am not surprised based on the way nyc cab drivers drive. holy shit it is so frightening

[Ksandra]

Total FWP:

Home sick with a cold. Really want some of my pita bread and Bulgarian Feta. Market that sells it is 25 min away. F. That.

[dasva]

Can't you get uber to deliver?

[Yuri-G]

people who think that customer service = punching bag: go fuck yourself. that is all. thank you!

[Ksandra]

Can't you get uber to deliver?

why would I spend the money for that? It's only 25 min away!

(fwp fwp fwp)


[edit] that would actually complete defeat the purpose of the pita bread part. Legit pita brands sell like 6 slices for a dollar. Local american stores sell that sarah lee brand as 6 slices for $5 dollars. It's dumb.


It would solve the feta though as american stores don't sell bulgarian.

[Boyiee]

Mom got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis today. Been waiting a couple months for diagnosis kinda knew it would be that so I'm okay with it, but she's gonna be put on methotrexate which I'm not happy about.

[Heavencloud]

I'd prefer doctor but I really don't care. I went to school to be a doctor, not important.

The difference between mister and doctor is academic and respectful, but it's not like calling me mister suddenly will make my degree disappear.

During undergrad one of my friends mistakenly called our Naturopathic doc anatomy teacher "last name" instead of "Dr. last name." She lost her shit. That old bitch. God knows how she even got a job at a state university.

[Tomiko]

To move traffic or pedestrians to a higher or lower level, especially in a city like NYC, is not feasible either.

It worked for the Jetsons.