Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler The Daily Gripe

Alex, it was going over quite well as a simple discussion of tools until some members chose to use it as a cesspool for their political/social thoughts.

The issue is the need felt by the government to put braille on a drive-in ATM keyboard.

I don't have any of those problems with my friends on Facebook.

I think there is a case for Braille on ATM drive through machines.

Getting on an on-ramp for the interstate, spotting a hole, flooring it and trying to hit the hole. But the car in the rear of the hole decides to speed up and close the gap, just for the fun of it. So, we're racing side by side with me on the shoulder where I just pull my car into the spot anyway. Either she moves, or there's going to be a lot of green paint on her white car. Then get yelled at and given the finger for doing so. Grrrrr.

Here's the real reason: The manufacturer (often Diebold) uses the same parts for walk-up and drive-up ATMs. All their keypads have braille.

Duh?

Jack... I find myself saying, no almost yelling out loud at the people about to merge onto the interstate (sorry, we don't call them freeways in Iowa) with a posted speed limit of 70 MPH (meaning people are cruising about 75-80 MPH, and they are just humming along the onramp at 40 MPH and wondering why they can't ever get into the flow of traffic.

I was just commenting on why it could actually be useful, not the real reason, but thanks for the condescending "Duh".

In honor of National Donut Day, a coworker brought in a dozen assorted Krispy Kremes. I've eaten three of them and now have a hyperglycemic brain fog. I think I need a nap. Dammit! Doh! Why is my life so hard?!

Bringin' back the gripe...

My employer just inacted a new travel policy. It used to be that any expense under $25 I did not need to keep a receipt for. Now, I need a receipt for EVERYTHING that I expense off. That includes those times when I have no time to stop and get a meal at an airport (or it is late and the food places are closed) and I get a drink and snack out of a vending machine... Oh wait, no receipt there, so no reimbursement. Or when I am driving and have a toll. Now I have to hope for a toll booth that actually has a person and have to ask for a receipt every time, even for a $1.00 toll. Nevermind those on/off ramp ones that aren't staffed.

I know that this may seem petty to some, to worry about $1.00 here or $7.00 there (soda and bag of chips at some airports), but when I am traveling because of work, it shouldn't cost me money to be there when work is requiring it.

Now I *DO* understand that I am sure that some people were scamming the system or taking advantage of it by eating a dollar burger or something for lunch and expensing off a $24 meal instead, but for the honest people, this sucks. I know that every trip will end with at least a few bucks in expenses without receipts and thus it will cost me to travel when my work requires it.

For those of you that think that I still get the benefit of eating out, or going to a movie (which costs me anyway), I would much rather be at home for those evenings. I also am losing a lot of the travel benefit programs. It will take a year to get back into Enterprise GOLD level after I spent all of last year working to Avis FIRST level per their request. Make up your mind on who I should be renting with.

Not to mention that they will no longer pay for my Delta AmEx annual fee. They used to pay the annual fee since I could then check my luggage for free (2 of my trips covered the annual fee, so it saved them money), but now they won't do that. The benefit from this was that every year I received a free companion ticket that we used and saved us $500+ per vacation. I also will no longer be able to book that companion ticket if I pay for the annual fee myself as I always tie a vacation into a work trip so that my flight was paid for by work (as long as it was the same of cheaper for them) and then I used that for booking the companion ticket for my wife. I was allowed to do that by booking on Delta.com (a requirement for when using a companion ticket) and attaching a copy of the purchase information. Now, everything MUST go through the company travel site, no exceptions. I also am wondering how this will impact my SkyMiles membership since Delta is now tracking miles and dollars spent. The miles will be there, but how they track or IF they allow the dollars from a 3rd party booking site to count will be a big question.

So I am losing pretty much all benefits of traveling for work minus some of the base level mileage, and it is actually going to cost me money to travel for work each year...

THAT, folks, has been my daily gripe.

It is unfortunate that the honest responsible people are often negatively affected by the actions and attitudes of those that are "less" so. I experienced this at a large company I worked for. When one employee caused trouble (cheated, lied, stole, abused the rules, acted as if "entitled", etc, etc.), rather than dealing with THAT persons transgressions, they would enact some new "company policy" that affected everybody.
Stick to your high ethical standards, don't be dragged down to the lowest common denominator.

Dave

Oddball gripe of the day. It is 76F outside and my wife has the fireplace and blower running and is sitting 2 feet in front of it. It is her birthday, so I am just letting it happen... for now.

Gripe: Why do builders do dumb things when building houses? House is 16 years old and ...

I want to know why the electrical code still allows for a hot wire (black) to be connected to a light socket, and have the switch close the circuit (black & white)? Rather than have the hot wire must go the the switch, and have the light socket close the circuit? That way when the light switch is off, there is no power going to the light socket and you can't electrocute yourself.

My whole basement was done wrong.. well it doesn't even meet code as they used black and white wires rather than back and red it indicate they both can be hot. Lucky for me I turned off the power and checked the junction box before assuming it was done correctly.

Doesn't any contractor take pride in their work and do it right the first time.

Seniors?? Them's fightin words...

TAM

I want to know why the electrical code still allows for a hot wire (black) to be connected to a light socket, and have the switch close the circuit (black & white)? Rather than have the hot wire must go the the switch, and have the light socket close the circuit? That way when the light switch is off, there is no power going to the light socket and you can't electrocute yourself.

My whole basement was done wrong.. well it doesn't even meet code as they used black and white wires rather than back and red it indicate they both can be hot. Lucky for me I turned off the power and checked the junction box before assuming it was done correctly.

Doesn't any contractor take pride in their work and do it right the first time.

That is up to code. A white wire after the panel can be used as an identified wire to a switch. Down on white, back on black. Any electrician would know this going into a switch box, or a fixture box. Sounds like it was done correctly to me. Rest easy.

But as you said Bob.. The owner before me probably went with the lesser price[...] To justify it by saying that they charged less so what did the customer expect is a bit of a crock. it's like GM saying that the customer should have known better in buying their cars with a faulty ignition switch rather than paying more and getting a mercedes benz. They paid less so why should they expect to get something that works properly and not kill them.

This thread is meant to be therapeutic. Get that stuff out there so that it isn't bottled up inside so that you can move on and enjoy the rest of your day/life.

Ohhhhhh. Now I get it, Nick. I USED to need a thread for that. Now I have prescriptions.

My gripes would be self-incriminating.