What Irked You Today?

[espo]

Enterprise Car Rental!   I booked a standard size sedan to take an important person from NJ to Syracuse, NY for business. This morning my wife drops me off to pick up the car and guess what?  They had no cars.  The guy points at this Ford crew cab 4x4 and tells me that's my car!  Um no. Before mentioned important person will not be scrambling up into this friggin thing.  Then I overhear them offering the guy in line behind me a Dodge Caravan. I turn around and yell that I would take the Caravan.  Clown behind the counter then back peddles that there is no Caravan.  After a few more minutes (now they're giving the crew cab to the guy behind me) and they pull a Ford Fiesta out of their hat.  Still not the right car but I'm stuck and late at this point so I take it.  As I'm pulling out of the lot, they pull the Caravan out from the garage.  I get to the pickup point, and the mentioned important person complains that the car is too small.  Oh, Enterprise is going to suffer the wrath of Tom on Friday.

Ford Fiesta?  The 6 hour test drive that convinced me I'd never want to own one.  Locally it's peppy and goes where you point it.  On the hilly ride to Syracuse it struggles and spent a lot of time down shifted to make hills.  Quite a bit under powered.   And way too small to put business customers into.

Gee Tom, why didn't you reserve a specific type of vehicle prior to your trip?  I'm able to do that with Alamo all the time.

I have been using Enterprise for 10 years about 3 times each year. Never a problem and almost always get a free upgrade. Maybe I just have a good one close to the house.

I have used Enterprise on only a few occasions and every time it was like "Lets Make a Deal" with them. I tried reserving a Pontiac Bonneville several years ago and was assured it would be waiting. A Toyota Camry is not a Bonneville no matter what they think. Needed a full size car for a vacation and at least I got a Dodge Magnum wagon but with the 2.7 liter engine I was a mobile road hazard. Got a Grand Prix in Seattle once with bald front tires. The last time I needed a full size car to take Wife, Mother-in-law, and others to a family funeral. After threatening to call Corporate Headquarters, and I wasn't kidding, they gave me a Ford "Exploder" which worked out fine since it had started to snow. I almost had to take a second on our home to pay for all the gas that thing used. If I ever rent another car it will not be from Enterprise. Did I mention the Chevrolet Spectrum that they gave us in Hawaii years ago. That thing could not get to the top of the Volcano on Maui and almost couldn't stop at the bottom of the hill.         

[Rob Hall]

I've had mixed results with Enterprise and Alamo/National in the past.   Reserved a full size luxury car from a neighborhood Enterprise, got a Yukon (which was fine).   In the last couple of years, I've used only Hertz Club Gold... good selection of clean vehicles, and it's hard to beat passing by the counter and going straight to the lot to a specific car (or lately a row of cars and picking out one). 

[crazyjim]

National has the Emerald Club but Alamo prices are cheaper.  You do all the Alamo paperwork online, but if there's a line of people, you're going to wait.

[russosborne]

Well, my lousy job luck continues. We just got told this afternoon that they are shutting down our shift. Sunday will be my last day if I manage to make it that long. Kind of hard to be motivated to get up at 4 am now. Need the money so I am going to try.
They are going to move some people, but I'm not going to be one of them. Given the options, I don't want to be one of them. I've always felt like this was not going to last, and it turns out it didn't. Only not my fault this time.

Russ

[cowboy rich]

Well, my lousy job luck continues. We just got told this afternoon that they are shutting down our shift. Sunday will be my last day if I manage to make it that long. Kind of hard to be motivated to get up at 4 am now. Need the money so I am going to try.
They are going to move some people, but I'm not going to be one of them. Given the options, I don't want to be one of them. I've always felt like this was not going to last, and it turns out it didn't. Only not my fault this time.

Russ

darn Russ if it weren't for bad luck you'd have non at all lately, sorry to hear the news. 

[russosborne]

Thanks.

Turns out I couldn't get to sleep, so I am not going to try to go in. Working a 12 hour shift is hard enough, but with no sleep and no motivation we decided it just wasn't worth the little bit of money. It isn't going to be fun there anyways, lots of very unhappy people. Came totally out of the blue for us.

Russ

[martinfan5]

Broke my butter dish, chaps my hide.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I buy a LOT of things in different categories on Ebay, and every time I go to the damm site, the functionality is worse. I guess they're hiring their IT people on the basis of who works cheapest, apparently the same criteria Photobucket did their hiring on.

Their increasingly useless and buggy search functions continue to degrade, but it seems every week they send me more multiple useless and annoying "BID NOW BEFORE IT GETS AWAY !!!!!!" emails on every damm thing I've put in my watch list, as well as a plethora of other useless and annoying "updates".

The site used to actually WORK. Now it rarely does without having to resort to all sorts of klugey workarounds to find what I'm after.

I'm invariably called out and criticized for mentioning the rampant stupidity and incompetence in any number of professions these days, but I can tell what WORKS and I can tell what DOESN'T, and what was obviously done by I-don't-give-a-damm-just-give-me-a-paycheck idiots.

Idiocracy. It's the new reality.

 

[martinfan5]

Bought a package of round tortilla shells, you know for making tostada's ( not El Paso brand ) anyways, what burnt my bacon was more than half of them were cracked/ broken, so instead of tostada shells, It was a bag of tortilla chips.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by martinfan5

[Mark]

I buy a LOT of things in different categories on Ebay, and every time I go to the damm site, the functionality is worse. I guess they're hiring their IT people on the basis of who works cheapest, apparently the same criteria Photobucket did their hiring on.

Their increasingly useless and buggy search functions continue to degrade, but it seems every week they send me more multiple useless and annoying "BID NOW BEFORE IT GETS AWAY !!!!!!" emails on every damm thing I've put in my watch list, as well as a plethora of other useless and annoying "updates".

The site used to actually WORK. Now it rarely does without having to resort to all sorts of klugey workarounds to find what I'm after.

I'm convinced that most IT people just fiddle with a program until they stumble into a change that they think looks cool, then they push that change-for-the-sake-of-change as the latest "improvement".  I've lost count of the "improvements" that add steps to a procedure, while claiming to "simplify" said procedure.  They don't work with the program on any regular basis other than to tinker with it, clutter it up with "new" functions that nobody ever uses, and change the graphics and move the icons around.  They haven't figured out that what separates a great artist from a mediocre one, is that the great artist knows when to put the brush down.  Get it to work, then leave it alone.  It's particularly aggravating when they are doing this change-for-the-sake-of-change nonsense, while existing, glaring problems are ignored.

eBay's mission seems to just get you to look at the site longer so they can sell more listings.  They're already giving away continuous re-listings to the various "sell a model kit one piece at a time" dreamers...just make those clowns pay ten cents for each re-listing, and watch the site magically clean itself up... 

[martinfan5]

I cant say I have noticed any issues or had to use any sort of "work arounds" to get Ebay to work, it just does.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I cant say I have noticed any issues or had to use any sort of "work arounds" to get Ebay to work, it just does.

It depends on what you search for, and how you search. Functionality used to be the same across the site, and it no longer always is.

I've reported multiple functionality issues to the Ebay admins, and remarkably, several have been corrected. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had problems and brought them to the attention of management over there.

And as Mark mentions above, they DO seem to have a propensity for making changes solely for the sake of change, and adding lots of "new features" that are essentially useless and redundant.

 

[Danno]

Credo seen on the eBay wall:   "It seemed like a good idea at the time . . . "

[Tom Geiger]

For anyone following my week... my life is a series of highs and lows!

My wife got hired from her temp job. We now have employer benefits. Still costs us $1000 a month,  much better than the $2000 a month I was paying as self employed! (High!)

We finally got our new fence around the pool in the backyard!   After dealing with contractors who way overpriced the job, to those who wanted cash and no permits, I finally got a decent reputable company to do the job for what I estimated!  (High)

On day two of the pool installation, putting in the very last post... they hit a pool line!  As I sit here, I am waiting for the pool company crew to come and dig it up. (Low)

During Saturday's storm a huge tree came down at the back of the property.. took out a whole section of the one day old fence. (Low)

Probably will have to pay for fence repair (Low)

Innocently asked homeowners association if it's their tree.  It's probably mine, but it's worth a shot!  Figure I'm paying for this one too (Low)

I had moved my Dodge Caravan into the street so contractors could use driveway. My wife comes home and said the van window was open. No way, I had locked it. Yup, locked it... but the window mechanism had broke, and window is stuck down in the door.  (Low)

As a further kick in the tail, the van that always starts, won't.  Nothing more than a jump start but a further pain (Low)

Got a really cool stamp for my collection in the mail yesterday. $500 catalog value for $45 bid.. even the losers get lucky sometimes. (High)

I leave for work this morning, and PT was acting up.  It needs state inspection by end of month anyway, so I take it to the mechanic.  Let him figure it out.  (Low)

So now I'm sitting home for the day, working at my kitchen table.  Can't wait to see what happens next!

Edited July 25, 2017 by Tom Geiger

[mikemodeler]

Buy a lottery ticket Tom, gotta figure you are due to win!

 

[Rob Hall]

Had some weird issues w/ the car alarm in my Jeep yesterday.   Was on the phone w/ Chrysler UConnect service trying to shut off the alarm (it eventually did shut off)..    Got to get into the dealer to get it diagnosed.    

[waynehulsey]

My phone going off at 4 or 5 in the morning. Then the alarm going about every 10 minutes. After finally getting up, finding it and checking it; turns out to be an Amber Alert from Yuma 200 miles away. Had to take the battery out since those and like last week with flash flood warnings you can't just turn it off. If it has power, the alert overrides and turns the phone back on. Haven't been able to figure out how to turn them off so I don't get them. Took it to the store a week ago and the guy there thought he had it set up were it would have an audible alarm. Wrong. I don't want to get them, I don't care, its not my problem. My old phone that got broke when my car got wreaked a few months ago didn't do this. This is already the 2nd one I've had and had to order it. The store only had those smart phones and got the simplest one they had. After 4 days without being able to consistently even make a call, took it back and had them order the one I have now.

To tie this with the line a few posts back about Enterprise. Had to rent a car after the wreck. Besides my phone no they wanted a 2nd number. Found an old card in my wallet from Phoenix PD when they came out for one of the incidents when I was still bus driving so gave that to them. Guess they never called it since they didn't say anything when I brought the car back. 

Just went off again. Time to go around with their tech department again. I hate most technology, especially phones and cars. My black wall phone and my 52 Kaiser.

[Toner283]

My phone going off at 4 or 5 in the morning. Then the alarm going about every 10 minutes. After finally getting up, finding it and checking it; turns out to be an Amber Alert from Yuma 200 miles away. Had to take the battery out since those and like last week with flash flood warnings you can't just turn it off. If it has power, the alert overrides and turns the phone back on. Haven't been able to figure out how to turn them off so I don't get them. Took it to the store a week ago and the guy there thought he had it set up were it would have an audible alarm. Wrong. I don't want to get them, I don't care, its not my problem. My old phone that got broke when my car got wreaked a few months ago didn't do this. This is already the 2nd one I've had and had to order it. The store only had those smart phones and got the simplest one they had. After 4 days without being able to consistently even make a call, took it back and had them order the one I have now.

To tie this with the line a few posts back about Enterprise. Had to rent a car after the wreck. Besides my phone no they wanted a 2nd number. Found an old card in my wallet from Phoenix PD when they came out for one of the incidents when I was still bus driving so gave that to them. Guess they never called it since they didn't say anything when I brought the car back. 

Just went off again. Time to go around with their tech department again. I hate most technology, especially phones and cars. My black wall phone and my 52 Kaiser.

Have you tried putting the phone in flight mode? Most phones have an internet connection even if they are turned off but flight mode kills the internet connection completely. Should stop the alarms in the middle of the night. Clock alarms and such all still work though.

[waynehulsey]

So you're saying even if I don't have an internet setup on the phone, there is still a connection? So they can be monitoring you at any time. I only use it for calls, don't even do texting (actually don't know how to and no interest in learning. Was wondering what that flight mode thing was since this is the 1st phone I've seen with it. Think I might just continue with taking the battery out if I'm not using it, only make 5 or 6 calls a month on the average anyway.

 

And yes, when I'm not using the computer, I turn off and unplug everything...and if I'm just doing photo editing and don't need the internet most times I unplug the modem.

Edited July 26, 2017 by waynehulsey
adding stuff

[Bob Turner2]

So you're saying even if I don't have an internet setup on the phone, there is still a connection? So they can be monitoring you at any time. I only use it for calls, don't even do texting (actually don't know how to and no interest in learning. Was wondering what that flight mode thing was since this is the 1st phone I've seen with it. Think I might just continue with taking the battery out if I'm not using it, only make 5 or 6 calls a month on the average anyway.

 

And yes, when I'm not using the computer, I turn off and unplug everything...and if I'm just doing photo editing and don't need the internet most times I unplug the modem.

Reading such an irrationally paranoid comment like this about the internet that was posted on the internet is perhaps the most pluperfect example of absurdist irony I believe I've ever seen.......

[Rob Hall]

Reading such an irrationally paranoid comment like this about the internet that was posted on the internet is perhaps the most pluperfect example of absurdist irony I believe I've ever seen.......

For the win.  Best post on here today.  Sadly, the hobby is full of luddites. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

For the win.  Best post on here today.  Sadly, the hobby is full of luddites. 

And fools.

But I have to give a man points for using "pluperfect example of absurdist irony" on a model car board.   

Edited July 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[waynehulsey]

Reading such an irrationally paranoid comment like this about the internet that was posted on the internet is perhaps the most pluperfect example of absurdist irony I believe I've ever seen.......

Thank you, also somewhat an asocial sociopath. Just old habits die hard from my SDS-Weatherman days, but the primary reason is I'm a cheapskate and don't want to pay for the vampire power usage.

And freely admit to being somewhat a Luddite when it comes to most electronic and digital technology.

[Allen Wrench]

So you're saying even if I don't have an internet setup on the phone, there is still a connection? So they can be monitoring you at any time. I only use it for calls, don't even do texting (actually don't know how to and no interest in learning. Was wondering what that flight mode thing was since this is the 1st phone I've seen with it. Think I might just continue with taking the battery out if I'm not using it, only make 5 or 6 calls a month on the average anyway.

 

And yes, when I'm not using the computer, I turn off and unplug everything...and if I'm just doing photo editing and don't need the internet most times I unplug the modem.

To quote the lady in the commercial: "That's not how ANY of this works!"

Edited July 27, 2017 by Allen Wrench

[blunc]

To quote the lady in the commercial: "That's not how ANY of this works!"

apparently, it does work that way at his house.