Random Rants
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@jerkules 15 minute units? Was she at an American firm? I understand from my peers who have gone to firms that are HQ'd in the US that the smallest unit they bill is 15 minutes (the norm in the UK has traditionally been 6 minutes, so 10 units in an hour). What billing in 15 minute units means is that you can create crazy targets for the younglings: because every tiny email that takes you 30s to read magically becomes a quarter-of-an-hour when you stick it on the timesheet, you can get the younglings to bill in excess of 24 hours a day. My mates from law school said their targets in these firms were nuts.
I got sacked from a job for a car insurance company once. I was working for a subsidiary as a paralegal in their traffic accident claims dept. They had a good, automated database system that would practically write the court documents for you based on the data entered by the guys who received the claim in the first place. So it would take me ~3 mins to draft a claim form by clicking a few buttons and give it a once-over, a qualified solicitor would inspect it in 30s or so, and then I'd send it to the court. One day I noticed that we were including a claim for an hour of a solicitor's time in drafting this document. I raised this with a superior, questioning whether this was fraudulent (according to the statutory definition - a misrepresentation with the intent to thereby cause a gain to oneself or another or loss to another). I also questioned why we were discouraged from picking up the phone and trying to settle claims without having to issue formal proceedings. I was summarily sacked the next day, but with 2 months pay (to stop me complaining I guess). In my naivety I hadn't realised that inflating these little legal costs here and there was how the subsidiary I worked for made money. I'm sure other insurance companies do this too - end result is that everyone's insurance is slightly higher than it needs to be to pay commercially ruthless lawyers.
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wanna watch the world burn?
make sure the internet collapses during a work event where everything is connected to it in a building with 0 to no cellular connectivity and watch all hell break loose
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Oh dude. Sigh. I'm sorry — we live in an immensely fucked up time.
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@Mizmazzle hate hearing that man. We have a lot of that here where I live too. Kid got suspended for bringing his BB gun to my son’s middle school a few weeks back. Truly it’s an epidemic and scares the shit out of my wife and me.
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It’s crazy to think that I’ve been carrying pocket knives since I was 12 years old and even carried them to school without a second thought. Once in high school, one of the teachers needed a knife to cut something and just about every guy pulled out their knife to help…
Wouldn’t dream about doing that now.
"I don't give a shit what anyone else is doing, we will do what is best for us and our customers" - Giles P. :)
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@Mizmazzle When i was in high school circa '96 I had a classmate for a speech do a full show and tell on how to put a dip in. From smacking the canister to opening and pinching it and shoving it in his lip. I don't think the speech actually made it to the end, but now that I look back, it's funnier than a pocket full of bullets.
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@jordanscollected amazing! "Alright, classmates. This... is Copie. None of that long cut stuff." tap tap tap
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@goosehd said in Random Rants:
It’s crazy to think that I’ve been carrying pocket knives since I was 12 years old and even carried them to school without a second thought. Once in high school, one of the teachers needed a knife to cut something and just about every guy pulled out their knife to help…
Wouldn’t dream about doing that now.
I haven’t gone anywhere without it since I was the same age. It’s a tool, not a weapon…unless used as a defensive tool. Otherwise, you’re doing the wrong thing.
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@WhiskeySandwich My thoughts too...
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@jordanscollected that guy sounds awesome!! I once gave a report on Metallica in high school. For the first 2 minutes of the presentation I handed out a little fact sheet about the band. For the next 8 minutes 36 seconds, I stood stone still at the front of the class and played Master of Puppets in its entirety.
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@Mizmazzle A+
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@Mizmazzle My best friend passed away earlier this year and Master of Puppets was his favorite song (and one of mine). We blared it over and over while we roller bladed (long story) at his funeral.
I would have been at full attention for that speech.
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@jordanscollected damn. That’s so hard bro. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you guys sent off your boy in a way he would have been proud of…roller blades and all!!
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When my wife and I go to a new place, we often end up checking out the local shops to see what’s what. I’m not into knickknacks or bullcrap, so I’ll most likely look at the clothing stores and see what they have for men.
We were in eureka spring Arkansas last week and there was a store with north face, howler brothers, Patagonia, Kuhl, and some other fairly pricey for typical clothes brands.
I couldn’t believe how thin and cheap the shirts and pants felt. I know I’m biased for heavyweight gear, but I feel like these brands may be slipping to the save money side.
Anyone else seeing similar things from the outdoor focused Rei/mall brands?
Edit: I don’t know why I had to tell the whole story, but instead of cutting it down I added this last bit.
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@jordanscollected Yes, I have been cleaning out my closet and going pretty minimalist. I had amassed a huge amount of 'cheap' clothes over the past decade. I never get rid of them unless they're shredded. Now, I'm so spoiled that when trying these clothes on, and they don't fit right, I just put them in a bag and chuck them in the clothes bin at the dump.
The whole reason I found IH was because other "Premium Mediocre" brands' quality has been failing. I was tired of blowing through stretchy jeans and never felt like they fit right, or had a good 'wash'. Every other brand letting me down led me here. -
Yeah it's pretty wild. I feel like Patagonia still holds up pretty well, although it's nothing compared to Iron Heart quality. Companies everywhere are cutting corners, and I don't mean to be too cynical here, but I feel like it's all just for favoring shareholders vs consumers. Seems like all the inflation stuff scared investors so much that the reaction was "oh dear, we can't let them lose any money!" followed by raising prices (permanently) and lowering quality.
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Totally agree. After all, businesses are only in business to make money. The only businesses (in my experience) that have meticulous quality, guarantees, and are product enthusiasts, are the small micro-productions. This goes for motorcycles too, since we're in the Random Rants section. Another place this is happening is music. It's been said a thousand times before, but rock-and-roll is dead. There are practically no new rock productions ending up in "Pop Media" with any kind of frequency remotely approaching that of 10 years ago, or maybe closer to 15 even. Maybe I'm missing something?
