Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13252462 times)

Fireman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1600 on: January 27, 2014, 06:11:02 PM »
^ What he said.

sheepstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1601 on: January 28, 2014, 09:41:49 PM »
I agree, the money may have been worth it, but going behind her husband's back to the tune of an additional $1500 over what he agreed on on it was the issue.

We expect an update when the fallout comes, yes?

LibraTraci

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1602 on: January 29, 2014, 12:08:23 AM »
Receptionist at work talking about when they bought their bed:
 . . .  I knew he'd want to kill me when he saw the bank statement but it's a nice bed!"

Proposed response to receptionist:  "Well, perhaps he will let you have the bed as part of your divorce settlement!" 


Melody

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1603 on: January 29, 2014, 06:16:19 AM »
Receptionist at work talking about when they bought their bed:
 . . .  I knew he'd want to kill me when he saw the bank statement but it's a nice bed!"

Proposed response to receptionist:  "Well, perhaps he will let you have the bed as part of your divorce settlement!"

Classic!

Ottawa

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1604 on: January 29, 2014, 06:44:26 AM »
This couple can't get by on 4 million in assets.  WOW
 
http://business.financialpost.com/2014/01/29/even-with-a-net-worth-of-4-million-retirement-at-50-is-a-struggle/

Oops...wrong place!
« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 06:52:54 AM by Ottawa »

GuitarStv

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1605 on: January 29, 2014, 06:48:46 AM »

I don't think it was the same price but I know it wasn't twice the price. Your probably supposed to use distilled water but ive used tap water every time and never had any issues.
Found this while trying to collect my thoughts on the 100% coolant.
It is not recommended to use 100%, but anywhere between a 50/50 mix and a 30/70 (30 being water, 70 being the antifreeze) mix is good.  if you live in the south, 50/50 is the most you would want, but if you live in the north, 30/70 is a good idea.  most people answering have been saying that pure antifreeze will freeze sooner than 50/50, but in fact, it has by far the most protection from freezing, if that were all you cared about, then that would be great!  What you need the water for is to move the heat around, ethylene glycol (the main part of most antifreeze) is a very poor conductor of heat.  also, the reaction that at least one answer talks about is for the boiling point, not the freezing point.  the peak freezing point, as i said earlier is with 100% antifreeze, however the peak boiling point is with 67% antifreeze.  the final reason for the mix is corrosion, and the best mix to prevent corrosion is generally with a 50/50 mix.
As most have said, i would recommend that you get the right mix in, but it is not the end of the world if you can't fix it, just use the right mix next time.

If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.

 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .

Hedge_87

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1606 on: January 29, 2014, 06:56:05 AM »
Ive had a friend go work in Fairbanks before. I remember her commenting on that. We only have to plug Diesel engines in down here and even that isn't all winter. -40 you can keep that noise I'd much rather be in 100+ with high humidity!!

Posthumane

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1607 on: January 29, 2014, 07:16:56 AM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid. If your coolant is fresh, as in you change it every few years because it does degrade with time, a 70/30 mixture of ethelyne glycol to water should be good down to around -51 C. It should be noted that pure ethelyne glycol has a freezing point of -12 C though.

Since this is an overheard at work thread though, one of my co-workers told me they pay about $10-20 for overdraft fees pretty much every month, since every month they end up dipping into their bank accounts just a little past empty.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 07:21:00 AM by Posthumane »

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1608 on: January 29, 2014, 07:26:21 AM »
Bonuses are announced today.  A woman in my row said she hopes it is big because she needs the money to pay for her Disney vacation.

This is the same woman who told me how expensive it is to have kids and she didn't have enough money.  Yet she drives a $1/mile new SUV into work, 45 miles each way, each day.  That's $21,150 spent each year, just driving to and from work.

Bigote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1609 on: January 29, 2014, 07:27:26 AM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid.

Maybe he meant -40F. 

plainjane

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1610 on: January 29, 2014, 07:29:37 AM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid.
Maybe he meant -40F.

Are you joking?  -40 is where C vs. F doesn't matter

Hedge_87

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1611 on: January 29, 2014, 08:03:23 AM »
Pretty much every thing negative is bad. Wait pretty much anything below +40 is bad.

My co workers right now are talking about car payments. One guy says that he plans to only have one car payment at a time. (2 car family) so once one is paid for they trade the older paid one off for a new one and just repeat the cycle everytime one car gets paid off. (Hope I explained it well enough)

Bigote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1612 on: January 29, 2014, 09:01:48 AM »
[Are you joking?  -40 is where C vs. F doesn't matter

Looks like I need to work on my delivery.   

sheepstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1613 on: January 29, 2014, 10:59:34 AM »
I only work with her during tax season and I got the impression this happened sometime last year so I'm sure the fallout already happened and she left that part out of the story
[/quote]

Aw, too bad.

I have three mild ones.

1. A freelancer at work was complaining that checking accounts used to be free and the $1500 minimum balance to avoid fees was too high.  I mentioned that Ally and a lot of other online free ones will cover your first $6-worth of atm fees.  She said there was no way she could use an atm that few number of times even if she took a big chunk of cash out each time.  To be fair, she works over a large area so it is probably more difficult to keep herself fed without trips to the deli.  And she's working her passion and building it into a career, so the low bank account balance  is understandable.  And her solution is to find a credit union that will give her a better deal.  But I still found the idea that you would need to go to an atm so often befuddling.

2. A co-worker had made tacos the night before and was complaining about how expensive it was.  It's not the first time she's complained about how cooking is almost as expensive as eating out.  She's a good cook and isn't making lobster every night or anything.  I'm actually not sure how to easily get across the right strategies, like planning for the week so you can use up all of the ingredients or basing the menu on sales.

3.  The spouse has a reimbursement check from work for $40 that he just found.  It's from over a year ago.  He's like, 'Eh.  I'm not going to bother with this.'  I just... I just don't get it.

foobar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1614 on: January 29, 2014, 11:21:34 AM »
This actual sounds about right. He buys the first car with an 84 month loan and then by the time the second car is paid off it is 14 years old with 200k miles on it. And I really wish I was joking about 84 month car loans.:)

Personal I find it fascinating the people that buy cars as soon as they pay off the note. Do they really feel those 4-5 year old cars are about to become a money pit or are they just used to having a payment?

Pretty much every thing negative is bad. Wait pretty much anything below +40 is bad.

My co workers right now are talking about car payments. One guy says that he plans to only have one car payment at a time. (2 car family) so once one is paid for they trade the older paid one off for a new one and just repeat the cycle everytime one car gets paid off. (Hope I explained it well enough)

GuitarStv

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1615 on: January 29, 2014, 11:37:20 AM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid. If your coolant is fresh, as in you change it every few years because it does degrade with time, a 70/30 mixture of ethelyne glycol to water should be good down to around -51 C. It should be noted that pure ethelyne glycol has a freezing point of -12 C though.

Huh.  My dad always told me the block heater was needed because the anti-freeze would freeze.  Nearly everyone in Northern Ontario had/used block heaters when it would get really cold.  Our mall and parking lot outside the grocery store had outlets so you could plug them in.  What's the block heater for then?  Our '81 Ford Zephyr would not start unless plugged in.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 11:39:30 AM by GuitarStv »

Le0

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1616 on: January 29, 2014, 12:03:37 PM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid. If your coolant is fresh, as in you change it every few years because it does degrade with time, a 70/30 mixture of ethelyne glycol to water should be good down to around -51 C. It should be noted that pure ethelyne glycol has a freezing point of -12 C though.

Huh.  My dad always told me the block heater was needed because the anti-freeze would freeze.  Nearly everyone in Northern Ontario had/used block heaters when it would get really cold.  Our mall and parking lot outside the grocery store had outlets so you could plug them in.  What's the block heater for then?  Our '81 Ford Zephyr would not start unless plugged in.

I thought the block heater was to heat the block, making it easier for the engine to start. I can't imagine a block heater melting ice that is in your coolant.

frugledoc

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1617 on: January 29, 2014, 12:44:27 PM »
Today at work

CW:   I'm going out for half an hour to the petrol station to get fuel for the car
Me: oh, is there a deal on or something?
CW: no, just been waiting for pay day today so I can afford it

CW has a 21 year old daughter at home who owns a horse, for fun, that costs 600 dollars a month.
Also just bought a puppy recently.

the fixer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1618 on: January 29, 2014, 12:45:50 PM »
I was about to post my own "well I thought it was..." then thought better of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_heater
Quote
A block heater warms an engine to increase the chances that the engine will start as well as warm up the vehicle faster than it normally would in extremely cold weather.
I've also heard there are battery heaters and other things used in the far north for different temperature-related reasons.

Hedge_87

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1619 on: January 29, 2014, 02:39:50 PM »
This is exactly what they do!! 84 months and never stop making payment ever!! I tried to explain how to set up a sinking fund for car replacement (I doubt they will ever get away from new cars). He said it was to hard not to dip into it. I told him to pay me then and I would hold onto it for him lol. I mean if somebody is going to make intrest of you I might as well right.

This actual sounds about right. He buys the first car with an 84 month loan and then by the time the second car is paid off it is 14 years old with 200k miles on it. And I really wish I was joking about 84 month car loans.:)

Personal I find it fascinating the people that buy cars as soon as they pay off the note. Do they really feel those 4-5 year old cars are about to become a money pit or are they just used to having a payment?

Pretty much every thing negative is bad. Wait pretty much anything below +40 is bad.

My co workers right now are talking about car payments. One guy says that he plans to only have one car payment at a time. (2 car family) so once one is paid for they trade the older paid one off for a new one and just repeat the cycle everytime one car gets paid off. (Hope I explained it well enough)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1620 on: January 29, 2014, 03:11:00 PM »
I'm gonna offer up one of those rare positive "overheard at work" moments... not so much overheard, but last week I went out to dinner with a group of coworkers, all early to mid 20s. conversation drifted to another one of our coworkers in his early 20s who had recently bought a $250k house (that is A LOT for Tulsa. I could find a house here that's perfect for me but needs cosmetic work for $100k), and he based his calculation for how much he was willing to spend on the fact that he and his girlfriend have a roommate, another friend of his. does he think this person is going to live with them for the duration of the mortgage?!? (obviously kidding because this is not possible) is he just planning on finding a craigslist roommate when the friend inevitably moves out? I would hate to be forced to do that!

plus, although our company is reasonably stable our industry is pretty cyclical and we all agreed we would HATE to be tied to something like that, lest we lose our jobs.

it was just super refreshing and awesome to realize we were all generally on the same page :)

Wanderer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1621 on: January 29, 2014, 03:40:44 PM »
he based his calculation for how much he was willing to spend on the fact that he and his girlfriend have a roommate, another friend of his. does he think this person is going to live with them for the duration of the mortgage?!?

Menage a trois?  ;) 

jba302

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1622 on: January 29, 2014, 06:00:17 PM »
Huh.  My dad always told me the block heater was needed because the anti-freeze would freeze.  Nearly everyone in Northern Ontario had/used block heaters when it would get really cold.  Our mall and parking lot outside the grocery store had outlets so you could plug them in.  What's the block heater for then?  Our '81 Ford Zephyr would not start unless plugged in.

Anything colder than -20F and my CRV won't start. Lot of resistance in a cold engine, along with a battery that isn't fully capable at those temps.

PMG

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1623 on: January 29, 2014, 07:51:42 PM »
My coworker is leaving and commented that she will move her 403(b) into her checking account and use it to move in with her boyfriend...

:-(

She also mentioned that the boyfriend got a loan from his 401k to buy a 600 dollar truck that broke down in the first week.

:-(


Freeme

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1624 on: January 29, 2014, 09:43:56 PM »
My co-worker told me today she has a budget of $40 per month for the plug in air freshoners because she likes her house to smell fresh. I told her I do too but just open the windows and she should try that.

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1625 on: January 30, 2014, 05:01:39 AM »
My co-worker told me today she has a budget of $40 per month for the plug in air freshoners because she likes her house to smell fresh. I told her I do too but just open the windows and she should try that.

Breathing those chemicals all day can't be good for you. Also, how many rich people use plug in air fresheners?

plainjane

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1626 on: January 30, 2014, 06:24:48 AM »
At lunch a coworker with a 3 month old baby complained
- clothing for babies is cheap and doesn't last
- clothing for babies at (mall store) is way too expensive
- he is starting to stack up tubs in the basement for the potential next kid of things that have only been worn 2-3 times (if that)
- passing baby clothing across friends & family is gross

Posthumane

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1627 on: January 30, 2014, 08:09:24 AM »
Huh.  My dad always told me the block heater was needed because the anti-freeze would freeze.  Nearly everyone in Northern Ontario had/used block heaters when it would get really cold.  Our mall and parking lot outside the grocery store had outlets so you could plug them in.  What's the block heater for then?  Our '81 Ford Zephyr would not start unless plugged in.

Anything colder than -20F and my CRV won't start. Lot of resistance in a cold engine, along with a battery that isn't fully capable at those temps.
I do tend to plug my car in when it gets below -25 C. The block heater cable on my GF's car cracked and it won't start below about -30 C, though mine still does around that temperature without being plugged in. It rarely gets below -30 C where I live, but working in more northern areas brings colder temps quite often. Many vehicles won't start at -40, but that's not because of coolant freezing. The oil is very thick at that temperature so the resistance to cranking is very high, battery isn't able to put out as much current when cold, fuel atomization is poor at that temperature, etc. Electric block heaters are on almost every vehicle around here for that reason, battery heaters are somewhat common, and you can also get stick on oil pan heaters. Most of our military vehicles have fuel fired coolant heaters, which perform a similar function to a block heater without having to be plugged in.

If your coolant actually freezes solid in your block though (which does happen sometimes due to weak antifreeze) it can result in very bad things - freeze plugs blowing out from the block (that's what they are for), occasionally a cracked block or head if the freeze plugs don't do the trick, cracked radiator, and so on. Also, if you tried to crank an engine with a frozen block you would probably destroy the water pump.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2014, 08:11:21 AM by Posthumane »

toodleoo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1628 on: January 30, 2014, 06:43:41 PM »
We had a retirement party today for a VP at our company. He stood up and made some remarks at the end. He especially wanted to thank his wife for being the reason that their kids turned out so great, "since I was basically an absent father because I was working so much".

Just so sad that we value the money over our families.

jba302

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1629 on: January 31, 2014, 06:57:43 AM »
We had a retirement party today for a VP at our company. He stood up and made some remarks at the end. He especially wanted to thank his wife for being the reason that their kids turned out so great, "since I was basically an absent father because I was working so much".

Just so sad that we value the money over our families.

I remember this happening during a meeting that happened by chance. Someone asked a high level exec what his biggest regret was (which I think they were talking about business specific) and he said along the lines of "well sometime I wish I would have taken some more time with the family." He was mid 60's, making in the $1M+/year range and still working 80 hour weeks, just didn't know how to stop himself.

MsSindy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1630 on: January 31, 2014, 07:25:35 AM »
We had a retirement party today for a VP at our company. He stood up and made some remarks at the end. He especially wanted to thank his wife for being the reason that their kids turned out so great, "since I was basically an absent father because I was working so much".

Just so sad that we value the money over our families.

I remember this happening during a meeting that happened by chance. Someone asked a high level exec what his biggest regret was (which I think they were talking about business specific) and he said along the lines of "well sometime I wish I would have taken some more time with the family." He was mid 60's, making in the $1M+/year range and still working 80 hour weeks, just didn't know how to stop himself.

I worked for one of the big consulting firms, and the Partners use to throw parties and invite many of the new analysts/consultants... partly to network and partly to show, "you too can have all this one day".  I can remember being in the basement at one of those parties that was all tricked out with pinball machines, dart games, and a pool table.  The Partner's 7 year old kid was playing pool with us and one of the analysts was trying to make small talk and said to the kid he must have a lot of fun down here with his dad.  The son's reply, "No, my dad's never home to play".  Total silence in the room.  It's something that certainly made an impression on me....as well as the others, I suspect.

Hedge_87

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1631 on: January 31, 2014, 07:39:11 AM »
Had our head accounting guy come down to train us on our new time entering software. It was a pretty good meeting until he explained the hyperlinks at the bottom of the page where you can get various forms. One form was to take a loan out on your 401k. I was just getting ready to tune myself out of the meeting at this point. Then he said something that blew my mind. He said "I know having the ability to access your 401k money through a loan is a nice feature to have but I would highly recommend you have no more than 3-4 loans out at any given time." I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1632 on: January 31, 2014, 09:44:04 AM »
Had our head accounting guy come down to train us on our new time entering software. It was a pretty good meeting until he explained the hyperlinks at the bottom of the page where you can get various forms. One form was to take a loan out on your 401k. I was just getting ready to tune myself out of the meeting at this point. Then he said something that blew my mind. He said "I know having the ability to access your 401k money through a loan is a nice feature to have but I would highly recommend you have no more than 3-4 loans out at any given time." I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

Wow.  Just incredible.

Random Hangers

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1633 on: January 31, 2014, 09:51:19 AM »
My co-worker just bemoaned all the stuff she has. Says her townhouse is bursting at the seams. I mentioned that I had just done a purge after Christmas to give away all the items we hadn't used regularly in say, a year. She agreed that was one option, but instead, she's going to Ikea, because "it just all needs to be better organized."

So her solution for having too much stuff is to...buy more stuff?

show me the money

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1634 on: January 31, 2014, 10:28:49 AM »
At lunch a coworker with a 3 month old baby complained
- clothing for babies is cheap and doesn't last
- clothing for babies at (mall store) is way too expensive
- he is starting to stack up tubs in the basement for the potential next kid of things that have only been worn 2-3 times (if that)
- passing baby clothing across friends & family is gross

This person should be slapped, my son just turned 1, and almost all the clothes we purchased were from a local yard sale site from all different people, every time he grew out of those, we purchased the next sizes all used, and sold back some of the others or gave them to others with kids that needed them.

CommonCents

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1635 on: January 31, 2014, 10:34:53 AM »
My co-worker just bemoaned all the stuff she has. Says her townhouse is bursting at the seams. I mentioned that I had just done a purge after Christmas to give away all the items we hadn't used regularly in say, a year. She agreed that was one option, but instead, she's going to Ikea, because "it just all needs to be better organized."

So her solution for having too much stuff is to...buy more stuff?

Sadly, this is common.  This is also why all organizing articles start out by telling people not to run out and first buy and organizing gadget, but instead to get a handle on the problem and what, if anything, you need.

jba302

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1636 on: January 31, 2014, 06:16:44 PM »
I worked for one of the big consulting firms, and the Partners use to throw parties and invite many of the new analysts/consultants... partly to network and partly to show, "you too can have all this one day".  I can remember being in the basement at one of those parties that was all tricked out with pinball machines, dart games, and a pool table.  The Partner's 7 year old kid was playing pool with us and one of the analysts was trying to make small talk and said to the kid he must have a lot of fun down here with his dad.  The son's reply, "No, my dad's never home to play".  Total silence in the room.  It's something that certainly made an impression on me....as well as the others, I suspect.



My stepkids kind of allude to this about their dad. He's a good provider to them financially, but I'm pretty sure I know who's going to be teaching them how to drive, shoot, etc.

Travis

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1637 on: January 31, 2014, 08:20:48 PM »
We don't talk about money too much in our office (significant rank differences), but its a cyclical thing to see young troops driving top dollar cars when they live in the barracks and live across the street from work, spend the rest of their paychecks on gadgets, and when they leave the Army to be broke just a couple months after they get out.  It's sad especially in the months right after a deployment where we come home with a lot of money and the car dealerships get cleaned out within days of our arrival.  Six months to a year later many of those cars are no longer in the barracks parking lot and soldiers are asking when is the next deployment. We try to educate soldiers on personal finance as much as possible, but I have found it difficult to get an 18 year old making a $20k salary right out of high school to listen (and who has no real expenses).  A lot of the older and more mature soldiers use these deployments as a windfall to clean up their younger mistakes, but it's not universal and those deployments are quickly drying up. 

FunkyStickman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1638 on: January 31, 2014, 09:18:11 PM »
Here's kind of a sad story that happened at work today.

I work next to an older guy (he's 61) who's an engineer. I like him, he's pretty cool, we talk about stuff all the time. But for the last week or so, he's been seeming... a little off. I thought he might be angry about something, and today I think we figured out what it is.

Well, turns out he hasn't showed up for work in 2 days, and nobody's heard from him, nobody knew what happened, so a bunch of guys went to his house. He was half-dressed, wandering around his house, couldn't remember people's names, couldn't remember what day of the week it was. Pretty sure he'd had a stroke about 2 weeks ago... he'd missed a day feeling bad... and it wasn't severe enough for him to think anything of it. But for the last two weeks, he'd gotten progressively worse, until he couldn't remember enough to come to work. He was confused. He's a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, eats fast food every day. Can't say he shouldn't have seen that coming.

The sad part? He's a single guy. No family, no next of kin, no emergency contacts that anyone can find. We know he has children. Nobody knows their names, where they live, if they even know he's still alive. He is a contractor... and he has no health insurance. Probably not much retirement, either. I feel so bad for this guy, but there's nothing I can do.

I don't ever want to end up like that.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1639 on: January 31, 2014, 10:33:48 PM »
That is heartbreaking.  :(

lifejoy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1640 on: February 01, 2014, 11:40:12 AM »
Here's kind of a sad story that happened at work today.

I work next to an older guy (he's 61) who's an engineer. I like him, he's pretty cool, we talk about stuff all the time. But for the last week or so, he's been seeming... a little off. I thought he might be angry about something, and today I think we figured out what it is.

Well, turns out he hasn't showed up for work in 2 days, and nobody's heard from him, nobody knew what happened, so a bunch of guys went to his house. He was half-dressed, wandering around his house, couldn't remember people's names, couldn't remember what day of the week it was. Pretty sure he'd had a stroke about 2 weeks ago... he'd missed a day feeling bad... and it wasn't severe enough for him to think anything of it. But for the last two weeks, he'd gotten progressively worse, until he couldn't remember enough to come to work. He was confused. He's a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, eats fast food every day. Can't say he shouldn't have seen that coming.

The sad part? He's a single guy. No family, no next of kin, no emergency contacts that anyone can find. We know he has children. Nobody knows their names, where they live, if they even know he's still alive. He is a contractor... and he has no health insurance. Probably not much retirement, either. I feel so bad for this guy, but there's nothing I can do.

I don't ever want to end up like that.

Nice that his work mates care enough to check up on him! :) That warmed my heart a little (write before it broke :/ )

chicagomeg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1641 on: February 01, 2014, 02:12:28 PM »
If you live in an urban area, I would see if Human Services or such can do a wellness check. If you live in the boonies, I'd call the police. Either one might make some effort to track down next of kin. Plus, he can probably get healthcare on the open market if needed. Sad story.

FunkyStickman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1642 on: February 01, 2014, 04:01:49 PM »
If you live in an urban area, I would see if Human Services or such can do a wellness check. If you live in the boonies, I'd call the police. Either one might make some effort to track down next of kin. Plus, he can probably get healthcare on the open market if needed. Sad story.

We're not quite sure what happened, but I'll probably get more details Monday. If he regains his senses enough to talk, they can probably find out what they need to know. I seriously doubt he'll be coming back to work right away, though. Really hoping and praying he's okay and that there's no permanent damage.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1643 on: February 02, 2014, 01:08:04 AM »
I was about to post my own "well I thought it was..." then thought better of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_heater
Quote
A block heater warms an engine to increase the chances that the engine will start as well as warm up the vehicle faster than it normally would in extremely cold weather.
I've also heard there are battery heaters and other things used in the far north for different temperature-related reasons.

Yeah, its just to make it easier to start. At -40 you only get one or two tries before the battery is out of juice, so you plug it in to make sure it'll start on the first try. Adding oil pan and battery heaters further increase the odds of success in your favor. It may have been 'required' back in the days before fuel injection, though.

70/30 antifreeze/water is good to -84F
« Last Edit: February 02, 2014, 01:19:17 AM by Rangifer »

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1644 on: February 02, 2014, 07:28:17 AM »
This actual sounds about right. He buys the first car with an 84 month loan and then by the time the second car is paid off it is 14 years old with 200k miles on it. And I really wish I was joking about 84 month car loans.:)

Personal I find it fascinating the people that buy cars as soon as they pay off the note. Do they really feel those 4-5 year old cars are about to become a money pit or are they just used to having a payment?

So, they are each driving a relatively new car (< 3 years old) only 3/14ths of the time.
And yet they never seem to understand that math...

Hedge_87

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1645 on: February 02, 2014, 08:17:44 AM »
This actual sounds about right. He buys the first car with an 84 month loan and then by the time the second car is paid off it is 14 years old with 200k miles on it. And I really wish I was joking about 84 month car loans.:)

Personal I find it fascinating the people that buy cars as soon as they pay off the note. Do they really feel those 4-5 year old cars are about to become a money pit or are they just used to having a payment?

So, they are each driving a relatively new car (< 3 years old) only 3/14ths of the time.
And yet they never seem to understand that math...
You hit the nail on the head! They also believe that since they are used to making payments it's just easier that way. They think it's to hard to adjust to a new payment so they try and keep one going at all times. Besides they don't reLly "miss" that money lol

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1646 on: February 02, 2014, 09:52:34 AM »
Here's kind of a sad story that happened at work today.

I work next to an older guy (he's 61) who's an engineer. I like him, he's pretty cool, we talk about stuff all the time. But for the last week or so, he's been seeming... a little off. I thought he might be angry about something, and today I think we figured out what it is.

Well, turns out he hasn't showed up for work in 2 days, and nobody's heard from him, nobody knew what happened, so a bunch of guys went to his house. He was half-dressed, wandering around his house, couldn't remember people's names, couldn't remember what day of the week it was. Pretty sure he'd had a stroke about 2 weeks ago... he'd missed a day feeling bad... and it wasn't severe enough for him to think anything of it. But for the last two weeks, he'd gotten progressively worse, until he couldn't remember enough to come to work. He was confused. He's a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, eats fast food every day. Can't say he shouldn't have seen that coming.

The sad part? He's a single guy. No family, no next of kin, no emergency contacts that anyone can find. We know he has children. Nobody knows their names, where they live, if they even know he's still alive. He is a contractor... and he has no health insurance. Probably not much retirement, either. I feel so bad for this guy, but there's nothing I can do.

I don't ever want to end up like that.

Sadly, this reminded me of something similar a few years ago.  A co-worker hadnt been in for a few days and some of the folks closer to him had a bad feeling.  I got management involved which in turn had the police check on him (large corporation, gotta go with procedure...).  Turns out he had passed in his sleep, peacefully we hope.  He had been in his late 50's, vibrant fellow who was very dedicated to work.  BUT he never went to the doctor for fear of finding out something bad.  Wasn't in the best shape/health, but he was making efforts via exercise and trying to eat better etc.  Unfortunately it was too little too late.  It's a haunting reminder that I come before anything else. 

ichangedmyname

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1647 on: February 02, 2014, 10:56:09 AM »
[...]I'm in my 30's and don't go out every Friday/Saturday night to go clubbing or have kids[...]

Haha, those are the ONLY two options for people in their 30s.  Ugh, what a crappy decade that's gonna be!

It's actually pretty awesome. You just have to be more creative than 98% of your coworkers (don't worry, it's absurdly easy.)

Well I'm 33 and married. We do like to take vacations so that could be our "thing" our landlord got the rent from my husband yesterday and my husband mentioned we've been to Vegas and our landlord was like "Now I'm jealous. Almost every time I come by you guys have been to somewhere." It's easier to up and leave when you have no kids.

Rollin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1648 on: February 02, 2014, 12:59:39 PM »
If you live very north, the mix of antifreeze doesn't matter.  At -40 any mixture will freeze solid.  You have get a block heater and plug your car in so that it'll start the next morning.
 . . . ah, memories of my childhood up north . . .
I'm going to have to call BS on this. I've started a number of vehicles which were cold soaked around -40 (good ole prairies), and never had the coolant freeze solid. If your coolant is fresh, as in you change it every few years because it does degrade with time, a 70/30 mixture of ethelyne glycol to water should be good down to around -51 C. It should be noted that pure ethelyne glycol has a freezing point of -12 C though.

Huh.  My dad always told me the block heater was needed because the anti-freeze would freeze.  Nearly everyone in Northern Ontario had/used block heaters when it would get really cold.  Our mall and parking lot outside the grocery store had outlets so you could plug them in.  What's the block heater for then?  Our '81 Ford Zephyr would not start unless plugged in.

I thought the block heater was to heat the block, making it easier for the engine to start. I can't imagine a block heater melting ice that is in your coolant.

The oil can get so hard it won't flow.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #1649 on: February 02, 2014, 01:40:52 PM »
BUT he never went to the doctor for fear of finding out something bad.

You never know, though.  Similar thing happened to my PhD advisor.  Late 40s/early 50s, in great shape, dropped dead while out on his morning hike.  Thing is, he was a doctor himself.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!