Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13252941 times)

enigmaT120

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5200 on: November 07, 2014, 12:18:43 PM »
I looked it up and according to Google it is a 2:30 commute one way!! I HOPE that no one would actually do this. That doesn't leave any time for anything else! That's 14 hours right there if working 8-5. Also to consider the gas. I would have to fill up every day in my car.

My day is 14 hours when I bike and use the bus for commuting.  1.5 hours of biking.  But it's free, as my work pays for my bus pass.  If I drive and go running after work I don't get home significantly earlier.  Luckily I get a lot of time off and when I have days off I rarely go anyplace.


Pooperman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5201 on: November 07, 2014, 12:37:09 PM »
FSA - Flexible Spending Account. Doesn't carry over year to year. Can be used for a variety of expenses (healthcare, child care, transportation). Can be used by anyone with a job.

Might have missed something, but that should pretty much cover it. Google is your friend though.

Google is my friend.  I wasn't so much as asking, as just saying these aren't common things everyone knows, but bashing them before you understand them is asinine. 

Also, it turns out I do have an FSA, although I've never heard it called that.  My company pays for public transit on my behalf.  That goes into an account which then pays the transit authority.  The more you know!

Agreed. I don't put my money places I don't understand. If I am recommended to do so, I make an effort to understand first and consider the ramifications of doing so and not doing so. But hey, that's why we're mustachians and not sukkas right?

Davids

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5202 on: November 07, 2014, 01:22:36 PM »
I saw a large Jeep Wrangler with huge jacked up tires in the parking garage at work today.

License Plate: MPG SUKZ

Bumper Sticker:
"Cool Prius!"
          - Nobody
I admit i laughed, that is funny.

Proud Foot

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5203 on: November 07, 2014, 03:50:05 PM »


My day is 14 hours when I bike and use the bus for commuting.  1.5 hours of biking.  But it's free, as my work pays for my bus pass.  If I drive and go running after work I don't get home significantly earlier.  Luckily I get a lot of time off and when I have days off I rarely go anyplace.

I would consider that too bad since you are getting in a workout during that time.

fartface

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5204 on: November 07, 2014, 06:54:18 PM »
CW1: Hey you see the 401k limits went up?
CW2: Nah, I don't really mess with that stuff, I heard the fees eat up any returns.
CW1: You at least get the employer match right?
CW2: I just don't think it's worth it...

WTF?

P.S. Orange is the New Black ;)

Bigote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5205 on: November 07, 2014, 07:45:23 PM »
This woman also makes her 2 dogs 3 hot meals a day.

WTF?    Never even heard of such a thing.   


(Welcome to the forum, btw)

Middlesbrough

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5206 on: November 08, 2014, 08:06:05 AM »
Today we just got an announcement that our company will finally be offering an HSA/HDHP... and will be contributing $500 into individuals accounts, or $1000 into a families account! 

The HR lady was explaining the HSA. I heard comments from people such as the following:

CW1: "I'd rather they just give me the $500. I never go to the doctor and will just loose it and the end of the year anyway
Me: No, an HSA lets you keep it year after year. you're thinking of an FSA.
CW1: "you have a lot to learn about how finances work.

Hr lady: "And we'll allow you to invest your HSA money into any of a variety of mutual funds..."
CW2: (mutters to his coworker) "I ain't letting no bank fag take my healthcare money!" (this is a quote... I work in a steel foundry. I swear the cast of idiocracy works here.)
CW3: "I'm going to use my $500 to buy a boat"


I'm betting that these idiots will waste their money, incur penalties, and eventually get the HSA program canned due to their ignorant outcry about getting screwed.

I posted upthread about how my company's HSA funds come on MasterCards and how many people got pissed off when they were told the cards couldn't be used like regular MasterCards. 

I'm surprised Bank Fag Guy didn't bust out an Idiocracy quote--"you talk like a fag, and your shit's all retarded."
+1

Brando's got what plant want.

iris lily

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5207 on: November 08, 2014, 09:59:27 AM »
That last post reminds me: at work we have pay grades and when people have worked there long enough, they reach the ceiling. There's not raise in pay (unless the pay grades are changed.) So our boss invented a "performance differential" payout where if someone did a good job, they got a % of their pay over the ceiling. The percentages were flat, they did not go up each year, they didn't change.

So staff who received this performance differential would see one amount on their paycheck. Then, when the ceiling was raised (as it was every few years) they did not see a raise. They bitched and moaned about how they didn't "get my raise in my check." Even though in every situation, with no exception, everyone benefited from the performance differential program, there were complaints. It never worked against them.

The boss became tired of the bitching and he stopped the program.




Malaysia41

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5208 on: November 08, 2014, 04:29:56 PM »
That last post reminds me: at work we have pay grades and when people have worked there long enough, they reach the ceiling. There's not raise in pay (unless the pay grades are changed.) So our boss invented a "performance differential" payout where if someone did a good job, they got a % of their pay over the ceiling. The percentages were flat, they did not go up each year, they didn't change.

So staff who received this performance differential would see one amount on their paycheck. Then, when the ceiling was raised (as it was every few years) they did not see a raise. They bitched and moaned about how they didn't "get my raise in my check." Even though in every situation, with no exception, everyone benefited from the performance differential program, there were complaints. It never worked against them.

The boss became tired of the bitching and he stopped the program.

Wow.  This is a case for representational democracy.  The average citizen is breathtakingly capable of miscomprehension.  Unfortunately, sometimes the representatives we choose are worse.

  Sorry was that too politically foamy?  I'll stop now.  Carry on.

mm1970

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5209 on: November 08, 2014, 04:44:37 PM »
I don't know anything but riding in groups (besides as a kid)... but wouldn't you rather ride with those nicer bikes and remind them how your cheap bike can hang just as good? :)

I did this for a while, actually. I could keep up with everyone except the hardcore racer-wannabes. After a while, I just got tired of it. If they invited me to a ride again, I'd probably do it, but more often than not, I'd ride to the start point by myself (6 miles) then do 35-ish miles with them, then ride another 6 home. It started eating into my free time on Saturdays, since I was already getting ride time during the week to/from work.

I still chat with some of those folks, but when they start spewing over some new carbon thing, I just roll my eyes and sigh.

(EDIT) A lot of it had to do with them talking about nothing except expensive toys... I guess you could say my lifestyle wasn't compatible with theirs. Either they'd ride too fast to talk, or they'd talk about stuff I didn't care about.
Yeah, so I used to do races - I was running, worked my way  up to 1/2 marathons, got injured, learned to swim, switched to sprint triathlons. 

They were fun, but expensive.  A half marathon is $90-$120.  The triathlon was $120, plus the $250 (now more than that) training group fee, plus I had to buy a wetsuit and tri shorts...

I did two sprint triathlons total (before I had the second kid, and I haven't been able to get into the wetsuit yet, so...plus there's that $300 training fee + $120 tri fee).  Before the second one my friend REALLY tried to get me to replace my hybrid bike with slicks (that I rode 10 miles to work 1-2x a week) with an actual road bike.  In fact, they gave away a road bike that was donated, drew a name, but the kicker was that it was for people 5'4" and taller.  And I'm not.

I simply said "yeah, I'm not that fast.  But I'm a slow swimmer - 2nd to last out of the water, and I run a 10 minute mile.  The bike part of the race is 6 miles long, I don't think a new bike is going to help shave off a ton of time from my 1 hour and 4 minute sprint triathlon."

I'm still into fitness.  I have a gym membership and a bunch of workout DVDs to use at home on my hubby's gym days, etc.  But I can't justify replacing a perfectly good bike.  Even if only 7 of the 21 gears still work.

austin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5210 on: November 08, 2014, 05:10:51 PM »
^^^ I've paid $125 for a 100 miler. I think that's reasonable given all the snacks and gatorades needed to stock about 15 check points. Last year someone told me about a half marathon. I looked into it and it was $75. I don't get it. That's why I don't do road races. Trail races have yet to be completely commercialized.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5211 on: November 08, 2014, 05:31:38 PM »
Urgh, road races. Where ou pay through the nose to have a crappy tshirt filled with crappy corporate sponsors pushing their crappy products unto you. Oh and a crappy medal too. Crap, crap, crap everywhere.

Malaysia41

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5212 on: November 08, 2014, 08:19:40 PM »
Urgh, road races. Where ou pay through the nose to have a crappy tshirt filled with crappy corporate sponsors pushing their crappy products unto you. Oh and a crappy medal too. Crap, crap, crap everywhere.

Agreed.  I think I paid $300 to do Ironman Canada (a long, long, long time ago).  Holy shite I see the fee these days has about doubled.  Then factor in shipping your bike and plane tickets.  Too much.

Even the Wildflower Tri got to be too expensive not to mention exceedingly annoying with all the cow-bell klanging TiT coaches at every turn.

I'm sorry, I'm derailing this thread again.

Carry on.

Bigote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5213 on: November 09, 2014, 05:22:07 AM »
A friend of mine is in that business.  He owns a whole bunch of marathons and triathlons in smaller cities and locales.    Once you build the sign-up website, the costs are all variable.   He makes a mint. 

firelight

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5214 on: November 09, 2014, 09:38:36 AM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

4alpacas

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5215 on: November 09, 2014, 01:02:31 PM »
Urgh, road races. Where ou pay through the nose to have a crappy tshirt filled with crappy corporate sponsors pushing their crappy products unto you. Oh and a crappy medal too. Crap, crap, crap everywhere.

Agreed.  I think I paid $300 to do Ironman Canada (a long, long, long time ago).  Holy shite I see the fee these days has about doubled.  Then factor in shipping your bike and plane tickets.  Too much.

Even the Wildflower Tri got to be too expensive not to mention exceedingly annoying with all the cow-bell klanging TiT coaches at every turn.

I'm sorry, I'm derailing this thread again.

Carry on.
I paid close to $300 to do a half Ironman a few years ago.  I thought about doing a full, but the fees are insane (if you can even get a spot).

Primm

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5216 on: November 09, 2014, 02:03:48 PM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

Nope. Most of the big events are owned by corporations that make a shit-tonne of money out of them.

I have a friend who owns a sports store and runs triathlons as a side related business. I was talking to him one day about entry fees, and he said the cost to him for a small regional triathlon for road closures alone, which is paid to the local police service, was $12,000 for that one event! For a few hours, not even a whole day. Add to that all of your timing infrastructure etc. and they actually aren't cheap to put on. I can't begin to imagine how much the NYC marathon organisers pay to the city and the police force for the rights to  run that event.

sol

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5217 on: November 09, 2014, 02:17:03 PM »
I can't begin to imagine how much the NYC marathon organisers pay to the city and the police force for the rights to  run that event.

Let's see, 50,000 runners at about $250/person is twelve and a half BILLION dollars in entry fees, not even counting corporate sponsorships.  I think they'll find a way to pay for police presence.

For reference, the budget for the entire NYC police department is less than five billion per year, and that pays for approximately 35,000 full time staff plus benefits, all year long. 

Primm

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5218 on: November 09, 2014, 02:28:50 PM »
I can't begin to imagine how much the NYC marathon organisers pay to the city and the police force for the rights to  run that event.

Let's see, 50,000 runners at about $250/person is twelve and a half BILLION dollars in entry fees, not even counting corporate sponsorships.  I think they'll find a way to pay for police presence.

For reference, the budget for the entire NYC police department is less than five billion per year, and that pays for approximately 35,000 full time staff plus benefits, all year long.

Maybe my calculator works differently to yours, but I put in $250 x 50,000 and get $12.5 million, not billion. Still an insane amount of money though. And holy crap, $250 for a marathon fee? The big city ones here run at less than half that. 

Bigote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5219 on: November 09, 2014, 04:14:23 PM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

Of course you can.    Why not?   


Im sire sometimes cities want their cut in permit fees or whatever.   

One Noisy Cat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5220 on: November 09, 2014, 04:43:18 PM »
Posting this here, sorry if it has already been posted but I don't have time to go through the whole thread.

I listen to music on spotify while at work and keep hearing the Mobil1 ad where the guy claims to commute from Schenectady to Manhattan for work. I looked it up and according to Google it is a 2:30 commute one way!! I HOPE that no one would actually do this. That doesn't leave any time for anything else! That's 14 hours right there if working 8-5. Also to consider the gas. I would have to fill up every day in my car.

    Back in 2006, I visited an aunt and uncle who have lived in Allentown, PA since they got married in 1958.  Allentown is roughly the same distance from Manhattan as Schenectady is.  At one point they commented how Allentown was having a building boom with houses and apartments for people who worked in NYC.  Massive traffic jams morning and evening with cars and buses going between Allentown and NYC, according to them.

MayDay

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5221 on: November 09, 2014, 04:55:33 PM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.

sol

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5222 on: November 09, 2014, 04:57:47 PM »
Maybe my calculator works differently to yours, but I put in $250 x 50,000 and get $12.5 million, not billion. Still an insane amount of money though. And holy crap, $250 for a marathon fee? The big city ones here run at less than half that.

The especially embarrassing part is not that I typoed the calculator, it's that I didn't realize that a marathon shouldn't cost twice as much as the NYPD.  Brain fail, sorry.

Zehirah

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5223 on: November 09, 2014, 06:40:53 PM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.

Here in Australia we call that the beer fridge.  Used primarily for keeping beer (and mixers or premixed spirits, a few soft drinks for the kids and maybe a cask of wine for the missus) cold.  Nothing worse than warm beer, you know! ;-)

Kidding aside, many people I know keep their older, smaller fridge in their garage instead of selling it when they get a family-size fridge.  Most of the year ours is switched off with the door wedged ajar to stop smells but it is extremely useful to have it available when needed for extra food and drinks storage for parties, particularly in December when we need a lot of salads, meat for barbecues, etc, for Christmas and end-of-year breakup parties.  Doubly or triply so if it is our turn to host Christmas dinner.  I'd rather keep it and turn it on when needed (a few weeks per year) than have to run a giant 700L fridge all year round. 

My inlaws used to have an upright freezer that looked like a fridge in their garage for storing meat they'd bought in bulk.  A neighbour has a two fridges in his garage - one for making homebrew beer in (turned off and used for insulation) and one to store the bottled beer.  And my friend keeps her one and only fridge in the garage because she's renting and the fridge space in the kitchen is tiny. 

But they can be a definite waste of resources, especially if they're old and inefficient and/or mostly empty. 

sol

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5224 on: November 09, 2014, 07:06:00 PM »
The advantage of living in New England is that when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around, you can just use the garage as a massive spare refrigerator.

Sshhhh, stop piercing the veil.

You must have a house heated to ideal temperatures all year round, regardless of outside temperatures.

You must have a fridge cooled to ideal temperatures inside of your heated house, regardless of outside temperatures.

You must have a tiny heater inside of your fridge to raise the temperature enough to avoid frost inside of your cooled fridge inside of your heated house inside of your cold environment.

My god, how did all of humanity manage to not die of food poisoning before 1950?

Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5225 on: November 09, 2014, 11:15:19 PM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.
I hate this too. I live with 2 other housemates (we're all girls, in our early 20s). The house is furnished, so came with the fridge - which is pretty big, and has a decent sized freezer. Our new housemate decided to buy a bar fridge, which was cool, because it was kinda little. Then a few weeks ago, the other housemate decides that she also wants a fridge! There were 2 spare shelves in the first fridge already!

This means I have a whole fridge and freezer to myself. Wtf. I use half of one shelf in the fridge, and about a quarter of the freezer. Such a fucking waste.

Allie

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5226 on: November 09, 2014, 11:50:04 PM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.

Interesting.  When I was growing up, my parents kept an old fridge in the basement (we didn't have a garage) and filled it with all of our chemicals.  The door seal kept the smell of paint thinner and bleach in check.  I never would have thought of having a fridge in the garage is weird, until now that I think people keep it plugged in and fill it with extra food.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5227 on: November 10, 2014, 12:38:40 AM »
Urgh, road races. Where ou pay through the nose to have a crappy tshirt filled with crappy corporate sponsors pushing their crappy products unto you. Oh and a crappy medal too. Crap, crap, crap everywhere.

Agreed.  I think I paid $300 to do Ironman Canada (a long, long, long time ago).  Holy shite I see the fee these days has about doubled.  Then factor in shipping your bike and plane tickets.  Too much.

Even the Wildflower Tri got to be too expensive not to mention exceedingly annoying with all the cow-bell klanging TiT coaches at every turn.

I'm sorry, I'm derailing this thread again.

Carry on.
I paid close to $300 to do a half Ironman a few years ago.  I thought about doing a full, but the fees are insane (if you can even get a spot).

I should start charging people to ride their own bikes to work.  But I'll, like, time them.  And give them a t-shirt and a snack bar when they get to work.  $100/day.

fantabulous

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5228 on: November 10, 2014, 05:09:27 AM »
Urgh, road races. Where ou pay through the nose to have a crappy tshirt filled with crappy corporate sponsors pushing their crappy products unto you. Oh and a crappy medal too. Crap, crap, crap everywhere.

Agreed.  I think I paid $300 to do Ironman Canada (a long, long, long time ago).  Holy shite I see the fee these days has about doubled.  Then factor in shipping your bike and plane tickets.  Too much.

Even the Wildflower Tri got to be too expensive not to mention exceedingly annoying with all the cow-bell klanging TiT coaches at every turn.

I'm sorry, I'm derailing this thread again.

Carry on.
I paid close to $300 to do a half Ironman a few years ago.  I thought about doing a full, but the fees are insane (if you can even get a spot).

I should start charging people to ride their own bikes to work.  But I'll, like, time them.  And give them a t-shirt and a snack bar when they get to work.  $100/day.

That is probably still a better business idea than my idea of getting southerners to fly up here and pay for the privilege of shoveling my sidewalk/driveway to see snow.

MayDay

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5229 on: November 10, 2014, 05:25:49 AM »
I totally can see keeping the old one for occasional use, if you keep it unplugged the rest of the time. Except our utilities give 200$ or so if you turn in your old fridge.

Everyone I know who does it is basically keeping beverages cold. Or air. Or one carton of ice cream. It isn't half a deer, those people have a proper deep freeze.

The other thing about garage fridges is in the winter they dont run much, but in the summer when the garage is 100 degrees, it runs constantly.

eyePod

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5230 on: November 10, 2014, 06:24:36 AM »
That last post reminds me: at work we have pay grades and when people have worked there long enough, they reach the ceiling. There's not raise in pay (unless the pay grades are changed.) So our boss invented a "performance differential" payout where if someone did a good job, they got a % of their pay over the ceiling. The percentages were flat, they did not go up each year, they didn't change.

So staff who received this performance differential would see one amount on their paycheck. Then, when the ceiling was raised (as it was every few years) they did not see a raise. They bitched and moaned about how they didn't "get my raise in my check." Even though in every situation, with no exception, everyone benefited from the performance differential program, there were complaints. It never worked against them.

The boss became tired of the bitching and he stopped the program.

Wow.  This is a case for representational democracy.  The average citizen is breathtakingly capable of miscomprehension.  Unfortunately, sometimes the representatives we choose are worse.

  Sorry was that too politically foamy?  I'll stop now.  Carry on.

When you're only offered two choices who both suck because they've been vetted through the top 0.5%, are you really going to blame the general public? I completely agree that the average citizen isn't capable of rational thought a lot of the times, but we're also dealing with a terrible system that doesn't give us a leg to stand on. This is whining though and I'm trying to enjoy the post-election quiet and lack of signs.

eyePod

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5231 on: November 10, 2014, 06:27:09 AM »
Posting this here, sorry if it has already been posted but I don't have time to go through the whole thread.

I listen to music on spotify while at work and keep hearing the Mobil1 ad where the guy claims to commute from Schenectady to Manhattan for work. I looked it up and according to Google it is a 2:30 commute one way!! I HOPE that no one would actually do this. That doesn't leave any time for anything else! That's 14 hours right there if working 8-5. Also to consider the gas. I would have to fill up every day in my car.

    Back in 2006, I visited an aunt and uncle who have lived in Allentown, PA since they got married in 1958.  Allentown is roughly the same distance from Manhattan as Schenectady is.  At one point they commented how Allentown was having a building boom with houses and apartments for people who worked in NYC.  Massive traffic jams morning and evening with cars and buses going between Allentown and NYC, according to them.

It's also pretty close to the Poconos. Gotta have those nice weekend houses that you only use during the summer!

eyePod

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5232 on: November 10, 2014, 06:28:39 AM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.
I hate this too. I live with 2 other housemates (we're all girls, in our early 20s). The house is furnished, so came with the fridge - which is pretty big, and has a decent sized freezer. Our new housemate decided to buy a bar fridge, which was cool, because it was kinda little. Then a few weeks ago, the other housemate decides that she also wants a fridge! There were 2 spare shelves in the first fridge already!

This means I have a whole fridge and freezer to myself. Wtf. I use half of one shelf in the fridge, and about a quarter of the freezer. Such a fucking waste.

Now you can bulk buy meat. Come home with a couple hundred pounds of beef and enjoy the space in the freezer!

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5233 on: November 10, 2014, 07:03:25 AM »
CW1: Hey you see the 401k limits went up?
CW2: Nah, I don't really mess with that stuff, I heard the fees eat up any returns.
CW1: You at least get the employer match right?
CW2: I just don't think it's worth it...

I'm actually just impressed that you have at least one coworker who cares about 401k limits. Unless CW1 is just you :)

seanc0x0

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5234 on: November 10, 2014, 07:18:18 AM »
The advantage of living in New England is that when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around, you can just use the garage as a massive spare refrigerator.

Our garage gets down to deep-freeze levels in winter. Makes it convenient when you're hosting Christmas supper and you've got more turkey than freezer space.

GuitarStv

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5235 on: November 10, 2014, 09:56:48 AM »
That last post reminds me: at work we have pay grades and when people have worked there long enough, they reach the ceiling. There's not raise in pay (unless the pay grades are changed.) So our boss invented a "performance differential" payout where if someone did a good job, they got a % of their pay over the ceiling. The percentages were flat, they did not go up each year, they didn't change.

So staff who received this performance differential would see one amount on their paycheck. Then, when the ceiling was raised (as it was every few years) they did not see a raise. They bitched and moaned about how they didn't "get my raise in my check." Even though in every situation, with no exception, everyone benefited from the performance differential program, there were complaints. It never worked against them.

The boss became tired of the bitching and he stopped the program.

Wow.  This is a case for representational democracy.  The average citizen is breathtakingly capable of miscomprehension.  Unfortunately, sometimes the representatives we choose are worse.

  Sorry was that too politically foamy?  I'll stop now.  Carry on.

When you're only offered two choices who both suck because they've been vetted through the top 0.5%, are you really going to blame the general public? I completely agree that the average citizen isn't capable of rational thought a lot of the times, but we're also dealing with a terrible system that doesn't give us a leg to stand on. This is whining though and I'm trying to enjoy the post-election quiet and lack of signs.

Yes, I am going to blame the general public.  The reason that there are only two choices is that the public has decided they'll only vote for two parties.

skunkfunk

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5236 on: November 10, 2014, 10:17:23 AM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.

I have the kitchen fridge, a deep freeze in the garage I use to control beer fermentation (currently set at 64F), an upright in the garage to hold all the food we are preparing and freezing for once the baby is here (we're on the fence about whether to keep this long-term,) a tiny mini fridge to hold a few beer bottles at serving temp, and a mini fridge in my wife's classroom so she can keep some leftovers there. I want to get some kegs and a deep freeze I can put them in to serve from, but my wife put her foot down and put an end to that little bit of ridiculousness.

How badly do I disgust you?

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5237 on: November 10, 2014, 10:20:03 AM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

Of course you can.    Why not?   


Im sire sometimes cities want their cut in permit fees or whatever.

Yes you can definitely own a marathon. Historically marathons were put on by cities as a civic activity that would support a local charity, and that still goes on, but there are for-profit races, such as Rock n Roll marathon series, as well as non-marathon events like Warrior Dash. Most (if not all) do have a charity component. I have mixed feelings about these, I definitely am less willing to volunteer at a for-profit event, whereas I love volunteer for local races that are clearly put on by a high school (proceedings going to their cross country team or something else notable).

eyePod

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5238 on: November 10, 2014, 10:24:12 AM »
That last post reminds me: at work we have pay grades and when people have worked there long enough, they reach the ceiling. There's not raise in pay (unless the pay grades are changed.) So our boss invented a "performance differential" payout where if someone did a good job, they got a % of their pay over the ceiling. The percentages were flat, they did not go up each year, they didn't change.

So staff who received this performance differential would see one amount on their paycheck. Then, when the ceiling was raised (as it was every few years) they did not see a raise. They bitched and moaned about how they didn't "get my raise in my check." Even though in every situation, with no exception, everyone benefited from the performance differential program, there were complaints. It never worked against them.

The boss became tired of the bitching and he stopped the program.

Wow.  This is a case for representational democracy.  The average citizen is breathtakingly capable of miscomprehension.  Unfortunately, sometimes the representatives we choose are worse.

  Sorry was that too politically foamy?  I'll stop now.  Carry on.

When you're only offered two choices who both suck because they've been vetted through the top 0.5%, are you really going to blame the general public? I completely agree that the average citizen isn't capable of rational thought a lot of the times, but we're also dealing with a terrible system that doesn't give us a leg to stand on. This is whining though and I'm trying to enjoy the post-election quiet and lack of signs.

Yes, I am going to blame the general public.  The reason that there are only two choices is that the public has decided they'll only vote for two parties.

It definitely won't get better until we force change. Here's the topic I was referencing though: http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5239 on: November 10, 2014, 10:30:14 AM »
I have the kitchen fridge, a deep freeze in the garage I use to control beer fermentation (currently set at 64F), an upright in the garage to hold all the food we are preparing and freezing for once the baby is here (we're on the fence about whether to keep this long-term,) a tiny mini fridge to hold a few beer bottles at serving temp, and a mini fridge in my wife's classroom so she can keep some leftovers there. I want to get some kegs and a deep freeze I can put them in to serve from, but my wife put her foot down and put an end to that little bit of ridiculousness.

How badly do I disgust you?

I used to visit a house sometimes that had the big sub zero kitchen fridge, two full fridges in the garage for drinks, a big ice maker in the upstairs wet bar, a full fridge in the downstairs wet bar, and a full fridge in their storage area of the basement. All of them were on at all times. This is just the tip of the iceberg though in the wastefulness of this family.

We have a full sized fridge, and a beer fridge in the basement. I'm thinking of getting a deep freeze this year if I get a deer this weekend.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5240 on: November 10, 2014, 11:05:32 AM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

Of course you can.    Why not?   


Im sire sometimes cities want their cut in permit fees or whatever.

Yes you can definitely own a marathon. Historically marathons were put on by cities as a civic activity that would support a local charity, and that still goes on, but there are for-profit races, such as Rock n Roll marathon series, as well as non-marathon events like Warrior Dash. Most (if not all) do have a charity component. I have mixed feelings about these, I definitely am less willing to volunteer at a for-profit event, whereas I love volunteer for local races that are clearly put on by a high school (proceedings going to their cross country team or something else notable).

I think it's hilarious that anyone would "volunteer" for a for-profit event. I try to avoid those races, period. The Rock and Roll series in particular grosses me out. Or the latest annoying trend, the Color Run/Glow Run/Mustache Dash/blah blah blah. The worst was when my boyfriend and I were walking in a local park the weekend after the Glow Run and found TONS of glowsticks and related trash. Really, you're going to run a for-profit event in our public park and you can't even be bothered to clean up after yourself?!!? I know most of these do say they donate to charity, but it's always super vague and I've never seen a specific amount, so I am skeptical that it's anything meaningful.
/rant

dycker1978

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5241 on: November 10, 2014, 11:08:53 AM »
The advantage of living in New England is that when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around, you can just use the garage as a massive spare refrigerator.

Our garage gets down to deep-freeze levels in winter. Makes it convenient when you're hosting Christmas supper and you've got more turkey than freezer space.

We get very cold here.  I used to run a appliance repair business, you would be surprised when people would call in and complain that their fridge was freezing stuff when it was -40 outside... The fridge was in the garage.  I always wondered why people thought that their fridges had a heater in them to heat it up to 4 deg when it was -40 outside...  I happily collected my service charge though.

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5242 on: November 10, 2014, 11:09:36 AM »
Can you own marathons? I thought they were thrown by the city/town/organization for charity?

Of course you can.    Why not?   


Im sire sometimes cities want their cut in permit fees or whatever.

Yes you can definitely own a marathon. Historically marathons were put on by cities as a civic activity that would support a local charity, and that still goes on, but there are for-profit races, such as Rock n Roll marathon series, as well as non-marathon events like Warrior Dash. Most (if not all) do have a charity component. I have mixed feelings about these, I definitely am less willing to volunteer at a for-profit event, whereas I love volunteer for local races that are clearly put on by a high school (proceedings going to their cross country team or something else notable).

I think it's hilarious that anyone would "volunteer" for a for-profit event. I try to avoid those races, period. The Rock and Roll series in particular grosses me out. Or the latest annoying trend, the Color Run/Glow Run/Mustache Dash/blah blah blah. The worst was when my boyfriend and I were walking in a local park the weekend after the Glow Run and found TONS of glowsticks and related trash. Really, you're going to run a for-profit event in our public park and you can't even be bothered to clean up after yourself?!!? I know most of these do say they donate to charity, but it's always super vague and I've never seen a specific amount, so I am skeptical that it's anything meaningful.
/rant

Just an FYI for all the marathon talk. The Rock and Roll marathon, over a 2 year period, helped a sports related charity in my area that I used to volunteer for. They raised somewhere in the $1.5-$2M range that allowed them to buy land and build a complex to accommodate their needs. So it's not all bad I guess.

gimp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5243 on: November 10, 2014, 11:59:47 AM »
A second freezer can save you a shitload of money. Buy one for like two hundred bucks, fill it with meat, it costs almost nothing in electricity since a full freezer keeps temperature very well.

If you hunt, that means you can eat meat for incredibly cheap. If you don't, you can still save a lot by buying a shitload during big sales. It pays for itself in savings. And yes, if you live up north, you can stick it in your garage and just turn it off for three months a year (or six, depending on how north you live...)

A second fridge that's used all the time might be a different matter. I haven't ran the numbers but I suspect you need to be feeding a lot of people to make it pay for itself.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5244 on: November 10, 2014, 12:50:28 PM »
A second freezer can save you a shitload of money. Buy one for like two hundred bucks, fill it with meat, it costs almost nothing in electricity since a full freezer keeps temperature very well.

If you hunt, that means you can eat meat for incredibly cheap. If you don't, you can still save a lot by buying a shitload during big sales. It pays for itself in savings. And yes, if you live up north, you can stick it in your garage and just turn it off for three months a year (or six, depending on how north you live...)

A second fridge that's used all the time might be a different matter. I haven't ran the numbers but I suspect you need to be feeding a lot of people to make it pay for itself.

I think we all agree a chest freezer can be a money saver.  But keeping your old (likely inefficient) refrigerator around, just in case you need cold beer for 20 people, is probably a waste.

Le Barbu

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5245 on: November 10, 2014, 01:11:53 PM »
This wasn't overheard at work, but observed in our neighborhood. 

I had been noticing as we walk around the neighborhood in the afternoons, that a bunch if people in our 'hood have their older fridge in their garage.  I get a bit disgusted about it, such a waste of electricity, and how much fresh food storage could one family possibly need? 

At least it is families, though.  We visited my FIL this weekend, who lives alone.  One man, and he has two full size fridges.  One mostly full of his food, the other almost empty with a few beverages and not much else. 

The whole weekend I was thinking about what a fountain of wastefulness the average American is.

I completely agree with you but there is some exceptions, I think.

We bought a second (small) fridge to save time (efficiency) and exessive grocery comute (bike or car). This small one's purpose is to store lunches (lunch box ready overnight, family of 4), deals on yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. We  also use it to marinade meats, make some big batches of desserts or other plates in advance. It keep all kind of beverages fresh and available anytime we need it etc. Electricity cost probably arround 20$/year according to Energystar sticker, maybe less since this appliance is in a cold space of my basement. At the end, I'm not 100% sure but I think we are ahead...

Tallgirl1204

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5246 on: November 10, 2014, 01:35:05 PM »
It's the best TV show ever made, cancelled after one season. If you have Netflix, watching it is now your number one priority.

+1

+2  total mustachian kind of show.  Lots of the sci-fi version of dumpster diving...

irishbear99

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5247 on: November 10, 2014, 01:37:56 PM »
I've been reading this thread with great amusement for some time now, and finally overheard something today at work that is post-worthy.

Co-worker was talking about her house renovations and how helpful the people at Home Depot were with the design of the new kitchen. They were so helpful, in fact, that they even told her if she spent $300 more, she could get all her kitchen cabinet handles for free! So, they did.

/facepalm

skunkfunk

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5248 on: November 10, 2014, 03:05:12 PM »
I've been reading this thread with great amusement for some time now, and finally overheard something today at work that is post-worthy.

Co-worker was talking about her house renovations and how helpful the people at Home Depot were with the design of the new kitchen. They were so helpful, in fact, that they even told her if she spent $300 more, she could get all her kitchen cabinet handles for free! So, they did.

/facepalm

Another lurker takes the plunge!

What did they spend the $300 on? If it was a repair they needed anyway, that might not be so bad, right?

irishbear99

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #5249 on: November 10, 2014, 03:23:56 PM »
What did they spend the $300 on? If it was a repair they needed anyway, that might not be so bad, right?

If I understood correctly (and I may not have - it was hard to hear her over the groaning in my head), they spent the extra $300 on a specialty cabinet that had a built-in trash can.