Author Topic: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition  (Read 981478 times)

DadJokes

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1450 on: February 11, 2021, 11:24:53 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.

LennStar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1451 on: February 12, 2021, 04:19:17 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.
I could not sleep well with crypto stuff. There is simply no understandable reason for big changes.

Also I did made 400 too in the second January week with Tesla, and lost 400 in the third week with Xiaomi thanks to Trump.
It comes, it goes.

One of my coworkers also does cryptos. Currently he looks happier than half a year ago about that :D

ixtap

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1452 on: February 12, 2021, 07:50:51 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.
I could not sleep well with crypto stuff. There is simply no understandable reason for big changes.

Also I did made 400 too in the second January week with Tesla, and lost 400 in the third week with Xiaomi thanks to Trump.
It comes, it goes.

One of my coworkers also does cryptos. Currently he looks happier than half a year ago about that :D

There is more and more talk of paying with things in crypto. How does that even work? Do you make the exchange the second you agree on a price or does every negotiation become a crypto gamble?

Phenix

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1453 on: February 12, 2021, 12:19:34 PM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.
I could not sleep well with crypto stuff. There is simply no understandable reason for big changes.

Also I did made 400 too in the second January week with Tesla, and lost 400 in the third week with Xiaomi thanks to Trump.
It comes, it goes.

One of my coworkers also does cryptos. Currently he looks happier than half a year ago about that :D

There is more and more talk of paying with things in crypto. How does that even work? Do you make the exchange the second you agree on a price or does every negotiation become a crypto gamble?

https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoin-pizza-day-celebrating-20-million-pizza-order/
Works out better for some than it does for others.

LennStar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1454 on: February 13, 2021, 10:26:40 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.
I could not sleep well with crypto stuff. There is simply no understandable reason for big changes.

Also I did made 400 too in the second January week with Tesla, and lost 400 in the third week with Xiaomi thanks to Trump.
It comes, it goes.

One of my coworkers also does cryptos. Currently he looks happier than half a year ago about that :D

There is more and more talk of paying with things in crypto. How does that even work? Do you make the exchange the second you agree on a price or does every negotiation become a crypto gamble?
That heavily depends on what you use with whom ;)

But in general it's (or can be) not different from paying in any other currency. After all, the currency is just a description related to a certain number of your account.
Take e.g. Paypal who want to jump on the train right now: Does it matter to PP if you click on dollar, Euro or Bitcoin?

Of course that is high level usage, the lower you go the more hassle it becomes - and also a lot less efficient (energy wise) than conventional credit card companies for example, at least for Bitcoin, which btw. cannot handle even 1% of todays credit card transactions.

ixtap

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1455 on: February 13, 2021, 10:30:35 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.
I could not sleep well with crypto stuff. There is simply no understandable reason for big changes.

Also I did made 400 too in the second January week with Tesla, and lost 400 in the third week with Xiaomi thanks to Trump.
It comes, it goes.

One of my coworkers also does cryptos. Currently he looks happier than half a year ago about that :D

There is more and more talk of paying with things in crypto. How does that even work? Do you make the exchange the second you agree on a price or does every negotiation become a crypto gamble?
That heavily depends on what you use with whom ;)

But in general it's (or can be) not different from paying in any other currency. After all, the currency is just a description related to a certain number of your account.
Take e.g. Paypal who want to jump on the train right now: Does it matter to PP if you click on dollar, Euro or Bitcoin?

Of course that is high level usage, the lower you go the more hassle it becomes - and also a lot less efficient (energy wise) than conventional credit card companies for example, at least for Bitcoin, which btw. cannot handle even 1% of todays credit card transactions.

I wasn't worried about PP, but about those on either end of the transaction. The dollar and the euro fluctuate, but not by as much as crypto. Massive fluctuations like crypto are why fiat currencies end up collapsing, going to the dollar or devaluing, but of course that is because the "fluctuations" in fiat currencies tend to go in one direction, not see sawing back and forth.

Dicey

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1456 on: February 13, 2021, 10:45:57 AM »
I am planning a city-wide Food Drive for April. I was speaking to a grocery store manager I know slightly.  He said he wanted to be sure to get the date on the calendar in case he wasn't there. W-w-what? Seems he's worried about his health and wants to take a year off to get things back in balance. You know I was grinning from ear-to-ear under my mask. Of course I mentioned the blog and this site and promised to send a link. Wouldn't it be cool if he discovered he was already there?
« Last Edit: February 13, 2021, 12:41:22 PM by Dicey »

Green_Tea

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1457 on: February 13, 2021, 12:29:15 PM »
[...] and also a lot less efficient (energy wise) than conventional credit card companies for example, at least for Bitcoin, which btw. cannot handle even 1% of todays credit card transactions.

Hey @LennStar , do you happen to have some background reading for this? I was discussing this with a friend and while we found some resources they were kind of vague. Thanks a lot in advance!

LennStar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1458 on: February 14, 2021, 04:49:58 AM »
[...] and also a lot less efficient (energy wise) than conventional credit card companies for example, at least for Bitcoin, which btw. cannot handle even 1% of todays credit card transactions.

Hey @LennStar , do you happen to have some background reading for this? I was discussing this with a friend and while we found some resources they were kind of vague. Thanks a lot in advance!
Sorry, I don't know any good place for a beginner. I have been mostly out of crypto for 3 years now. (Except Gridcoin, which is a unique one and not one for a beginner trying to understand :D)

But it should not that hard to find estimates about the energy usage of Bitcoin. The keywords here are "proof of work". (There is also "proof of stake" which uses a lot less energy as an alternative mode to "move the chain")

As for transactions maximum, that's easy: Maximum size of the block, time between blocks and size per transaction.
First one is fixed. Second one averages out in the long run and third can fluctuate a lot depending on how much prior transactions you have to put together for the funds. But that has an average too.

Take those three numbers and you know fairly exact how much transaction a blockchain can do.

NorCal

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1459 on: February 14, 2021, 08:02:58 AM »
[...] and also a lot less efficient (energy wise) than conventional credit card companies for example, at least for Bitcoin, which btw. cannot handle even 1% of todays credit card transactions.

Hey @LennStar , do you happen to have some background reading for this? I was discussing this with a friend and while we found some resources they were kind of vague. Thanks a lot in advance!
Sorry, I don't know any good place for a beginner. I have been mostly out of crypto for 3 years now. (Except Gridcoin, which is a unique one and not one for a beginner trying to understand :D)

But it should not that hard to find estimates about the energy usage of Bitcoin. The keywords here are "proof of work". (There is also "proof of stake" which uses a lot less energy as an alternative mode to "move the chain")

As for transactions maximum, that's easy: Maximum size of the block, time between blocks and size per transaction.
First one is fixed. Second one averages out in the long run and third can fluctuate a lot depending on how much prior transactions you have to put together for the funds. But that has an average too.

Take those three numbers and you know fairly exact how much transaction a blockchain can do.

I can’t vouch for crypto numbers, but I can give you some context about credit card numbers. I worked at a major credit card company about a decade ago. At the time, we were processing about 2.5 million transactions a second during peak times ( I forget the annual totals). Given the growth of the industry, I’d guestimate this number has roughly doubled since I worked there.  All of this was split between two redundant data centers.

A big part of the uphill climb crypto has to overcome are parts of the financial transaction that most people don’t think of until they need it. Things like authorization services, dispute resolution, fraud resolution, chargebacks, refunds, etc, don’t exist in the crypto world. While these services could possibly be created, it would require eliminating some of the things that make crypto unique.

freedomfightergal

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1460 on: February 17, 2021, 11:18:08 AM »
many years ago I got a new job close to home & started biking to work, taking my lunch & I hadn't had cable or any tv for a couple of years. so after a co-worker commented about some news I mentioned I didn't watch tv & they asked very seriously if I was Amish or something! lol It became a thing after that, I even started wearing all black eheh

I hear there are lots of Amish people in Oz... /s
??

It was at a US based job....

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1461 on: February 17, 2021, 10:11:34 PM »
Well that joke fell flat.  Oops.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1462 on: February 18, 2021, 06:25:30 AM »
Well that joke fell flat.  Oops.
I appreciated the humor!  (I think freedomfightergal missed the sarcasm tag... :) )

DadJokes

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1463 on: February 18, 2021, 07:05:40 AM »
Twice per week, I have a virtual meeting with our audit team. It's both there to discuss audit status and needs, as well as an excuse to socialize with people. Every meeting starts off with the in-charge talking about his crypto gains for the week. Today, it was "I've made $357 since last week!"

I just smile and nod along. I guess it's good that he's doing something. Another person (fairly new) did say that he plans to stick to index funds whenever he gets around to investing. I hope "whenever he gets around to it" is sooner, rather than later.

When the same thing happened Tuesday, I decided to privately email the two newer staff members and offered a different perspective, including links to a few good blog posts (including two from MMM). One replied that he loves MMM, but hasn't put it all together yet.

Green_Tea

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1464 on: February 18, 2021, 02:58:31 PM »
Thank you @LennStar and @NorCal !

Tjat

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1465 on: April 29, 2021, 06:14:44 PM »
Naturally frugal employee who I’ve managed for years as he’s progressed upwards throughout his career: “hey so I’ve been thinking more about savings now that I have a higher income and noticed that there’s a total 401k limit of like 58k, what’s that about?”

I explain how mega back door Roth’s work

Him: holy crap that’s a good idea!

talltexan

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1466 on: May 06, 2021, 07:01:01 AM »
indeed my wife and I organized things to make a backdoor contribution on her behalf early in the year. It's also good because it gets you to make the lump sum, early, which on-average will get you a higher return.

Imma

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1467 on: July 05, 2021, 04:53:13 AM »
Here's an anti-antimustachian story, but it's not about work but about family. I don't think there's a seperate thread for that.

I met up with my sibling for the first time in nearly a year. Due to reasons we weren't able to meet up at either of our houses so we decided to go to a restaurant for lunch. I know what my sibling makes and it's not much (less than fulltime minimum wage) even though they work hard. Long story but it's not a choice and I'm very proud of them. I have a good job so I naturally picked up the bill even though they offered to split. I explained that I make tons of money and I know they don't so I would rather they use their limited resources for other things, to which my sibling replied: well, I still manage to save X amount every month! X being an impressive amount for someone on their income.

Then I came home and Mr Imma said 'well, you saved that amount when you were on an extremely low income, so you shouldn't be surprised'. And I guess he's right but I still was positively surprised that someone else is doing it, too. We were raised by the same frugal relatives so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

talltexan

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1468 on: July 13, 2021, 08:48:09 AM »
Congratulations to you and your relative on your high savings rates!

I'd always suspected my cousin was frugal, but she eventually confirmed that she'd been amping up the saving and even showed me a celebrity selfie her husband had taken with MMM himself.

jinga nation

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1469 on: July 14, 2021, 02:06:15 PM »
At work at customer site yesterday, heard a military officer say she put in her papers to retire, having done 20 in uniform. She said she had contributed a ton to the TSP ever since she joined Uncle Sam's Army hence she could live easily 40 years on her savings and retirement income in her home West African country. Also, she's been investing in rentals and businesses there. Her kids are grown and flown. Her American husband works full-time but he's looking into continuing remote working (since COVID) from there, and then eventually taper down to part-time or seasonal contract work.

Others were astounded on her FIRE plans. Could sense some jealousy in the replies. I'm chuffed there's a secret Mustachian in my workplace.

LennStar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1470 on: July 15, 2021, 08:31:18 AM »
Others were astounded on her FIRE plans. Could sense some jealousy in the replies. I'm chuffed there's a secret Mustachian in my workplace.
I hope you send her an mustachian salute.

Adventine

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1471 on: July 16, 2021, 10:37:01 AM »
At work at customer site yesterday, heard a military officer say she put in her papers to retire, having done 20 in uniform. She said she had contributed a ton to the TSP ever since she joined Uncle Sam's Army hence she could live easily 40 years on her savings and retirement income in her home West African country. Also, she's been investing in rentals and businesses there. Her kids are grown and flown. Her American husband works full-time but he's looking into continuing remote working (since COVID) from there, and then eventually taper down to part-time or seasonal contract work.

Others were astounded on her FIRE plans. Could sense some jealousy in the replies. I'm chuffed there's a secret Mustachian in my workplace.

I love these kinds of stories.

Dicey

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1472 on: July 17, 2021, 11:17:35 PM »
At work at customer site yesterday, heard a military officer say she put in her papers to retire, having done 20 in uniform. She said she had contributed a ton to the TSP ever since she joined Uncle Sam's Army hence she could live easily 40 years on her savings and retirement income in her home West African country. Also, she's been investing in rentals and businesses there. Her kids are grown and flown. Her American husband works full-time but he's looking into continuing remote working (since COVID) from there, and then eventually taper down to part-time or seasonal contract work.

Others were astounded on her FIRE plans. Could sense some jealousy in the replies. I'm chuffed there's a secret Mustachian in my workplace.

I love these kinds of stories.
I love your story.

Adventine

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1473 on: July 18, 2021, 08:54:43 AM »
At work at customer site yesterday, heard a military officer say she put in her papers to retire, having done 20 in uniform. She said she had contributed a ton to the TSP ever since she joined Uncle Sam's Army hence she could live easily 40 years on her savings and retirement income in her home West African country. Also, she's been investing in rentals and businesses there. Her kids are grown and flown. Her American husband works full-time but he's looking into continuing remote working (since COVID) from there, and then eventually taper down to part-time or seasonal contract work.

Others were astounded on her FIRE plans. Could sense some jealousy in the replies. I'm chuffed there's a secret Mustachian in my workplace.

I love these kinds of stories.
I love your story.

<3

Freedomin5

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1474 on: August 24, 2021, 04:19:02 AM »
I walked by a group of coworkers today with whom I have a passing acquaintance, one with whom I have worked on projects in the past and had a brief discussion on early retirement. As I walked past, she suddenly said loudly, "Freedomin5 is probably ready to FIRE!" I was a bit surprised and feigned confusion. The other two (whom I knew in passing) quickly jumped in with "FIRE -- it stands for Financial Independence Retire Early." I know one of them has rental property in the states. I was on my way to a meeting, as were they (to a different meeting), so I wasn't able to get deeper into it.

It looks like there may be some FIRE devotees in our midst.

talltexan

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1475 on: September 03, 2021, 01:19:40 PM »
It's good to have a reputation for frugality at work.

It may not be good to have a lot of people think you don't care about a long-term career.

JoePublic3.14

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1476 on: September 14, 2021, 06:05:58 PM »
Glad to have one to share from this morning. Here at a Fortune 100 (barely…) company there is a lot of good, but like most places, there’s a whole lot of bad also. Coworker announced today he is gone this Friday. 20 years was enough, and he openly stated that they are well positioned for him to take a much different job due to their simple life and dedicated investing. He is going from a six figure (likely around $125k) engineering role to a position in a school district maintenance yard. The company has drifted over the last few years, but most of us keep gulping the kool-aid.

talltexan

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1477 on: September 23, 2021, 09:05:34 AM »
Congratulations to your co-worker.

Since we are mustachians, the obvious question about the new role is whether the commute is substantially reduced?

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1478 on: November 09, 2021, 08:03:49 PM »
I'm in the National Guard and this weekend I was riding with a couple of other officers out to do a 12-mile ruck march. One guy offered to drive in his giant lifted diesel truck. I sat in the back seat and the other two guys were talking about their trucks, campers, and lots of other super expensive toys. The guy driving bragged about the $10,000 discount off MSRP offered to police officers (his full-time job). So maybe he only paid $40,000 instead of $50,000. But it's lifted so high that if he wants to two a camper (only a few tens of thousands more) he'll have to pay extra to get the trailer raised up high enough to reach the trailer hitch.

It boggles the mind spending $20-30,000 on a camper that will probably get used a few times per year, and tens of thousands more on a truck to haul it - that will otherwise serve the same function as a car.


On the other hand, I was surprised to learn that it got about 16-20 miles per gallon. One of our vehicles is a 20-year old full size van and it gets about 10 mpgn. Even our minivan only gets about 22 mpg.

Fomerly known as something

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1479 on: November 10, 2021, 08:18:51 AM »
Noticed a coworker was checking our salary schedule the other day.  We got to talking even living in the pricy Bay Area, coworker maxes out her TSP, Roth and is saving another $2,000 a month on average for a future home purchase.  (Which is why she was running the numbers again using our salary schedule).

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1480 on: November 29, 2021, 03:25:35 PM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Fomerly known as something

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1481 on: November 29, 2021, 07:42:51 PM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Founder is also giving his kids the invaluable skill of driving a stick; which will allow the kids to rent the really cheap Econ boxes in Europe should they ever choose too.

jeninco

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1482 on: December 01, 2021, 04:21:04 PM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Founder is also giving his kids the invaluable skill of driving a stick; which will allow the kids to rent the really cheap Econ boxes in Europe should they ever choose too.
Or possibly not, but we were talking the other day about how our kids are the only generation that will probably drive both manuals and EVs in their lifetimes.

AerynLee

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1483 on: December 01, 2021, 04:25:09 PM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Founder is also giving his kids the invaluable skill of driving a stick; which will allow the kids to rent the really cheap Econ boxes in Europe should they ever choose too.
Or possibly not, but we were talking the other day about how our kids are the only generation that will probably drive both manuals and EVs in their lifetimes.
Carrying on the off-topic discussion, but DH and I own both a manual and an EV at the same time

RetiredAt63

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1484 on: December 01, 2021, 04:28:12 PM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Founder is also giving his kids the invaluable skill of driving a stick; which will allow the kids to rent the really cheap Econ boxes in Europe should they ever choose too.
Or possibly not, but we were talking the other day about how our kids are the only generation that will probably drive both manuals and EVs in their lifetimes.
Carrying on the off-topic discussion, but DH and I own both a manual and an EV at the same time

I used to drive stick until I sprained my left ankle badly, now I drive automatic.  DD and SiL both drive stick, their cars are harder to find but cheaper.  Manual transmission gets you out of a snowbank more easily.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1485 on: December 01, 2021, 07:55:59 PM »
Am I the only one who owns a manual transmission electric ?

LennStar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1486 on: December 02, 2021, 11:09:32 AM »
Am I the only one who owns a manual transmission electric ?
Probably, because I don't know of any company who produces them. To be fair, there are also only two models where I know it's automatic :D

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1487 on: December 02, 2021, 12:33:57 PM »
Am I the only one who owns a manual transmission electric ?
Probably, because I don't know of any company who produces them. To be fair, there are also only two models where I know it's automatic :D

You just gotta install the motor on your bottom bracket

Imma

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1488 on: December 05, 2021, 09:39:06 AM »
Last year, my employer's founder bought a rusty-but-low-mileage Corolla for $500 as a beater for his teens to use.  This year, one of the control arm bushings basically disintegrated, and his mechanic wasn't interested in touching a car with that much rust.  So he's back in the market for a kid-friendly beater.

Today I went with him to look at the new beater, as he knows I do my own car repair.  New beater is a '01 Civic with 175k miles, a manual transmission, nearly-new tires, and almost no rust at all.  Clutch probably needs replacing at some point, but Founder talked the guy down by about the cost of replacing the clutch.

This is a guy who's easily worth 8 figures, and daily drives a '03 Accord with 260,000 miles on it.

Founder is also giving his kids the invaluable skill of driving a stick; which will allow the kids to rent the really cheap Econ boxes in Europe should they ever choose too.

I'm a learner driver in Europe and I'm choosing to only learn to drive an automatic. I'm not going to own a car, I'm only going to use company cars (full fleet is electric) and maybe rent a car very occasionally, and all the cheap rentals are electric these days. I don't expect to rent a car more than once a year seeing as I've succesfully lived for 31 years without a driver's license. In almost all cases it's cheaper to get large stuff delivered rather than rent a car to pick it up and everyone I visit lives near major transit hubs. If it wasn't for my job I would never have gotten a license.

I could spend a ton of extra money to also learn how to drive and get a license for a manual car, but it's 2021, chances of me ever getting into a situation where I would need to drive a stick car are so low that it's simply not worth spending the extra €500 or so in lessons. 10 years from now petrol cars have probably disappeared.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1489 on: December 05, 2021, 09:45:54 AM »
Is it a separate license for driving a manual vs an automatic?

Imma

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1490 on: December 05, 2021, 09:57:04 AM »
Is it a separate license for driving a manual vs an automatic?

In the Netherlands it is, yes. A manual license is considered a "full" license, an automatic is a partial license. If you pass the manual driving test you are also allowed to drive an automatic but not the other way round. If you want to get a full license rather than just an automatic license, you can expect to need 5-10 extra driving lessons on average to learn the skill of using a stick (at €65/lesson). Most kids who get their license at 18 do learn to drive a stick because they're going to use their parents' older vehicles while they're still living at home and most older vehicles are manual. My situation of learning to drive as an adult who is not going to borrow their parent's car is a bit different. At my age I'll statistically need a lot more lessons than a younger driver to pass in the first place, so I decided to not take all those extra lessons for a manual on top of that to save a little bit of money.

I'm surprised it's not a seperate license there, does that mean if you passed your driving test in an automatic, you could still legally drive a manual even though the driving examinator has no idea if you are actually able to do it?

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1491 on: December 05, 2021, 10:13:19 AM »
Yeah I’m the US my first car was a manual but I still took the test with an automatic to minimize the chances of screwing up (don’t worry I still screwed up).

It’s a good skill to have but I definitely wouldn’t pay extra money to do it.  If you had a friend with a manual you could practice a bit off road to learn the basics in case you need it in an emergency

Dicey

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1492 on: December 05, 2021, 10:18:38 AM »
Is it a separate license for driving a manual vs an automatic?

In the Netherlands it is, yes. A manual license is considered a "full" license, an automatic is a partial license. If you pass the manual driving test you are also allowed to drive an automatic but not the other way round. If you want to get a full license rather than just an automatic license, you can expect to need 5-10 extra driving lessons on average to learn the skill of using a stick (at €65/lesson). Most kids who get their license at 18 do learn to drive a stick because they're going to use their parents' older vehicles while they're still living at home and most older vehicles are manual. My situation of learning to drive as an adult who is not going to borrow their parent's car is a bit different. At my age I'll statistically need a lot more lessons than a younger driver to pass in the first place, so I decided to not take all those extra lessons for a manual on top of that to save a little bit of money.

I'm surprised it's not a seperate license there, does that mean if you passed your driving test in an automatic, you could still legally drive a manual even though the driving examinator has no idea if you are actually able to do it?
Yes, that's true. Lol, I learned to drive a stick the way all my friends did. Out behind a Sears Store that had a gigantic parking lot. It happened that my boyfriend owned the stick-shift car (BMW 2002tii) and we both worked at Sears. It cost me nothing.

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1493 on: December 05, 2021, 10:28:23 AM »
My Mom hated driving stick, so I learned to drive automatic, but when I bought my first car, all I could afford was a manual. I had to learn on that car!

My previous car was manual. It got tedious to stop and scan into the parking garage at work, on a hill. so I was happy to get automatic when I got my hybrid. Of course, it was equally important to go from manual windows to automatic windows. It's been 12 years and I still remember that sense of simplicity the first time I drove up that hill with my new automatic everything!

Adventine

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1494 on: December 05, 2021, 10:54:22 AM »
I'm 32 years old and (re)learning to drive a manual in the States. I learned to drive in my home country with a manual, and I got my driver's license there in my early 20's, but I managed for so long without a car that I forgot a lot of the basics. And US driving is a LOT different from what I was used to.


My husband and I plan to use this manual car until it falls apart. When the time comes to replace it, we'll probably get an electric.

markbike528CBX

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1495 on: December 05, 2021, 10:58:17 AM »

I'm a learner driver in Europe and I'm choosing to only learn to drive an automatic. I'm not going to own a car, I'm only going to use company cars (full fleet is electric) and maybe rent a car very occasionally, and all the cheap rentals are electric these days. I don't expect to rent a car more than once a year seeing as I've succesfully lived for 31 years without a driver's license. In almost all cases it's cheaper to get large stuff delivered rather than rent a car to pick it up and everyone I visit lives near major transit hubs. If it wasn't for my job I would never have gotten a license.

I could spend a ton of extra money to also learn how to drive and get a license for a manual car, but it's 2021, chances of me ever getting into a situation where I would need to drive a stick car are so low that it's simply not worth spending the extra €500 or so in lessons. 10 years from now petrol cars have probably disappeared.

I was going to say that learning to drive stick is a valuable life skill, then realized I would sound like the people who thought that "slipstick" (sliderule*) skills would always be valuable.
"What about when the batteries die" -- a semi-valid concern for early electronic calculators
I lost, then refound my 1st college calculator many year later, and it still worked on 8+ year old batteries. My grad school calculator (30 years ago) still works on the 1st battery replacement.

*I now realize that I have to put in the definition of slderule https://www.thefreedictionary.com/slide+rule

However, hearing the stories of USA colleagues who didn't know stick driving before picking up a car in Paris are priceless-kostenlos for me, very pricey for Avis France :-) **
    Downshifting from 5th to 2nd at over 110km/hr (70mph) on the Autoroute (Freeway, Autobahn)
    Not knowing how to get into reverse (VW, pull up on gearswitch, then place in reverse) at the wrong Autoroute toll booth lane and having to manually push the car back far enough to get into the correct lane.
   Parking on slope (me).  Result, one stone marker forward knocked over, one tree behind bashed into.

   I only had 5 or so CAR stick experiences before trying to follow a colleague out of Paris CDG Terminal 2 at an excessive speed.  I had been riding motorcycles (almost all of which were manual) so I had a good  grasp  (no pun intended) of clutch operation.

**I'm sure Avis France shudders when a certain well known US logo on a shirt shows up at the counter. If not, they should.  Many stories of destruction beyond just stick misuse.
But they got us one time, since we were Americans and they assumed automatic only, which pushed the price range way up.  A colleague and I got a Citron C6 -- very nice car, good enough for the French President https://automobile.fandom.com/wiki/State_Limousines_of_France,  good enough for us.  The bean counters were enraged that we accepted a Euro6000/month car.



MoseyingAlong

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1496 on: December 05, 2021, 11:26:06 AM »
Is it a separate license for driving a manual vs an automatic?

In the Netherlands it is, yes....

I'm surprised it's not a seperate license there, does that mean if you passed your driving test in an automatic, you could still legally drive a manual even though the driving examinator has no idea if you are actually able to do it?

Just to add a little sidebar.
For trucks (as in tractor-trailers/semi's/HGVs, not pickups), there is an automatic restriction on commercial driver licenses unless you were tested in a manual. I thought that was interesting.

Even more interesting to me, when I went thru truck driving school, one of my classmates had never driven a manual car. I found it very hard to stop burying the clutch so not sure if my car driving experience was a help or a hindrance. (When changing gears in the truck, you only push the clutch in partway. Burying it is not a good habit.) 

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1497 on: December 05, 2021, 12:18:53 PM »
I'll stay on the off-topic subject but only because these happened to me and they're funny.

As a teen I was learning to drive on my mom's automatic.   My dad asked if I wanted to drive him to the pipe store across town.  Sure!   Except he had a stick shift.   We got about 6 blocks from home and I stopped at a stop sign.   The ground was totally flat.   Flat as an unleavened pancake flat.   

I could not get my feet and hands to coordinate enough to get past that stop sign.  We were at that intersection for an hour.   It was so bad that several families who lived at that intersection came out of their houses and sat down on lawn chairs to watch the spectacle.   You can find this as the definition of humiliating in some dictionaries...

I got better!  Still drive a stick shift today.

I went to Britain and rented a car.  It was also a stick shift.   I got in, drove us out of the rental car lot across the street to the gas station down the road and filled up the tank.   Then I couldn't get that car to shift gears.  At all.  I don't mean I couldn't get my hands and feet to properly coordinate -- LORD KNOWS I had enough experience to recognize THAT problem again.  The gear just wouldn't budge.    I got out and my wife got into the driver's seat.   She couldn't make it work either.

I asked a local who was pumping gas if he had any idea what the problem was.  (It was a busy highway and walking across it(twice!) back to the rental agency it wasn't my first choice.)   He shrugged and sat down in the driver's seat and it worked fine. 

The solution?  There was a plastic ring on the underside of the gear shift knob.   Some kind of safety device, you had to reach down around the knob, grab the ring and pull it upwards to change gears.  Apparently, I had unknowingly done that when I first drove the car.   Who knew?!


RetiredAt63

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1498 on: December 05, 2021, 07:07:49 PM »
Still on driver's licenses - when I moved from Quebec to Ontario, not only did I get a full driver's license, apparently I am licensed to drive a motorcycle.  Huh?  The Quebec license at that time covered all of those, so Ontario put me down for everything.  I am also licensed to supervise a driver with a learner's permit, which is OK.  I did that a lot with DD while she had her learner's permit.

Off topic, when I moved I found 2 of my very old solar powered scientific calculators and both work.  I don't imagine they have much market value, but I couldn't bear to get rid of them, too sentimental and they don't take up much space.  And although my Dad tried to teach me several times, I never got the hang of a slide rule.  But I think I still have his kicking around somewhere.  You know, for the zombie apocalypse after the computers and cell phones and solar calculators die.

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Re: Overheard at Work: The Anti-Antimustachian Edition
« Reply #1499 on: December 05, 2021, 08:45:31 PM »
Is it a separate license for driving a manual vs an automatic?

In the Netherlands it is, yes. A manual license is considered a "full" license, an automatic is a partial license. If you pass the manual driving test you are also allowed to drive an automatic but not the other way round. If you want to get a full license rather than just an automatic license, you can expect to need 5-10 extra driving lessons on average to learn the skill of using a stick (at €65/lesson). Most kids who get their license at 18 do learn to drive a stick because they're going to use their parents' older vehicles while they're still living at home and most older vehicles are manual. My situation of learning to drive as an adult who is not going to borrow their parent's car is a bit different. At my age I'll statistically need a lot more lessons than a younger driver to pass in the first place, so I decided to not take all those extra lessons for a manual on top of that to save a little bit of money.

I'm surprised it's not a seperate license there, does that mean if you passed your driving test in an automatic, you could still legally drive a manual even though the driving examinator has no idea if you are actually able to do it?
Yes, that's true. Lol, I learned to drive a stick the way all my friends did. Out behind a Sears Store that had a gigantic parking lot. It happened that my boyfriend owned the stick-shift car (BMW 2002tii) and we both worked at Sears. It cost me nothing.

The high School parking lot for me.