Rant: outboard repair shops

So quite a while back I bought my little 4hp Mercury Mariner along with an Avon 3.15 for about $800 total. Killer deal as far as I was concerned and I still think that. We've never really had occasion to use the outboard, but the PO showed me that it ran, and was still peeing properly when I bought it. So, months go by, we still never use the outboard, but we want to take it with us on a trip attached to the Avon. I go to do some basic checks on it before bringing it to the marina, and I notice that it leaks gas from what I think is the carb float when I tilt it forward on the stand. Last thing I want is it dripping gas the whole time it's being towed behind the boat, so I decide to take it to a shop to have it repaired.

I call the shop up, and I have to make an appointment to bring it in for about a week later. This particular shop was chosen because it's close to my office and I was impressed by the number of course completion certificates on their wall when I'd been in there before. I'm surprised by the need to make an appointment but figure they've just got their bookkeeping in good order and they know they'll have time free to work on the engine when I get it there.

I was wrong...

When I dropped it off, the guy who helped me get it out of my truck said it should be done by "early to mid next week", "unless you're in a hurry?". I thought, nah, don't need it right away, next week is fine & told the guy so. Second mistake (first was bringing it there in the first place).

A week later I call them up asking about it: "let me see if I can find the work order..." "it doesn't look like the guys have gotten to it yet, is next week OK?" Sure.

A week+ later, I go by to pick it up assuming that it's long since been done. "who told you that it was done?" "well, they must not have checked the schedule, we only ordered parts for it a couple of days ago" You mean 8 days after I brought it in was the first time you even looked at it?

A bit less than a week later, I call again about it: "we ordered parts for it last week, they'll be here tomorrow, and your engine should be done that afternoon" So I go by the following afternoon... "who called you to let you know it was done?" No one, I was told yesterday that it'd be done today. "who told you that?" The guy I think is the owner strolls out of the back and says "probably me". He's apologetic, says the parts haven't come in, and he's short of mechanics, but it'll "definitely be done by early next week"

So I called yesterday and spoke to a receptionist..."it looks like we ordered parts for it a while back"...yes, more than two weeks ago... "did anyone call you to say it was done?" No, your owner told me it'd be done "early this week". "Oh, well, I don't know what the status is" You've had it for a month, it's probably covered in spider webs. "well would you like me to find out more for you" YES "OK, I'll do that & get right back to you"

That was yesterday afternoon, still waiting for that call...


Grrrrr

A short rant...

Last night on my way home from work I got a call from Rita asking if I'd pick up some KFC. I'm not a big fan of their food, but occasionally it's nice, and they do make pretty good coleslaw & half decent baked beans. Their chicken is so-so, certainly not like it used to be when I was a kid when it was still run by Colonel Sanders. I seem to remember at some point after he was bought out and his recipes monkeyed with, the colonel described the food as tasting like cardboard, but I can't find a citation.

Anyway, I'd been to this KFC before, and was far less than impressed. The place is a dump, the dining area is a sty, the employees seem to wander around in a daze, and the guy I assume is the manager looks like a sloppier version of a low end biker wannabe, except with fewer teeth and lower hygiene standards. It had been months & months since I've been there last, and they were still in business, so I thought maybe things had changed.

I was wrong.

The staff looked "rode hard & put up wet", there was food scattered over about half the tables, including a couple of tables that had most likely had children at them judging by the puddles of milk & soda all over the tables, the benches and the floors. This is supposedly a fast food place, but they've lost the meaning of this. It took about twenty minutes for my order to be filled, after I'd waited in line for another ten or so. It wasn't like they were cooking anything (in fact the only person in there who looked like he knew what he was doing was the guy cooking the chicken), they just dragged their feet going anywhere. The little old lady who was putting together orders apologized to each customer for the long wait as she gave them their food. Also there was a prominent sign on the woman's bathroom that the light didn't work, how hard to change a light bulb, or call an electrician?

Once the food is delivered, it goes into poorly designed foam trays with plastic lids. The lids don't fit well onto the foam trays, and simply pop off. The tray bottomss don't nest into the top of the lids, so they don't stack well, and simply slide off of each other making it treacherous to try & get them home w/o taking them out of the bag and putting them side by side on the floor somewhere.

At least they still make decent biscuits.

Rant: How hard can it be to turn off a fan?

The office I work in shares a single bathroom for about a dozen people. There's also a shower room that folks use when they ride their bikes in or go running or whatever. Both of these rooms share a single exhaust ventfan. For some reason, the noise of the exhaust fan just drives me nuts. I've actually moved my desk once to get further away from it, but it's still there. I'm not sure what it is about this particular fan, most don't seem to bother me. I spent five years in the USN as an electrician's mate, and quickly learned that on board ship, the sound of running fans meant that the generators were up and running, no sounds of running fans (otherwise known as silence) indicated a long, generally bad, day for the EM shop. You'd wake up in the middle of the night to some new noise, but if you heard fans, you knew you were probably good to go back to sleep. If you didn't hear fans, you might as well get up and head to the shop, there was work to do. But in general, hearing fans running meant things were going well. That was then...

Anyway, there are several culprits at work who seem incapable of turning off the fan after they use the bathroom. Others are more considerate, and leave the switches in the same position they found them, off. Fortunately, one of the worst offenders spends the majority of his time in the field, so after the start of day, I don't have to deal with him. The other worst offender is an office puke like me, and I find myself getting up several times a day to turn the switch off after him.

So, you're sitting there wondering why I just don't say something? Well, it seems like a petty thing to be upset about, even if it does drive me crazy. Plus some of my coworkers have noticed my habit of turning off the switch every time I walk by and have figured it out for themselves w/o having to be asked.

Oh, and the kicker? I assume that the folks who leave the fan on also presume that they're doing any subsequent user's olfactory glands a favor by venting any noxious odors they may have left behind. However, where does the vent fan vent? Into the office space behind me. So all they're doing is redistributing their funk into the office, not out of it as you'd expect. At least the guys who occupy those offices spend the majority of their time out in the field so it's not like they're being bombarded by the funk.