Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

JohnGalt: Aug 7, 2012

Lutha Mahtin posted:

It's pretty easy to spill gas if you aren't paying close attention. You can put the nozzle into the car wrong; even if you're just a little off this can do it. You can have a car where the door covering the gas cap is on a spring, and you wedge it open at first but then it snaps closed and sends the nozzle flying out onto the ground. Some part of your car can be screwed up so it doesn't trigger the auto-shutoff part of the pump/nozzle. You can even pull the nozzle out of the car with your grip around the trigger, and spray gas as it comes out because you squeezed down on it. Or you can "top off the tank" after the shutoff clicks, which doesn't actually top off the tank but instead starts filling up the line that runs from the tank up to the opening.

Source: I worked in a gas station for a zillion hours in high school. We had a big barrel of this special material we used when people spilled fuel onto the ground. It looked kind of like pebbles for a fish tank, or some of those fancy salts that are opaque and kind of pink-colored. This was applied to the spill by using an old bottle of wiper fluid someone had cut the bottom off of (to make a scoop), so you would scoop up some of the stuff out of the barrel and go put it on the spill. It was really absorbent so usually just a few sprinkles would cover the liquid, and when it was nice out you could let the mixture sit there for a bit and then scrape it into a dustpan and dispose of it.

This didn't matter during the biggest spill I had to deal with, though. I remember once in the winter when some lady I'd never seen before (small town, knew everybody) spilled just a ridiculous amount of gas outside. I don't know the volume, but it created an area about ten feet in diameter of varying gasoline-ness. This happened after that point during winter where the snow has become a permanent fixture on the ground around the pumps, and this mixes with all the dirt on tires and people's shoes, so her spill created this sort of liquid minefield of little puddles and glazes on top of and in ruts and hills within the snowmuck. So I'm carrying scoop after scoop of the solidifier out there, it's cold as poo poo, and when I'm done I can't even clean it up because it's all mixed in with the shitsnow. The kicker is that everyone else coming to get gas after her now steps on the snow-dirt-gaspebble stew, and tracks it into the store. Good thing I was a master mopper

That solidifier stuff also worked on puke, which is something I'm sure you were all wondering. Bright and early one summer morning I watched as a dad and his son were walking to the front door of the store, and the kid is clearly dry-heaving. So his dad says "well just puke it up", and the kid proceeds to yak out this delightful orange goo directly in front of the single door into the convenience store. They come inside, buy their snacks or whatever, and leave. At no point does the dad have the kid go into the bathroom to rinse out his mouth, nor does he inform me that there's a glob of liquid Apple Jacks and stomach acid directly in the way of everyone trying to enter the store. The gas chips worked on it though

e: wow this post turned into some pretty gbs poo poo

Cat litter. It was cat litter. The entire environmental consulting/cleanup industry is scummy with pricing things super expensive and ripping off their employees.

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JohnGalt: Aug 7, 2012

Lutha Mahtin posted:

We had a literal barrel of the stuff so thinking back, my guess was that it wasn't cat litter. Looking at some pictures of cat litter online though, I'm not sure any more. Either way it worked pretty well

Oh I am sure the packaging looked official and had some HAZCOM on there, but its repackaged catlitter at huge markup.

The best ones are repackaged sawdust or ground up peat. Because going to home depot andhitting up the lawn section isnt professional enough.

Absurd Alhazred posted:

Hey, now, very bad things can happen if you don't use the right type of cat litter.

Holy poo poo.

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

Wouldn't surprise me. When I did building work a guy I worked with said "A nut and bolt and sell for $1 as a building item, repackaged as a car part it sells for $2, repackaged as a boat part it sells for $3."

Environmental supply companies also sell the service package with their product. For eco solvents and surfactants you normally have to buy concentrate and then get charged a consulting fee to be told what mixture ratio and volumes to use. Also, if youre not dealing direct with the manufacturer, youre being charged by another consultant to relay this info to you. Its fun all around.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2016 14:33

JohnGalt: Aug 7, 2012

Super weird, but today i received a phishing email from an address that was firstnamelastname@gmail from a friend i had back in high school. The thing is that this email isnt associated with any social networking site and I havent had contact with that person through this email, ever.

Still trying to work out how that happened.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 04:01

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."