AI March 2020 Chat Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI March 2020 Chat Thread

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

This Corona thing - or rather, the panic, is getting out of control. We have people ordering 100+ containers of hand sanitizer through our personal shopping service (we have a cap of 4 for any hand soaps, hand sanitizers, cleaners, etc right now, but people think they can be sneaky with the personal shoppers), people cleaning out entire shelves of bleach (only to be told no, you can only buy 4). Normally we get 4-5 pallets of "chemical" in (household cleaning products and laundry); we got 5 of JUST bleach last night. Canned goods? I think we got 8 just for the one aisle - and I got to work it.. it's a 2 person aisle on a busy day, and with 2 people, we still don't finish until 8 or so usually. The other guy ducked out at 6. :fuckoff:

Manager finally told me "dude, go home, I'll finish up" at 8:30.

Canned goods and water look like a tornado tore through. And it's obvious people have been tearing through the shelves to find the newest product at the back, on every aisle. Except we're so busy we don't get time to rotate, so old poo poo sits at the back of the shelf until someone finds it (Hamburger Helper, cake mixes, salad dressings, etc are particularly bad with this). I found several shelves where people had shoved everything to the side to get at the stuff in the back, assuming they'd get the freshest stuff (it exposed plenty of expired stuff for me to damage out). The most common canned stuff sells out, or comes really close to it, every day - you might find something with an extra week on the expiration (when it's good for 3 years) at best on that aisle if you dig a bit.

I had one jackass shove me to the side while I was unloading a pallet (just before close), ram his shopping cart into the stack I had just finished unloading off the pallet (knocking down a 5 ft high stack of ramen), then grab a case of something or other off the shelf. Respirator, hoodie, gloves, etc. :rolleyes:

I made sure management tailed the poo poo out of him all the way out of the store, since, you know, stuff covering up the face and fingerprints is kind of suspicious and good reason to get followed. :v:

(one saw it happen, they were equally unhappy, esp since the jackass crushed a few cases of product getting around the pallet I was trying to move out of his way).

loving people.

slidebite posted:

My father-in-law has a 98 Accord they bought brand new. V6/Auto (oddly bulletproof, never let them down) which they have driven all over North America and into Central America. 2 weeks ago he put $2K in it because it's been a good car for them. Timing belt, rad, transmission leak fix.. and something else.

Cue last week. Got rear-ended by some dimwit who was almost certainly on their phone (she says she was looking at her "clock" on her dashboard). Pushed him into a bro truck ahead of him with a big platform hitch sticking out. So his car is almost certainly written off and will likely be lucky to get $1500 for his 22 year old Honda.

Ooooof. Hope he kept receipts for that work. The 6th gen Accord really didn't hold its value worth a poo poo compared to other generations.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2020 16:31

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:58

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The Door Frame posted:

I don't get it myself, I saw someone buy an entire pallet of bottled water and 2 carts of frozen food at Costco and just laughed in amazement at the levels of panic sweeping through people

Food I understand.. to a degree. 2 carts of frozen poo poo? Are you TRYING to become obese? You need beans, rice, and canned stuff in general if you want to survive a few weeks of society breaking down.

Water? The only way those on city water won't have municipal water available is if the trucking industry shuts down for several weeks (delaying delivery of chemicals to water treatment plants) - at which point you'll just have to boil your water first. Those on well water won't have to worry (beyond the typical well water concerns). So long as the electric grid is still going, we'll have running water. And I hope you can keep that water relatively cool - a lot of those water bottles have BPA, and if they get warm enough, they'll leech into the water (which, even if you don't care about BPA, it'll still really affect the taste of the water).

I happened to be walking past the front door just before open (6am), and we had an actual line. Not a couple of people, but like 20 people, all lined up at the main entry. We have 2 entries, the other was probably the same. As soon as they opened the doors everyone rushed in. By the time I left (8am), the store was "Sunday after church crowded" (busiest time of the week). Usually there's a handful of people in when I left, but the lines were already 4-5 people deep when I left.

I work with a couple of preppers, and they're even blown away by the behavior of a lot of these people.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2020 17:25

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Kazinsal posted:

I realized last night that I'm down to my last roll of toilet paper.

Not looking forward to this.

I mean, I can't speak for your local stores, but we had over 10 pallets of toilet paper (still on the pallets) last night, with probably another 6 pallet displays, and at least 8-10 pallets worth on the shelves. Bottled water and canned goods (beans in particular), soups, ramen... won't stay on the shelf right now. And we've had to put a limit on how much hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, bleach, etc people can buy.

I had to do canned last night, and it suuuuuuuuuuuucked. There were 2 of us, but the other guy ducked out when he got halfway done with his side of the aisle. :fuckoff:

meatpimp posted:

Just a reminder of my Avalon with 4 brand new Detroit Axle struts.

Is it in heat?

Galler posted:

I'm basically out of food and apparently my city has someone with covid-19 so I'm guessing grocery shopping after work today will be extra extra fun. I'm just going to skip Costco all together.

The CDC released someone who later tested positive in San Antonio... which is only a bit over an hour away. The grocery store I work for has their HQ (and some distribution centers) in San Antonio too (some of our stuff comes from there). We're still getting raided.

So loving happy I'm off tonight, I checked earlier and we have a huuuuuuuuuuge truck (well, 3 trucks, vs our normal 1 truck for a weeknight). I was told it's mostly water though, which for the most part goes straight to the floor on the pallet. I went in earlier to buy beer and dinner, overnight manager saw me and said "hey wanna work tonight?". Me: :laffo:

. I like overtime, but I like my 2 days off in a row more (you don't get that unless they really like you), and I was already at 20 hours when I clocked out this morning. I'll probably hit 50 this week, or come really close.

The Door Frame posted:

Do people normally have water storage on hand? It's not a bad idea, but I'd be more worried about running out of booze

I'd be more concerned about booze too. :v:

Total Wine & More seems pretty well prepared though. :haw:

I keep a couple of those 2.5 gallon jugs of water handy, but that's more in case a storm knocks out power badly enough that pumping stations get affected. Kind of a holdover from living in tornado alley I guess, though I'm close enough to the outskirts of Austin that wildfires are a concern (... which can also knock out power, and take out pump stations). Still have a weather radio, which used to go apeshit in spring and fall in DFW... I think it's gone off half a dozen times since I moved here nearly 2 years ago. There's no outdoor emergency warning siren system here, which freaked me out at first - but so far the worst storm I've experienced here doesn't hold a candle to what I experienced in DFW (it was a good storm, and I was caught driving on a dark road in it, but I just pulled over for a bit when it got bad enough that I couldn't see)

everdave posted:

We got hit with a F3 or F4 tornado last night came through Nashville then hit my town.

My house and family is fine, cars at my house are fine.

Glad you're okay man, I was worried when I heard about that.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Mar 4, 2020

# ¿ Mar 4, 2020 07:08

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

I'm already well stocked on Dude Wipes, thank you very much.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2020 07:55

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

I do that anyway. Makes cleaning my rear end afterwards so much easier.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2020 08:49

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

He is. I just sent him a PM, we'll see if he replies in this lifetime.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2020 14:51

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Elviscat posted:

I live 40 miles from where 9 people just died of confirmed COVID-19.

My local grocery store has, uh, slightly less bottled water tand rice then usual, no empty shelves to speak of.

Costco is having trouble keeping toilet paper in stock (we have shitloads at the not-Costco store I work at), but we can't keep the cheaper bulk water (24+ packs and 5 gallon jugs), hand sanitizer, bleach, rice, or canned black beans on the shelf. Campbell's Chunky soups are pretty much selling out every day; Progresso soups are selling too, but not as well. Doesn't help that we had a store coupon active for Campbell's before this poo poo.

(that's 4 empty pallet bays..)

I occasionally shop at a Safeway-owned competitor (Randall's/Tom Thumb for Texans) when I don't feel like going to work to shop (they're 1/4 mile from my apt vs a mile and a half); their shelves looked like a regular day when I went by tonight aside from their water aisle, and I know they don't restock during the day (we do). But their prices are also :10bux:

higher than where I work (except on meat, they tend to be a little cheaper).

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Mar 5, 2020

# ¿ Mar 5, 2020 02:44

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

That moment when a coworker (not a manager) shoots you a message.. on Facebook messenger.. at almost 1:15am, asking if you can come in and help.

I sent back a picture of a half-empty vodka bottle sitting on my desk. :downsgun:

I pulled up the schedule and the truck manifest, and yeah, they're proper hosed, but I'm not going to work after drinking. Especially when my job involves occasional use of forklifts.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:44 on Mar 5, 2020

# ¿ Mar 5, 2020 09:42

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Welp, my store ran out of our two major TPs - Charmin and store brand. Store brand is trickling in every night, but not nearly enough. I had to pull a pallet of another brand (don't even remember which now) for a customer before I left, but it was just the mega packs, and she only wanted 2. Shelf was empty, so why not - she got her two 36 roll packages of TP, I refilled the shelf, and tried not to ram the forklift into anything living while putting it back. Totally out of all antibacterial hand soaps and sanitizer (almost out of all hand soaps in general), no expected date on when we'll get them back.

Corporate has mandated that any personal air travel or cruise ship travel between now and Memorial Day has to be cleared with HR. :rolleyes:

Elmnt80 posted:

Hey, my hometown! Enjoy the complete lack of public transit, stay way the gently caress away from the parks mall and do not speed in pantego or dalworthington gardens.

It's been a decade since I lived there or I'd recommend a good food joint or two. What part of Arlington will you be in?

Habanero's The Taco Revolution is decent, they're in a Valero on E Lamar. They do a good knockoff of El Paso's Chico's Tacos too.

And uh... yeah, don't speed.

Since he seems to enjoy garbage dumps, guessing he'll be by the dump that some smart developer built a new high end housing development around. I wound up running Amazon packages out there quite a few times, holy hell the STENCH around those $1M houses...

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Mar 6, 2020

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 15:56

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The irony is I normally have at least a couple of small pocket sized bottles of sanitizer. I ran out a bit over a week ago. :doh:

I don't use it obsessively, but it's a leftover habit from being a cashier - usually use it a couple of times a day.

We had a mandatory meeting at work this morning, partly covering what the company is doing in reaction to shittybeervirus. Nobody in the company is allowed to travel by air for business right now (... I mean, we're only in 1/2 of Texas, so worst case you're a day's drive on a business trip anyway, unless it's to a supplier out of state). We're not allowed to shake hands or fist bump with coworkers or customers. :lol:

And if we feel sick at all, we're supposed to self isolate. Except we have a semi strict attendance policy.

My department interprets it very loosely though (so long as you don't NC/NS, and don't call in excessively or show up late constantly, you basically get a pass - I should have at least had a documented talking to by now, and several people should have been fired). I think we get treated a little differently because it's so hard to find a reliable overnighter. There's only been one person written up since I started, and he had multiple NC/NS in a row (2 in a row = bye, if you go by the official company playbook). I think he found a new job, stopped showing up here, decided he didn't like the new job and just started showing back up, but I'm not 100% on that.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 16:12

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

I'm not entirely sure Colter's is still around - their website still lists their Valley View mall location as open, in the OG food court. The food court has been closed for at least 3 years; they got forced into a different location in the mall, which closed at least a year ago. The mall itself is a big question mark, since the tiny sliver of it that was still open when I left DFW has been in limbo.

Yelp says the Arlington one is still around, YMMV.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 18:34

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Schedule just came out for next week.

Normally, a Sunday night/Monday morning shift is posted as 11:45pm Sunday night, to make sure people aren't loving idiots (because it seems most people don't know what midnight Monday really means, and show up Tuesday night). They didn't do that this week, probably because of the mandatory meeting we had today. Our overnight shifts are normally 10pm-until we're done (posted as 6:30am, but it's really meant to be "we leave when we're finished, it might be 5am, it might be 9am"). They started moving Sunday night shifts to 11:45pm awhile back to try to shift some OT onto the next week, except for those of us who actually get scheduled 40 hours... well, we wind up working 45-50 no matter what.

Sunday night is gonna be a shitshow. And I'm gonna have a front row seat to (a) half of the crew no-showing, because can loving figure out that 12:00 AM Monday really means Sunday night, and (b) hellooooooooooooooooo overtime.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 19:17

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Store brand TP is blown out at my store (we got a tiny bit in last night, but uh, it was almost all gone by the time I left... 2 hours after open). That water on the other side is in a storeroom, the shelves were already full of that particular water.

We finally got some water in though. I suspect this will last a day and a half. Hard to tell from the pics, but that's 4 rows, just in the pic. 2 more out of frame. This is our main receiving area; it took up about 1/3 of it. Receiver was.... unhappy. That gap in the middle is where the forklifts get parked to charge overnight (you can see one of the chargers on the wall)

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Mar 6, 2020

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 19:45

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

To be fair, the last time I drove by, they were still open. But that was at least 2 years ago. Upside is Yelp doesn't show them as closed, and Yelpers are normally pretty rabid about reporting a place as closed within an hour of them formally closing. But the fact that they haven't updated their website in at least 3 years doesn't exactly bode well for how they handle their business.

I never thought Colters was that great TBH. DFW is severely lacking in good BBQ; Pecan Lodge is pretty good, but if you want a chain, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Sonny Bryan's is decent (they're DFW only, IIRC). Bakers Ribs is.... average I guess. Slightly better than Dickey's, but Dickie's is no longer truly local (they started in DFW, I've been to the original plenty of times, but they're all over the US now).

Texas Monthly takes their BBQ seriously. I've been to the Plano Lockhart, to Hutchins, Terry Black's (started here in Austin), Bakers Ribs, Dickey's...

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Mar 6, 2020

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 20:15

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

I mean... ultimately it's almost always a lot cheaper to buy TP in quantity.

I usually go for the store brand "soft/comfort" 24 "mega" rolls. Supposed to be like 3 rolls in one (vs the double rolls), and at least to my untrained rear end, they feel exactly like Charmin ultra soft. Plus I get my employee discount on it (on top of them having coupons on the store brand frequently)

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 20:38

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

KillHour posted:

So you're saying I can't come and hoon your 6 inches?

FTFY

bandman posted:

I believe that�s the one. Guys onsite already said there�s a bunch of housing around it and they are super hyperactive about any potential odors. We do wellfield automation to optimize their gas quality and flow at the plant where they clean up the gas and send it down the retail pipeline.

Yeah that's definitely Veridian (Dynamics).

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Mar 7, 2020

# ¿ Mar 7, 2020 20:04

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

SORRY THAT HALF OF US ARE BARELY ABOVE AVERAGE :mad:

# ¿ Mar 7, 2020 20:14

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

MomJeans420 posted:

I'm very glad I've never been awake when a catheter was inserted, but I had one removed after it had been in for 5 days and it was not a very pleasant experience

I was very awake when I had one inserted (was in DTs, but had some ativan, so it was DTs without seizures.. but with hallucinations added on)

It wasn't fun. Getting it removed was less fun. Waking up with morning wood one time while in ICU with the cath was agonizing.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2020 20:27

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

So my boss clued me in to the fact he'd opened up a full time position a few weeks back, and specifically told me he wanted me to apply for it immediately. It was originally posted for only a few days, which gave me the impression he'd posted it specifically for me.

The day it was set to close, his boss came up to me and asked if I'd seen it. I said yeah, and that I'd applied. He mentioned he'd extended it, because "company policy" doesn't allow an opening to only be open for a week. That's EXACTLY what we do when we open a position for a specific person, damnit. :fuckoff:

It officially closed yesterday, but it's still showing "under consideration" when I go to the status page (normally, unless they toggle something on the admin side, you automatically get a "thanks for applying, but no thanks" email the day the posting expires, unless you've been "hired"). Hopefully I hear back in the next day or two. I'll get medical in a few months either way, but I have noticed I'm getting scheduled 40 hours a week while some long time vets that never asked to be converted to FT are getting 32 (... they still wind up working 40, I've been working 46-50). Fingers crossed. :ohdear:

There was one other guy bitching about being lied to about FT in 3 months by old rear end in a top hat Grocery Manager, but he transferred in... uh, 3 months ago, and he's only been with the company 6 months total anyway, so I have a little more seniority.

Elmnt80 posted:

Oh, we're still gonna be paying $2+ a gallon in the US as oil companies try to soak up every dollar they can.

I saw $1.84 earlier. :colbert:

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Mar 9, 2020

# ¿ Mar 9, 2020 18:16

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Not pissing and moaning, I'm loving dancing over those prices, especially since Brokeback normally gets 15-16 MPG.

Gotta love that <2 mile (each way) commute, and idling the car during my lunch break (2:30 AM) when it's a bit warm or cold out. I've broken 20 mpg once in it, and that was an all-highway tank (21.9 mpg). I bought it with ~142,500 miles 5 months ago, I just broke 146k. That's with off and on courier/delivery work too - that one highway tank was doing courier work for 6 hours.

Speaking of, there's a particular fuel pump issue these cars are prone to having, and I'm wondering if mine is starting to show symptoms. There's an o-ring on the feed line at the pump that likes to blow out; it'll cause extended cranking when it gets particularly bad. I noticed right after buying it that it takes about 5 seconds of cranking to fire after sitting overnight (which I sort of expect, I don't expect it to hold pressure overnight, but 5 seconds is a little excessive), and it's gotten to where if it sits more than about 30 minutes, it takes about 5 seconds to fire up, and up to 7-8 seconds after sitting overnight. Luckily Dorman makes a repair kit that replaces the parts that cause the issue (o-ring and a metal cap), and I can get to the pump from the interior; it's more of an annoyance than anything. It's not going to cause a breakdown anytime soon, it'll just cause longer and longer crank times until it can no longer maintain enough pressure for WOT runs. When it blows out, it just lets the gas piss back into the tank.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2020 18:47

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

"Notice of intent to levy"

That's a good thing to get from the IRS via certified mail, right? :sigh:

# ¿ Mar 9, 2020 20:38

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

2019 Avalon XSE. Opinions? Mom's coming from a 2003 Avalon XLE. She test drove the '19, has 9k miles, lease return. She's not wild about the wheels or the blacked out grill (she has a thing for shiny stuff), but it's priced well. She also test drove a Camry (hated it, too small) and an ES 350 (hated it, too small).

The Genesis G80 also caught her attention - specifically, a 2017 with 27k miles. She has no idea Genesis is a spinoff of Hyundai, and hates Hyundai in general (my grandfather briefly sold Hyundais when they first came to the US... the good ol' Excel that only excelled at making Hyundai famous for lovely cars back then is still fresh in her mind), but she likes the car a lot. It's priced pretty closely to the Avalon. Opinions on the G80?

shy boy from chess club posted:

Call them asap, they will clean out your bank account if you let that go. They are actually good to work with of you dont stick your head in the sand, trust me

Not my first rodeo with them unfortunately. They're definitely willing to work with you on past due taxes so long as you contact them before they reach out and touch your bank account in its no no place. Gonna give them a call Thursday (payday) so I can get back on a payment plan and also make a decent payment. I don't owe a whole lot (a little over $500), but I can't pull $500 out of my rear end right now. Especially after missing a full week of work when I had the flu.

My pops has been a CPA since before I was born, and he's had to deal with them plenty (mostly for clients, but a few times for his own taxes, he's been audited a couple of times). I talked to him about my experience with them the first time I had to deal with them, mentioned I was shocked how pleasant they were about it. He said pretty much the same thing, so long as you don't ignore them they're more than willing to work with you, they just want their money. On both of his audits.. they wound up having to give him money, he'd left out the home office deduction because he considers that to be a big red flag to get audited (he went ahead and threw it in when they hit him with the audit, since, well, he's getting audited already).

Rhyno posted:

Levy what? Your refund? They get mine for one more year.

Bank account. I haven't had a refund in years thanks to self employment taxes. I had a $900 refund coming this year until I put in my affordable care act paperwork, then it dropped to $300 because I made more than I thought I would. Then I put in my 1099s and, oh hey, I owe $300 for 2019. Taxes and benefits are the biggest reasons I went back to having a W2 job.

I was on a payment plan for my 2018 taxes. I haven't been able to make the full payment for a few months in a row, they got pissed. I just need to call them and set up a more affordable payment plan. I only owe a little over $500 at this point, but I'm getting ready to move.

BuckyDoneGun posted:

The other problem in places where house pricing is through the roof is how common larger households become - kids not moving out of home, shared flats etc. Suddenly a 2 car household can become a 4 car or more one. What happens when they all want to charge off a single standard household supply, which is 60A here?

Most houses in the US have 100 or 200 amp service. I think 100 amp became the norm in the early 80s? The house I'm moving into soon has a weird service setup - 60 amp main breaker at the meter that feeds the main panel in the garage, and a 50 amp breaker (also at the meter) feeding the AC unit. That 50 amp is massive overkill for the AC unit that's there now (~1 year old), but was probably needed with the original 1970s AC. Obviously it should have been changed out to match the new AC, but cheapass landlords will always be cheapass landlords.

As for the 2 car household bit.. it's a house with a 1 car garage and driveway. Friend and I work opposite schedules, so Brokeback will usually be in the street. (expected anyway since it leaks everything)

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 16:47

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Applebees Appetizer posted:

Talk your mom into looking at used low mileage LS460's, once she drives one she will hate everything else trust me.

The brand new ES is nice but nowhere near the the car my wife's 2011 LS is. Different zip codes.

I tried, but she doesn't want to go more than 3 model years old (at the most), and doesn't want to spend over $25k (what she was approved for by her credit union - she works part time as a 1099, half of her income is SSI, and she filed bankruptcy recently enough that it's still on her credit). A later model LS definitely isn't within her budget. A GS might be, but it'd probably have to be higher mileage. And still won't be as roomy as what she's used to.

She bought her current car brand new in 2002 (up until then she never kept a car more than 2-3 years), so her pricing perspective is a bit... skewed. Just like my ex thinks you can still rent a 3 bedroom house for $1000/mo, when we pay more than that for a 1 bedroom apartment. She's lived in this apartment complex for over a decade, housing prices here have essentially tripled since then.

Mom also asked me about a late model Denali Yukon, I almost threw up from laughing so hard. Then I pulled up how much a brand new Denali Yukon goes for (almost $70k without anything added), and she just went silent when I told her how much they cost. Her brother/my uncle just bought one for his wife... after mom spending nearly 20 years in a high end, fully loaded (for 2003) Toyota, I don't think she'd be happy with even a Denali Yukon, the interior fit and finish wouldn't compare. Her 18 year old (2003 purchased in 2002) Toyota started developing interior rattles about 2 years ago, and it's absolutely because it needs motor mounts, not because of anything broken inside.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Mar 10, 2020

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 18:47

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

everdave posted:

I get she wants an Avalon/Toyota and they are fantastic, but these days besides Toyotas no one wants sedans. I hate to always bring it up but if she is approved and you could go in busting balls you could probably walk out with a brand new Elantra for 14-17k financed and the warranty is rock solid. I have a brand new rental Rogue AWD top of the line remote start, heated seats etc... and I liked my Hyundai better in all ways. The camera was better the seats were better the menus were better and it got a poo poo ton better gas mileage (and was pretty quick too)

She's insisting on a full size boat or a medium to large SUV. She's in her 70s, part cyborg (titanium hips, plus an upcoming knee replacement). and has mobility issues. Even a Camry is really hard for her to get in/out of, it's too low for her. Stepdad's '19 F-150 is too high for her to get in/out of easily as well.

It doesn't help that she's on the, uh, wider side. She outweighs me by about 50 lbs, despite me being half a foot taller. I'm not skinny, though I'm down to "could stand to lose 15-20 pounds" from "what do you mean you don't sell pants in a 42x29 pants?!" (I've lost ~60 lbs since then, and gave up ages ago on ever finding 28-29" inseams... I just roll up 30s a little)

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Mar 10, 2020

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 20:58

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Speaking from the student perspective, a lot of people that normally do fantastic in the classroom just suck when it comes to online classes. I'm one of those people. Online classes don't work for me at all, in-person classes do.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2020 14:01

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

KillHour posted:

Funny thing is I'm the total opposite. I need to be able to rewind the video because I literally cannot listen and take notes at the same time. I can learn really fast, but only if it's at my own pace with some hands on stuff happening.

My issue is more ADD than anything - I get too easily distracted if I'm sitting at home on a computer. Even in classes I still get distracted, but I always had a laptop with me and used it strictly for note taking when in class.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2020 16:17

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The Prong Song posted:

Duke University has extended spring break followed by online-only classes. I wonder if most/many universities expect to follow.

University of Texas Austin has suggested online-only classes will be a possibility, but they haven't committed to it yet. Not sure about the rest of the UT system, but UT Austin is their main campus.

fake edit: just checked their website, they posted a press release sometime today saying spring break has been extended by a week, followed by social distancing. So yeah, a lot of stuff will be moved to online. They're reopening dorms on the normal date for those who are coming back from spring break on the normal date, and they're large enough that they have an on campus medical facility. Wonder how that's gonna work for the students with meal plans?

Austin and Travis County have banned gatherings larger than 2500. They'd poo poo themselves if they saw how many people are in the store I work at around 5pm every day..

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 07:14

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Ooooof.

Austin has a huge homeless population, and they're very visible. Lots of tents set up under overpasses, off of hiking trails, even in uncleared land that's up for sale. I got to see one of the uncleared ones go up in flames on my way home from work one day, pretty much across the street from where I work - didn't make the news, but it was a decent size fire. Scanner radio app revealed there was a small camp there and someone managed to burn down a tent while cooking.
Governor Abbot ordered the most visible homeless removed, TxDOT removed the visible ones under overpasses, but that obviously didn't do anything except piss off everyone affected.

Around the same time, the state set up a 5 acre plot for homeless to camp, but the nearest bus stop isn't exactly close enough for anyone with disabilities.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 08:28

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Rhyno posted:

I'm very lucky. My wife already works primarily from home and my employer is going to have a compensation program for people who get hit with this poo poo. So if I get it I will still have some income coming in so she doesn't have to cover everything.

So far the only thing my employer has announced is anyone with symptoms must stay home until symptom-free for at least 48 hours, and janitorial stuff has been ramped way up. And any personal air or train (dafuq) travel has to be cleared with management for at least a couple of months. That's personal travel - business travel (even for the C levels) has been eliminated except by personal vehicle for the foreseeable future.

I missed a full week when I had the flu, that stung the wallet pretty hard. I went in right at open this morning to grab some groceries, and only saw one overnighter still there. Ran into my boss, asked if they had a really small truck or ???. He said we got shorted a few thousand cases by the two warehouses that we get 95% of our stuff from. For reference, a 7 foot tall pallet of nothing but canned goods is about ~300-400 cases (and 2500-3000 lbs). An equally packed pallet of paper is only about 30-50. Chemical (cleaning, laundry, etc) is probably 100 cases for a pallet, but normally only 6 ft high. Canned goods, TP, and cleaning aisles were looking pretty bare, water was full though.

We got the tallest can pallet I've ever seen a few days ago (it barely cleared the door on the trailer, and grazed the doorframe from receiving to the sales floor). 2/3 of it went to the shelf, the rest got run through the rest of the day (the remains were gone when I went in the next night). For reference, those stairs behind it go to the roof; that landing is ~9-10 ft off the ground. We haven't had any significant can pallets since. :ohdear:

I present... Mt. CornBean

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Mar 12, 2020

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 15:25

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

meatpimp posted:

I've been stocking up over the past 3 weeks and I'm ready to just pull the ripcord and take the family underground for a few weeks.

Congress was just briefed that the US has tested 11,000 people IN TOTAL. South Korea is testing that number PER DAY.

We are being directly lied to by our government and, while the virus itself isn't going to cripple us, horrible mismanagement of the situation just may.

I'm not normally reactionary, but this combination of an actual situation needing immediate response, paired with our government's ostrich reply is honestly frightening.

I haven't been watching the stupid TV box much (though definitely more than usual), but there's been some posts on reddit that go into a lot more detail about what's going on at the government level, from who seem to be well-educated people. They haven't been trying to scare people, just providing numbers.

I also work for the oldest, most well known grocery retailer in Texas we even have our own subreddit, I've talked to people in other stores and markets through that terrible website, throwing poo poo on shelves every night. I have a front row seat on what is and isn't showing up on trucks. My manager has shared with me what we can't get right now but should have in a week or so, what we won't get soon, and what we probably won't see for at least a month. I'm as far as it gets from being a prepper (I mean FFS I don't even buy TP until it's too late - I once bought a plunger 5 minutes before close at a grocery store when I clogged a dorm toilet, cashier asked how my day was, I said "lovely" and pointed at the plunger... at least I got a chuckle out of the cashier), but I'm a little concerned.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 18:19

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Rhyno posted:

I hope every old rich rear end in a top hat catches this poo poo and destroys them.

I mean... I like Bill Gates, he's been spending his fortune on philanthropic stuff. Warren Buffet has been pretty great about that too.

Jeff Bezos can gently caress off.

Darchangel posted:

That's a thought. The travel/destination industry is going to be *hurting* in a few months.

I think that's gonna be EVERY industry except for recession-proof ones. We're still gonna need food and drugs - pharmacies should do well on actual medication (but go to poo poo on the overpriced everything-else they carry), grocery stores will continue to see a lot of traffic for the bare minimums, probably see close to the same foot traffic as before Corona happened, but (likely much) lower average $ per customer for awhile.

I'm already expecting a possible cut in my hours next week - our warehouses have run out of a lot of poo poo, and about 85% of our stock comes from company-owned warehouses (probably 5% from a third party warehouse, the rest from vendors that come in and stock it themselves - i.e. Frito Lay, Coca Cola, etc). Luckily I have several gig economy jobs I can fall back on, unfortunately their business has all dropped considerably aside from one (Instacart is busy as hell, but every order has hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, etc, and nobody has them in stock, so ratings and tips will go to poo poo). That's gonna affect one of my other gigs too (Amazon Flex, which handles Whole Foods deliveries for Amazon). Both services allow you to change ratings and tips after the delivery, and with Instacart being a "full service" thing (I do the actual shopping), my ratings and tips will be hit a bit harder there vs Amazon (most people realize it's Amazon employees fulfilling the orders and giving them to drivers already bagged up, but not all).

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Mar 12, 2020

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 18:43

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

My 8 hour shift turned into a little over 12 hours.

Why? #1, we were 3 short. One of them being the fastest stocker we have (also the overnight lead for my dept - his father is in ICU, so good reason to call in). Another being the 2nd fastest - he got promoted to customer because he stopped giving two fucks and started just showing up when he wanted to, usually once or twice a week at most (FT, so scheduled 5 nights a week). The other has a regular pattern of calling in on weekends; he's been with us less than 3 months, he's already on a "40" (which is the final writeup stage; one fuckup after before anything falls off and you're gone, but it take a year for poo poo to fall off).

We got 10 cases of bleach in. Only 1 was actual liquid Clorox (3 bottles). Another was powdered Clorox. The rest was store brand. We need probably 2 full pallets to fully restock bleach alone. Before we could stock it, it was just a pile of cardboard on the floor. We also only got one brand of sanitizing wipes in - Lemishine, so not a trusted brand for actual virus killing stuff. We got ~20 cases in, but that's the ONLY wipe we got.

We're not even bothering to face/front/whatever your company calls it anything at this point, poo poo is flying off of the shelves faster than we can stock it. I got kicked out after 12 hours by the store manager. I looked at my boss and just said "you just don't want to pay OT!" in a joking tone of voice. He laughed and told me he knows he's not gonna bonus for a few months over this, but yes, OT is part of it.

TP? We got half a trailer of it (~15 pallets) when we ordered 100 pallets. We sold out of TP less than an hour after open. When I clocked out a bit after 10, every working register was open (we have 16, 3 are down for various reasons), lines were wrapping through aisles, and I was so loving thankful that we have a mobile checkout app that just requires scanning a barcode (employees have a dedicated checkout terminal in the breakroom, though no restricted items can be purchased if you use that terminal - that includes bulk water and any cleaning products, also includes alcohol).

I'm not gonna lie, I'm loving worried. Not about getting sick, but about the panic buying. Our warehouses have run out of a lot of the important stuff. The only reason I can get important stuff is because we keep a mobile app terminal online 24/7; I'm able to buy some stuff during my lunch break (stuff that isn't limited). The big limited thing is water, I don't give two fucks about that since I'm on municipal water. Finding something to wipe my rear end with is gonna be interesting very soon, even buttwipes (like Dude Wipes) don't stay on the shelves. I'm not worried about getting sick, I'm worried about being able to keep myself fed and clean, moreso if I get quarantined. The mobile app terminal is our cheat code, but we're one of <5% of stores that have it, and our access cards to actually get in/out after hours only work on our own stores (so we can't just waltz in through another store's employee entrance after hours).

Even just trying to stage pallets on the floor just before close last night had us getting mobbed - people trying to yank load-bearing tomato sauce cases out from the bottom of a pallet (hey fuckface, Mt Can is over 3000 lbs and nearly 8 feet tall, do you REALLY want that falling on you?). Customers swarming employee-only areas to get the two cases of TP we didn't put on the salesfloor (because they didn't fit in their designated area... they were set to go out an hour later).

This was a tiny section of the line when I left @ 10am... it was winding through the front aisles on one side, and through drug/gm/pharmacy on the other - easily 200+ people in line. We have 16 full service registers (2 broken at the moment, 13 were open, 14th closed because it's an OHSHIT register where the actual register works, but scanning poo poo has been broken for months, so it's hand-key only). 8 SCOs, 2 mobile app terminals, plus 1 mobile app terminal in the break room.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Mar 13, 2020

# ¿ Mar 13, 2020 22:08

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Applebees Appetizer posted:

Yep, hopefully it goes better here than in Italy, it's a shitshow over there.

I was just talking to my wife about if this goes on for months.....It will still be months after that until poo poo goes back to normal, everyone is going to be in hiding and reluctant to go back out and do normal people things again. This is gonna be really weird.

Even if everything suddenly went back to normal tomorrow, it's going to be 2+ months before grocery stores get back to their normal supply levels. They know they can't dump everything on us in one night; we have to work our normal daily replenishment (which right now is a SHITLOAD; I've pulled two 12 hour days back to back, though one was a bit of time helping frontend with bagging and cart bitch). We have to work with our daily shipments and also work in what we haven't been getting, a pallet or fifty at a time. Otherwise, at least at my store, we'd have to wind up closing the store for close to at least 2 weeks for 24/7 stocking.

The only upside at the moment is it's flushing out stock that hasn't been rotated.

My employer just dropped a bomb on us too. A couple of days ago they announced all stores in the Houston market would be open 8a-8p - those of us who knew about it figured we'd get it next week. They dropped that company-wide this morning. I sent my boss a text about it asking how my schedule would be affected and let him know I was available for whatever so long as I got at least a day's notice, he said he only found out last night and won't know how it'll affect us for another day. Deli is shutting down completely except to do prepackaged stuff, bakery is doing the very basics, on-site restaurants (which are fully store-owned) are shutting down 100%, pharmacies are open 8a-8p. Everyone affected by any possible hour cuts will be bagging, chasing carts, or getting trained to cashier. I wound up bagging and chasing carts for almost 2 hours after the end of my shift today (voluntarily; I saw how hosed they were and asked frontend if they needed help, and told them up front I was already past the tip on OT, they said they didn't care and clocked me in under their dept ID, so I'll be (possibly NWS just bc of phrasing) "so deep the sack disappeared" in OT a few minutes after clocking in tonight.

Krakkles posted:

Oh my god, people are loving stupid. Every aisle was some variation of this (except booze, which, I reiterate my first point).

Most of the bread we carry is store-brand. Anything that's not is stocked by vendor reps.

Our Bimbo rep (Mrs Bairds along with like 10 other companies) looked like he'd been through a warzone this morning. He owns the route itself as an IC, but the warehouse didn't give him poo poo to replenish anything, so he was having to hand out like... 30 loaves of bread (between the ~10 companies he represents) when we have shelf space for 50+ for ONE brand. Just to make sure he could at least give every store SOMETHING.

Frozen? :laffo:

Produce?

Meat? Holy loving :laffo:

- the only substantial thing left was Beyond Meat. And not much of that.

The meat service counter is officially closed for the near future - what you see on the shelf is what you get, period. Just what comes in already wrapped.

Canned goods:

Bakery is closed until further notice except for baking popular items every morning (no special orders, no counter service). Deli is only doing prepackaged stuff. Everyone is getting shifted to either stocking or frontend, and our 6am-midnight hours got cut back to 8a-8p as of today.

They sent a mass text message to all employees asking anyone who can work in stores to please do so.

MomJeans420 posted:

That's pretty much what the grocery stores are like around here right now. Except for the ones that closed for a complete lack of food

That's why we're changing our hours - there's nothing substantial left after about 6-7pm. We don't even have the cheaper dog foods at this point (we still have Blue Buffalo and Nutro, that's... it... even the drat-good-for-the-money grain free store brand we sell is gone).

I was picking up even more OT on frontend chasing carts and bagging, and was gonna ask them about training to cashier. I'm not allergic to 60-80 hour weeks, so long as I get one solid day off a week. The hour change is gonna gently caress that over, but it means less stress for us overnighters to finish early.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2020 21:10

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Well, I will say, having the store open from 8a-8p really helped us out... even though we don't go in until 10. There's still a MIC there to receive trucks, but they're alone until we show up. I asked my boss about it, he said with how late the trucks are running and how long it's taking to get everyone out of the store at close, it makes no sense for us to go in at 8.

We actually faced/fronted/whatever you want to call it the department for the first time in 4 days. Since the shelves were so empty, I spent plenty of time on my regular aisle rotating product (something another department is suppose to do for us, but never does) and pulling out of dates, wound up with a shopping cart half full of expired crap that was shoved to the back during restocking. If it's been on the shelf long enough that it has a thick layer of dust, or has gone through at least one packaging revision (some had gone through multiple revisions), it's proooooooooobably out of date.

We're also limiting how many people can come into the store at a time. I saw people lining up at the doors at 5:30.... with clearly posted signs saying our hours are 8-8 for the time being. I went out the side door at one point about half an hour before open, and people were lined up all the way to the street from the south entrance (the street is on the north side). :stonkhat:

It was surreal walking out the front door and past everyone waiting in line. Several people in line thanked me. For what? Doing my job? I'll be a happy passenger on the overtime train until it derails - they've shut down bakery and deli completely so that the employees in those departments can help us out, meat counter is shut down so that their employees can focus on just keeping the self service coolers full... so the overtime train probably won't be as crazy next week. I'll have ~55 hours on this paycheck (for 5 days). I'm doing 6 days next week, but I don't expect them to be 10-12 hour days now that other departments are helping us.

I'm glad I don't work at a warehouse - the company has its own (unofficial) subreddit, and some warehouse employees were talking about the mandatory 6 day weeks, 15 hour days. Those are gonna be some amazing paychecks, but fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, 15 hours of nonstop labor?

I guess DOT has lifted a lot of restrictions too? One driver that showed up (company driver) said he'd been on shift for 20 hours already... and still had to drive almost 2 hours back to the warehouse. That's normally a gently caress you in the rear end violation if you get pulled over.

redgubbinz posted:

The fun part is allergy season is just getting started too, that'll be fun.

Yuuuuup. I've been sneezing nonstop for weeks, and sometimes have a runny nose. Coworkers are avoiding me like the ~~plague~~ skunky corona that we can't sell. :v:

Rhyno posted:

Looks like a fuckload of churches are still holding service today.

Mine is, but only one instead of the usual 2 services, no childcare or other ancillary services. All services after today will be online only until this passes (live Youtube stream available with chat), and they're also streaming today's as well.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Mar 15, 2020

# ¿ Mar 15, 2020 16:22

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

I went to costco yesterday. The shelves were barren.
There was no pork or chicken, no paper products or cleaning products of any kind except tide pods.

Luckily there was plenty of brisket, flap meat, and fish so I'm set for a while.

I mean I have like a month's worth of soups and chili and the freezer so I'm set for a while regardless but now I'm back to baseline after not going grocery shopping for like 2 months.

That's about 1/4 of the meat department at my store the other day, but the rest looked the same. NOTHING. No meat at all. A few of the typical microwavable sides you see in meat depts, but nothing else.

Paper looks like this every day by noonish (right side is all TP, left is paper towels, far wall is buttwipes):

Cleaning stuff tour last night (not counting laundry, but laundry was pretty barren except for Gain for some reason). They even took the Mrs Meyers Clean Day stuff, which normally doesn't sell at all.

Meat was fully stocked (overstocked really) when I left this morning. TP was decently stocked, but still sold out in an hour. Produce was onions, potatoes, cabbage, apples, and oranges, not much else. Cleaning got a shocking amount of stuff. Dog food is a barren wasteland, cat is getting the same way. Laundry got a full 5 pallets of Tide crap and less than 2 layers of a pallet of bleach:

(that was definitely gone within 15-30 minutes of open)

FWIW, my boss talked to us this morning and said my dept alone moved nearly half a loving million items in the past week. That's double what we normally do on a busy holiday week. And we're out of so. much. poo poo. He thinks it would have been at least double to triple if we actually had stuff on the shelves.

Obligatory:

NO LO BALLRS. I NO WUT I GOT. WILL TRADE FOR 1989 IROC-Z, CAMMED 350 4 BARREL, OR 2019 CHEVY DUALLIE DURAMAX. WILL INCLUDE WHISKEY SCENTED HAND SANITIZER FOR EXTRA $500

LloydDobler posted:

At least I'm in a moderately recession proof industry, metal food and beverage packaging (cans).

YOU HAD ONE JOB

I seriously felt like that thing was a bomb about to go off (and that's how it showed up in the flat). But seriously, anything related to groceries is much more recession proof than most industries. People always need to eat. They'll cut back on the higher end stuff, just like they are now - which is why the grocer I work for is basically only shipping necessities right now. If they actually shipped everything we're out of, we'd be working 30 hour days trying to restock. Instead they're (smartly) sending the necessities and a few luxury things here and there. I found out today we've even brought in outside vendors (Pepsi, Coca Cola, etc) to haul our trailers from the warehouses at this point, because we flat out don't have enough drivers (between company drivers and the contracted drivers they keep on call for the big oh poo poo moments). This is a company that has a private plane, helicopters, etc on standby to move drivers around when the poo poo really hits the fan, and we're still overwhelmed.

It's going to be a shitshow once this passes; that's when we're going to start getting all of the other stuff again. They're smart enough to slowly trickle it out, but management thinks it'll take us 2-3 months to fully recover AFTER customers return to normal spending habits. The shelves are so empty that we're basically stocking a brand new store every night. We're doing crowd control at the door right now (like that link describes) despite being fully staffed, simply because we can't handle thousands of people in the store at once, despite being one of the larger stores in the company.

I'm glad to be working for this company right now, but it's so loving weird when I walk out in the morning, past the huge line of customers waiting to get in, dirty as hell and sweaty, and people are... thanking me for keeping the shelves stocked. I don't know how to respond to people thanking me for just doing a basic job of throwing poo poo on shelves all night. People regularly thank me if I'm still in the store stocking when we open. Feels weird as hell to get thanked for just doing a basic job.

slothrop posted:

Panic buying is a hell of a drug. Supermarkets are just cleared out here in Melbourne. I was lucky to find a good deli that still had some dried beans, tinned tomatoes and a ham hock, so it's baked beans for us!

My store has been sold out of dried beans for days. We're getting canned tomatoes (and canned beans) in daily, but they fly off the shelf within a couple of hours of open.

I'm doing Mexican-style pinto beans right now.

BigPaddy posted:

I have told a bunch of people to go buy an instant pot, put in sauce, put in meat, leave it to cook for a couple of hours. This seems beyond their comprehension.

It's not a crockpot, even the toughest meats are falling apart just from breathing on them after less than an hour.

The Prong Song posted:

The frozen foods section is completely stocked up. So now I have twenty-plus frozen meals in the freezer and none of the stuff that's usually in there, the pantry, or the fridge.

Frozen is a mixed bag at my store. Veggies? Nothing. It'll be packed out (as in fully stocked and then even more crammed in until poo poo is falling off the shelf), and it's all gone by noon. Breakfast is pretty empty. Ice cream is full. Frozen dinners, somehow, are still remaining relatively well stocked, even when I show up before they get restocked. Pizzas, except for Red Baron and one really expensive brand we carry that doesn't ever sell (a REALLY tasty pizza, but $13 for a frozen pie...), are disappearing as fast as we can stock them.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Mar 16, 2020

# ¿ Mar 16, 2020 16:46

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

NitroSpazzz posted:

- https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/17784-nearly-37-percent-of-americans-regularly-eat-fast-food-study-shows
Found that pretty amazing. Between that, people that can't/don't/won't cook and everything else it offers a pretty sad picture of America in general...no surprise.

JFC. I eat fast food once a week at most (usually more like a couple of times a month, unless you count a locally owned sandwich shop that uses preservative-free, nitrate-free meats that also happens to be super cheap - almost Subway cheap, but better in every possible way). I don't eat healthy at home, but I'm not eating burgers and fries every day either, and the only fried foods I eat at home are tortilla chips I just finished cooking a pot of beans, and I have a batch of chicken tortilla soup cooking now. About to throw some rice into the rice cooker, and I have fresh tortillas (made this morning from the tortilleria at work) to compliment everything. I make my beans without lard or bacon grease, so they're considerably healthier than your typical pinto beans.

My lunch at work is usually a high protein/fiber cookie from the health food section (a big mofo, but it's supposedly all natural, preservative free, vegan, etc) or a Clif bar; breakfast (if I have it) is usually granola with milk. I know that combo turns me into a walking methane factory, which is part of the reason I eat it.. it keeps coworkers away. :laffo:

We generally have a dedicated aisle that we work alone, but it's a good way to run off manglement sometimes. I gassed Good Grocery Manager the other day inadvertently though.. got a "did you...." me: ".......... uhhh... *childish giggle*" GGM: "*fingers crossed in an X pattern while backing away* motion". I genuinely feel bad about that, he's a great guy to work with/for. I tried to save the really bad bombs for rear end in a top hat Grocery Manager, but he's someone else's problem now.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Mar 16, 2020

# ¿ Mar 16, 2020 17:49

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Galler posted:

I'm wondering if there's going to be a period of time where people are working through their giant stockpile of tp, cleaning supplies, and non perishable goods and not buying much. Maybe you'll get a bit of time to catch up.

Enjoy it while it lasts I suppose. I'm sure they will forget you exist and go back to being assholes before too long.

We've already changed our hours from 6a-12a to 8a-8p, and the official line the company gave to the public was so that overnighters (that's me!) can actually restock uninterrupted. Until we did this, we went almost a week without facing a drat thing - the shelves looked like absolutely hell even at open. We've also closed down the meat counter, deli counter, bakery counter, and floral counter, along with sending company-wide texts to every employee enrolled in text alerts saying it's all hands on decks, even for executives. Everyone from those depts is either helping on frontend, or helping overnighters.

I love the OT (though I get OT regularly anyway - I seem to be Good Grocery Manager's first pick to do menial poo poo; fine with me, since it gives me OT, and he knows drat well I rake in more OT than anyone else in the dept). The extra exercise is good too. It just feels weird having people walk up to me and basically say "thanks for doing your job". The first time it happened, I got kinda choked up about it. I wanted to politely say I'm just doing my job, but something got stuck in my throat, so all I could do was nod.

Reddit has a local daily thread about availability at local grocery stores - I've started giving updates just before open about stock levels at my store, and people keep buying me gold for it. Dude, I'm taking 5 minutes out of my day to let you know that yes, my store has X and Y, but that every other store in the region also got it, since we're all served by the same warehouses, and every store is getting said items trickled out at the same time. And I'm taking a whopping 5 minutes out of my day to simply pass along what I see at work. Aside from modified business hours and a lot more incoming stock, it's been business as usual.

I fully expect business to go flat for awhile once this passes; like you said, people have to work through what they have.

_{I may also be on the verge of a nervous breakdown from all of this.. 3-4 hours of sleep a night, working 12-14 hour shifts, etc).}

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Mar 16, 2020

# ¿ Mar 16, 2020 19:40

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Charles posted:

I wonder if people panic bought splash-less bleach.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaabsolutely. Though the cheapest store brand bleach we haven't isn't much better (it's 3% instead of 6%). Not that we've been getting any in though. It'll still disinfect... if you use it straight.

All we got last night was store brand and the splashless.

fridge corn posted:

We've been told to go home without pay if we're ill

I thought you lot were better than that?

The very much American (well... Texan) grocery store I work for is giving unlimited pay based on your normal schedule (so 40 hours/week for me) if you're diagnosed until you're released by hospital or your doctor, and just threw a week of sick pay at everyone to use if they feel sick and can't get to the doctor for a day or two (or if they want to play it safe). Also set up a hotline to call if you think you have symptoms, an email address for questions, dedicated web sites, etc. And since we're constantly exposed to the public, it's not a matter of if, but when, for a lot of us, since we work with the gross public so much.

The severely neutered operating hours will help (we're normally 6a-12a.. it's now 8a-8p).

Applebees Appetizer posted:

It was easier to get ammo for my guns than it is to get toilet paper

My store has stated shopping before open WILL get you fired. I tested it today by grabbing some TP and trying to stash it 10 minutes before open, though (freshly) off the clock. They saw me on camera, my boss basically said "so I really don't want to fire you for a stupid mistake. To me, it looked like you found something on an aisle and mixed up what aisle toilet paper is on. Does that sound right to you?" YUP, JUST A STUPID MISTAKE BOSS, SORRY THESE 12 HOUR DAYS HAVE ME IN A FOG.

The personal shopper service for my store grabbed the last of the good stuff 5 minutes before open. :sigh:

I was directed to wait at the front door (inside, at least, instead of in the line outside that lead far out of the parking lot and all the way to the bus stop down the street), and "get ready to run the moment they open the door". I got my third choice in TP.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 19:08

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Rhyno posted:

At 70 with a bad heart valve I don't need him getting this poo poo if it can be avoided.

Most of the shopping I did today was for a former coworker with Chron's. Her health has gone to poo poo in general recently, but as anyone with Chron's can attest, TP IS LIFE. She's been trying to get more TP at my store (she lives literally across the street from the store) for a couple of days, but we were always out by the time she could get in. She doesn't want to wait in the lines to get into the store because her immune system is crappy right now, I can't say I blame her. She's lost a lot of weight since I last saw her.. and was already skinny to begin with. :ohdear:

I didn't get her first or even second choice, but I got 12 mega rolls of her third choice, and her first choice for paper towels. And got my own second choice for TP.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 19:39

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:58

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

I managed a full ton of rock in the bed of my 5 speed 2.5L once.
Once.
I still don't know how it made it because there were some very steep hills involved. I think there were several times the front wheels left the ground. Would not recommend.

Back when I lived in El Paso, anytime there was flooding, you could go to Ft Bliss and load up on sandbags (obviously a long time ago, civvies haven't been allowed on base in ages).

A 1980 F-150 with the 351M with the bed full of sandbags is just as bad. Going downhill was downright scary, between trying not to cook the brakes, steer, and not lose it on the slick wet roads. Uphill was LOL since that engine was tired as hell (and a smog era engine anyway, it couldn't even 1 wheel peel with a brake stand when empty). Headlights were pointed at the sky when it was loaded like that, which didn't help 18-year-old-me's anxiety.

How much does an 8 ft bed full of sandbags weigh anyway?

e: I just googled, you can still get sandbags, but it's from the water utility now, and a limit of 10 sandbags per vehicle.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2020 05:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI March 2020 Chat Thread

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