how silly would you feel after this?
scary tiger
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Re: scary tiger
Now that was phunny!
I had something similar happen many long years ago when my kids were pre-school.
One had wind-up stuffed dog that could do a back-flip.
It didn't even come close to looking like a real dog.
Even so, my car was parked in the hot sun, in the employee parking lot.
The heat may have expanded the wind-up spring just enough to cause it to lurch just enough to catch someones eye.
They ran inside and called the police about a dog in a hot car.
After the police ran my license plate, I was called out to the car.
They were sure the dog was dead when they arrived, and they were ready to arrest me when I came out of the building.
The dog moved again with cop staring in the window, and he was just about to smash the window, when I hollered, I have the key. What's up?
"You can't leave a dog in a hot car, it will die."
Say what, there's no dog in my car. I didn't know the stuffed animal was still in there. But hurried and unlocked the car before I lost a window at the hands of the police.
You should have seen the look on the officers face when he reached in a retrieved a stuffed animal, hi hi.
I wound it up and set it on the hood of the car and it did the black flip it was designed to do.
Told the officer, well, that's about alive as he gets!
The sad thing is, I almost got fired over the incident.
I had something similar happen many long years ago when my kids were pre-school.
One had wind-up stuffed dog that could do a back-flip.
It didn't even come close to looking like a real dog.
Even so, my car was parked in the hot sun, in the employee parking lot.
The heat may have expanded the wind-up spring just enough to cause it to lurch just enough to catch someones eye.
They ran inside and called the police about a dog in a hot car.
After the police ran my license plate, I was called out to the car.
They were sure the dog was dead when they arrived, and they were ready to arrest me when I came out of the building.
The dog moved again with cop staring in the window, and he was just about to smash the window, when I hollered, I have the key. What's up?
"You can't leave a dog in a hot car, it will die."
Say what, there's no dog in my car. I didn't know the stuffed animal was still in there. But hurried and unlocked the car before I lost a window at the hands of the police.
You should have seen the look on the officers face when he reached in a retrieved a stuffed animal, hi hi.
I wound it up and set it on the hood of the car and it did the black flip it was designed to do.
Told the officer, well, that's about alive as he gets!
The sad thing is, I almost got fired over the incident.
Re: scary tiger
Because the Big Bosses in another building saw the cops around me and my car, and didn't like it one bit.
They figured I must have done something that caused the cops to come after me.
My immediate boss already got a memo from them to let me go while the cops were still there.
He told them it was someone else who called the cops, and not on me per-se.
It was all a big mistake.
I was glad to see him go to bat for me!
They figured I must have done something that caused the cops to come after me.
My immediate boss already got a memo from them to let me go while the cops were still there.
He told them it was someone else who called the cops, and not on me per-se.
It was all a big mistake.
I was glad to see him go to bat for me!
Re: scary tiger
good job you had a decent type for a boss!
and pretty pathetic of the others to jump into conclusions.
and pretty pathetic of the others to jump into conclusions.
Re: scary tiger
A cop followed one of our receptionists into the parking lot, long before my incident.
He stopped her only to let her know her trunk lid was not all the way down.
He helped her to get it to stay shut, which was nice of him to take the time.
The big bosses across the street saw it and gave her one week probation.
Luck of the Irish, they followed her into the parking lot again on her first day back.
This time because there was water inside her taillight. No big deal.
Besides, we all thought it was because the cop had a crush on her.
She got parked, went to her desk, and her boss got a memo to let her go. No reason why on the memo.
In her case, it turned out for the best. She got a higher paying job almost right across the street, hi hi.
He stopped her only to let her know her trunk lid was not all the way down.
He helped her to get it to stay shut, which was nice of him to take the time.
The big bosses across the street saw it and gave her one week probation.
Luck of the Irish, they followed her into the parking lot again on her first day back.
This time because there was water inside her taillight. No big deal.
Besides, we all thought it was because the cop had a crush on her.
She got parked, went to her desk, and her boss got a memo to let her go. No reason why on the memo.
In her case, it turned out for the best. She got a higher paying job almost right across the street, hi hi.
Re: scary tiger
It doesn't even sound legal to be fired for something as trivial as what the receptionist experienced. Then again, I'm guessing the work agreement she signed has a clause in it stating employees can be fired at any time for any reason. That's how it was at Motorola anyway.
Re: scary tiger
When I first went to work for the company, they were like the dream company to work for. Had policies in affect for many decades, over 50 years for sure. Then everything began to change drastically, and they started downsizing every chance they got.
I was in training to take over my bosses job when he retired. I was next in line for the position, and there was no one behind me if I didn't take it. Company policy dictated they hired from within. In fact, when they hired outside workers through a temp agency, all of these folks became ineligible to get a full-time job with the company, because they already turned down full-time employment to continue as a job shopper with the temp agency.
Out of the clear blue sky, they went against company policy and hired a former temp, with no training and no managerial experience to train for my bosses job.
I liked the guy well enough we became friends, never any friction between us, and I helped him learn the ropes after he got my position.
I had to leave the company to take over for my dad at his business after he had a heart attack.
While I was away, the company downsized even further, then moved out to Saint Charles County to an old industrial building.
Ten years later, the guy who got my job was still with them, even though all the major departments of the company moved down to Texas and Louisiana. As much as he loved the company like I did at first, he said it was now a hell hole to work for, and he would get out if he could, but was too close to retirement to do so.
The big bosses never had to give a reason for telling a boss or supervisor to let someone under them go. We knew that when we were hired. Our employment could be terminated at any time for any reason or no reason at all, until we were vested. The only way to get vested was to move from employee into management and be in management for five years.
Not many management positions were available in the company either. My boss was already there 37 years when I started working under him. There was only one person left in our ranks with more seniority than me, and he was due to retire the year they put me into manager training. I did end up with his cushy job when he did retire. This may also be why I was dumped from getting my bosses job. No one could handle the work he did without years of experience doing same. So it landed on my shoulders, hi hi.
I was in training to take over my bosses job when he retired. I was next in line for the position, and there was no one behind me if I didn't take it. Company policy dictated they hired from within. In fact, when they hired outside workers through a temp agency, all of these folks became ineligible to get a full-time job with the company, because they already turned down full-time employment to continue as a job shopper with the temp agency.
Out of the clear blue sky, they went against company policy and hired a former temp, with no training and no managerial experience to train for my bosses job.
I liked the guy well enough we became friends, never any friction between us, and I helped him learn the ropes after he got my position.
I had to leave the company to take over for my dad at his business after he had a heart attack.
While I was away, the company downsized even further, then moved out to Saint Charles County to an old industrial building.
Ten years later, the guy who got my job was still with them, even though all the major departments of the company moved down to Texas and Louisiana. As much as he loved the company like I did at first, he said it was now a hell hole to work for, and he would get out if he could, but was too close to retirement to do so.
The big bosses never had to give a reason for telling a boss or supervisor to let someone under them go. We knew that when we were hired. Our employment could be terminated at any time for any reason or no reason at all, until we were vested. The only way to get vested was to move from employee into management and be in management for five years.
Not many management positions were available in the company either. My boss was already there 37 years when I started working under him. There was only one person left in our ranks with more seniority than me, and he was due to retire the year they put me into manager training. I did end up with his cushy job when he did retire. This may also be why I was dumped from getting my bosses job. No one could handle the work he did without years of experience doing same. So it landed on my shoulders, hi hi.
Re: scary tiger
my ex worked for nestlé canada for a few years, running the printing dept for them. in fact, for the longest time he was the entire dept until they hired a couple of more guys.
then they started lopping off heads, going from top down and people went down like tenpins. they also started to send printing jobs out, yet george prevailed. one day one of the new presidents looked at george in the elevator and asked "why are you still here?" "because i'm saving you a ton of money!"
he eventually retired with a very generous pension package - and doesn't remember the fact that his then wife (me) saved him from getting the boot by - get this! reading a metric ton of management books and telling him what to say and when...
george was one of the smartest people i've ever met, but diplomacy was not his strong suit.
then they started lopping off heads, going from top down and people went down like tenpins. they also started to send printing jobs out, yet george prevailed. one day one of the new presidents looked at george in the elevator and asked "why are you still here?" "because i'm saving you a ton of money!"
he eventually retired with a very generous pension package - and doesn't remember the fact that his then wife (me) saved him from getting the boot by - get this! reading a metric ton of management books and telling him what to say and when...
george was one of the smartest people i've ever met, but diplomacy was not his strong suit.
Re: scary tiger
I had an aunt who worked for the telephone company as an operator.
Been there so long she became a Life Member of the Telephone Pioneers.
She was still there long after everything went electronic and they didn't use operators anymore, except for a few things.
Like your ex, she was asked by a higher up why she was still there.
She said, I'm the only one left who is licensed for making radio telephone connections.
The irony of it all was, her immediate, and much younger, big bosses didn't even know they still handled radio phones.
Been there so long she became a Life Member of the Telephone Pioneers.
She was still there long after everything went electronic and they didn't use operators anymore, except for a few things.
Like your ex, she was asked by a higher up why she was still there.
She said, I'm the only one left who is licensed for making radio telephone connections.
The irony of it all was, her immediate, and much younger, big bosses didn't even know they still handled radio phones.
Re: scary tiger
so typical, the youngsters have book smarts, no practical knowledge. you should have seen the engineers at dehavilland and the endless screw ups us ignorant assemblers had to fix - and explain - to them...
Re: scary tiger
We had the same problem when I was a general contractor.
I was used to working with amazing architects who understood the construction process.
Then we would get a job and have to use blueprints from an architect who knew nothing about construction, but they could design some neat looking houses. Albeit, no way to build what they drew, hi hi.
One of the architects I loved to work with, although he could be a pain sometimes. He drew exactly where each stud must be placed. What made him so great was he told us exactly why certain studs must be precisely placed. Knowing the reason why he was so picky ensured we did exactly what he wanted, even if we didn't have the full set of blueprints to check back on. He was just as meticulous with all the things that go inside the walls too, like plumbing, electric, and vents.
What's hard with the bad architects is they show things on different interior blueprints that cannot possibly work with the external blueprints, and vice versa. More often than not, we don't get to see the interior blueprints. So then when the builders start on the interior work, they start screaming and hollering because an upper floor is below a lower floor window.
One house I worked on had a stained glass arch over the double front doors. Looked great from the outside.
But the plans for the inside showed a solid wall above the front door, and a floor up to the wall.
I fixed it for them by forming an semicircle on the inside floor around the stained glass window, with a wrought iron railing.
This appeased everyone, and saved the architect from getting sued. No he didn't give me a tip for saving his butt either.
I was used to working with amazing architects who understood the construction process.
Then we would get a job and have to use blueprints from an architect who knew nothing about construction, but they could design some neat looking houses. Albeit, no way to build what they drew, hi hi.
One of the architects I loved to work with, although he could be a pain sometimes. He drew exactly where each stud must be placed. What made him so great was he told us exactly why certain studs must be precisely placed. Knowing the reason why he was so picky ensured we did exactly what he wanted, even if we didn't have the full set of blueprints to check back on. He was just as meticulous with all the things that go inside the walls too, like plumbing, electric, and vents.
What's hard with the bad architects is they show things on different interior blueprints that cannot possibly work with the external blueprints, and vice versa. More often than not, we don't get to see the interior blueprints. So then when the builders start on the interior work, they start screaming and hollering because an upper floor is below a lower floor window.
One house I worked on had a stained glass arch over the double front doors. Looked great from the outside.
But the plans for the inside showed a solid wall above the front door, and a floor up to the wall.
I fixed it for them by forming an semicircle on the inside floor around the stained glass window, with a wrought iron railing.
This appeased everyone, and saved the architect from getting sued. No he didn't give me a tip for saving his butt either.
Re: scary tiger
it figures, doesn't it...
we had jigs like here [XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) and blueprints showing brackets placed here: [XX] hell of a trick to rivet them onto thin air...
we had jigs like here [XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) and blueprints showing brackets placed here: [XX] hell of a trick to rivet them onto thin air...
Re: scary tiger
One of the reasons I quit renovating homes inside the city limits of St. Louis was due to their idiot inspectors, laws, and even stupider judges.
I bought an inner city home to renovate. A second floor fire burned through the window taking a good hunk of the roof along with it. Nothing was left above the window, just a huge gap where the wall, eave, and roof used to be.
Along comes nitwit inspector and issues me a citation for not having a gutter on the back of the house.
A gutter would be in the way of removing and replacing the roof, but it didn't matter, he wanted a gutter up there, even though there was nothing to connect it to.
I went to court with the citation and explained to the judge there is nothing to connect a gutter to. Fined 120 dollars and court costs and told to put up a gutter.
I bought a long 1x4 and tacked it up over the opening, and installed a new aluminum gutter. Took pictures of it installed, and went on to appear in court with pictures and receipts in hand.
We had to wait nearly an hour for the inspector to show up. He came in and said he just did a drive by and I did not put up a gutter as he ordered. The judge did not care about the pictures or the receipts. I was fined 120 dollars, plus I think it was 36 dollars court costs.
I went straight to the house from court. Sure enough, no gutter, one of the fine citizens of the inner city stole it.
I went back to the store, bought a cheap plastic gutter, put it up, and waited for the inspector to come by to see it was up, then went on to the court, where I had to pay another 36 bucks in court costs.
A new facia board and gutter tacked across the span of a burn-out not only looked ridiculous with no roof there, it was a major waste of time and expense. I'm surprised no one said anything about not having a roof over a habitable room. Maybe that was coming next. I sold the house at a loss to another renovator, and eventually sold every house I owned inside the city limits for zero profit on the sales to get out of there.
Try to do something good and get abandoned houses back on the tax rolls, and this is how we are treated by government.
I bought an inner city home to renovate. A second floor fire burned through the window taking a good hunk of the roof along with it. Nothing was left above the window, just a huge gap where the wall, eave, and roof used to be.
Along comes nitwit inspector and issues me a citation for not having a gutter on the back of the house.
A gutter would be in the way of removing and replacing the roof, but it didn't matter, he wanted a gutter up there, even though there was nothing to connect it to.
I went to court with the citation and explained to the judge there is nothing to connect a gutter to. Fined 120 dollars and court costs and told to put up a gutter.
I bought a long 1x4 and tacked it up over the opening, and installed a new aluminum gutter. Took pictures of it installed, and went on to appear in court with pictures and receipts in hand.
We had to wait nearly an hour for the inspector to show up. He came in and said he just did a drive by and I did not put up a gutter as he ordered. The judge did not care about the pictures or the receipts. I was fined 120 dollars, plus I think it was 36 dollars court costs.
I went straight to the house from court. Sure enough, no gutter, one of the fine citizens of the inner city stole it.
I went back to the store, bought a cheap plastic gutter, put it up, and waited for the inspector to come by to see it was up, then went on to the court, where I had to pay another 36 bucks in court costs.
A new facia board and gutter tacked across the span of a burn-out not only looked ridiculous with no roof there, it was a major waste of time and expense. I'm surprised no one said anything about not having a roof over a habitable room. Maybe that was coming next. I sold the house at a loss to another renovator, and eventually sold every house I owned inside the city limits for zero profit on the sales to get out of there.
Try to do something good and get abandoned houses back on the tax rolls, and this is how we are treated by government.
Re: scary tiger
that really is a crime! what exactly did they - personally - gain by this farce?
Re: scary tiger
It makes the inspector look like he's doing his job, and garners more money for the cities coffers.
But in the long run, it really hurts the cities major source of income, and causes the crime rate to rise.
More crime is found in blighted areas of the city than anywhere else.
Vacant houses are used for all manner of illegal operations.
At trades meetings, the number of companies who will no longer take jobs inside the city limits rose at each meeting.
They are totally fed up with getting fines for something they had nothing to do with.
The inspectors themselves are totally ridiculous. If you call a plumber to fix a sewer pipe. The plumber has to get a permit, and an inspection of his work. He had nothing at all to do with the supply plumbing in the house. But his work fails the inspection for something totally unrelated, like a grounding strap is not on a supply water pipe. Or a water heater does not have the proper safety valve. He was only there to fix a problem with a sewer pipe. Then when he doesn't fix the things the inspector told him to fix, he gets a citation and has to appear in court, and usually gets fined or worse.
It's reasons like this why they won't take city jobs anymore.
But in the long run, it really hurts the cities major source of income, and causes the crime rate to rise.
More crime is found in blighted areas of the city than anywhere else.
Vacant houses are used for all manner of illegal operations.
At trades meetings, the number of companies who will no longer take jobs inside the city limits rose at each meeting.
They are totally fed up with getting fines for something they had nothing to do with.
The inspectors themselves are totally ridiculous. If you call a plumber to fix a sewer pipe. The plumber has to get a permit, and an inspection of his work. He had nothing at all to do with the supply plumbing in the house. But his work fails the inspection for something totally unrelated, like a grounding strap is not on a supply water pipe. Or a water heater does not have the proper safety valve. He was only there to fix a problem with a sewer pipe. Then when he doesn't fix the things the inspector told him to fix, he gets a citation and has to appear in court, and usually gets fined or worse.
It's reasons like this why they won't take city jobs anymore.
Re: scary tiger
so, the end result with be that the areas deteriorate further, which will be an excuse for more citations to plump up the coffers and/or bribes? didn't think that the s c inspector for just looking for a bit of cash on the side, did you?
Re: scary tiger
Some of them are, and some will turn you in for trying to bribe them.
The ones that do take bribes are not usually around for very long.
So you know if they've been on the job for 80 years, they don't, hi hi.
With that being said, in some areas there are Aldermen who want their area cleaned up and fixed up.
If you ask them which houses they would like renovated first, they usually keep the bad inspectors at bay for you, and only allow the official area wide inspectors to examine the work.
There is a downside to that though. You have to do everything the way the Alderman want's it done, even if it means doing sub-par work, but only barely up to code.
A simple example of this is I only did supply plumbing in copper. They want you to use cheap plastic instead. Less likely to get stolen, but more likely to have leaks down the road. I refused to use PEX plastic on any of my jobs. Although many swear by it, I've had to replace way to much of it, due to bad fittings or headers that crack wide open.
The ones that do take bribes are not usually around for very long.
So you know if they've been on the job for 80 years, they don't, hi hi.
With that being said, in some areas there are Aldermen who want their area cleaned up and fixed up.
If you ask them which houses they would like renovated first, they usually keep the bad inspectors at bay for you, and only allow the official area wide inspectors to examine the work.
There is a downside to that though. You have to do everything the way the Alderman want's it done, even if it means doing sub-par work, but only barely up to code.
A simple example of this is I only did supply plumbing in copper. They want you to use cheap plastic instead. Less likely to get stolen, but more likely to have leaks down the road. I refused to use PEX plastic on any of my jobs. Although many swear by it, I've had to replace way to much of it, due to bad fittings or headers that crack wide open.