What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[StevenRB45]

When I was at college, we had a gerbox form a Fiat 500 (the classic one), that had melted 2nd gear. One owner, low mileage.
The handbook had listed the 'maximum speed in each gear', 2nd being a little over 30mph apparently. As the lady never drove above 30, she never used anything other than 1st and 2nd.

I see..what you're saying here is it could be worse.

To be fair it being a petrol with the gear ratios of diesel top of 3rd is nearly 3 figures so there is an argument anything above it is in fact decorative. You could probably hit motorway speed in second.

Although in fairness to her she remembers 5th or at least 4th on major roads it tends to be the smaller ones where you look across and see it's happily spinning away at 4.5k rpm.

Slightly annoying as with a 45 litres tank at a steady 60-70 mph it has genuine 550-600 mile range.

 

[vexorg]

A weekend of DIY stuff at my daughter's flat. The previous owners had got new carpets, fairly thick carpets that meant the doors struggle to move. The bedroom door took two hands to move it.

I trimmed down the bottom of the doors to give enough clearance. Refitted them to find none of them shut. The hinges were all on wrong, none are recessed into the frame meaning the door hits the frame on the other side. What's odd is that someone had filled in older recesses then fitted cheap hinges. The worse being the living room door that's a really heavy solid hardwood door with glass panels. It's bent the hinge, so those needed replaced. It now shuts but rubs in the middle, again odd as there's a 3mm gap at the top and bottom of the edge where it closes, not sure what parts has the bend in it, will need to get the big spirit level on it.

Still needs work on the other hinges, helping children seems never ending....

 

[The Panda Nut]

A weekend of DIY stuff at my daughter's flat. The previous owners had got new carpets, fairly thick carpets that meant the doors struggle to move. The bedroom door took two hands to move it.

I trimmed down the bottom of the doors to give enough clearance. Refitted them to find none of them shut. The hinges were all on wrong, none are recessed into the frame meaning the door hits the frame on the other side. What's odd is that someone had filled in older recesses then fitted cheap hinges. The worse being the living room door that's a really heavy solid hardwood door with glass panels. It's bent the hinge, so those needed replaced. It now shuts but rubs in the middle, again odd as there's a 3mm gap at the top and bottom of the edge where it closes, not sure what parts has the bend in it, will need to get the big spirit level on it.

Still needs work on the other hinges, helping children seems never ending....

Had similar troubles myself on daughters house, but this was intermixed with some old hinges that were cast iron with a makes name and part number stamped into them. Those will last past doomsday. I always wonder at the people who do these things. It takes but a little extra time and care, and a few extra pennies to do the job properly. I suppose they think they have saved money by ruinung things and putting them back wrong.

I decided to check the wheel nuts on t'other daughters car just now. I couldnt undo them with my impact wrench, or my spider. Thankfully My torque wrench was able... just, to get them off as its nearly 2 feet long. Done up last thing by the garage no doubt after a gruelling time with the brake pipes. Oddly the rears were perfectly torqued, so I wonder what went down when he did up the fronts.. SUrely must have had all 4 wheels off ?

 

[The Panda Nut]

Wasting time removing Norfolk hIghways unnecessary mud from the first car. I might just send them a bill as the mud has ripped the n/s arch liner in two.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Wasting time removing Norfolk hIghways unnecessary mud from the first car. I might just send them a bill as the mud has ripped the n/s arch liner in two.

When they built the NDR, my parent live in Thorpe St Andrews and my dad drove over where they had dug a trench across a road and filled it with compacted mud and other debris. The heavy rain at the time had caused the temporary infill to sink and so when he went over it at speed, it buckled all 4 wheels on his Volvo. Despite encouragement to claim he never did and decided to just fit some horrible Halfords aftermarket wheels. So if you ever see a Red C70 Volvo around Norwich with some pretty odd after market wheels, chances are it was my dads car and you now know why it has such questionable wheels fitted.

The old wheels were not even that bad and could have probably been straightened by a specialists. He threw them away, didn't even weigh them in for scrap.

If you can get some evidence together then it is worth putting in a claim.

 

[The Panda Nut]

More time wasted resetting c;locks. I fail to see what we gain from this time shifting. At least the newer Pandas only need the hour knocking back 1 unlike the 169 that has to be wound on 23 hours. It always seems to take for ever even though its only two or three minutes.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Now Im grumpy because Ive run out of things to be legitimately grunpy about. Im also on my last beer. Thats 56 beerless days to Christmas!

 

[portland_bill]

Little squeak from the Panda brakes. Time for its annual clean up then.
Surprised to find the pads well worn, and the discs with a noticeable wear ridge. My mind says they're still new.
Searched the records, pads and discs last fitted August 2017, so that's six years. But that's only about 28k miles. Used to be able to get 60k out of front brakes, these days they seem to be made of cheese.
Parts in Motion prices looking very good though. https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/car...ehicle/fiat/panda-140/panda-169/fiat-panda-33 A pair of Bosch discs for less than a single Brembo one from CarParts4Less.
Now the dilemma, do I pop on some new calipers? I think I need to remove the carriers, clean and paint them.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Little squeak from the Panda brakes. Time for its annual clean up then.
Surprised to find the pads well worn, and the discs with a noticeable wear ridge. My mind says they're still new.
Searched the records, pads and discs last fitted August 2017, so that's six years. But that's only about 28k miles. Used to be able to get 60k out of front brakes, these days they seem to be made of cheese.
Parts in Motion prices looking very good though. https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/car...ehicle/fiat/panda-140/panda-169/fiat-panda-33 A pair of Bosch discs for less than a single Brembo one from CarParts4Less.
Now the dilemma, do I pop on some new calipers? I think I need to remove the carriers, clean and paint them.

You are right about wear. Non asbestos pads are the reason we now need to fit discs with most sets of pads. The hadness of the pads means disc and pad wear together. Good for the nations health but a right apin in the **** in my view. The other issue seems to be once the pad / disc have got out of line as on our 169 you cannot shine up the old disc once a problem has been resolved. I reflatted our 169 pads again today and its still refusing to shine the o/s disc even though its clear the new calipers have made the brakes work as they should so I am thinking of another set of discs and pads and then having the existing ones refaced as they have no measurable wear.

 

[porta]

You are right about wear. Non asbestos pads are the reason we now need to fit discs with most sets of pads. The hadness of the pads means disc and pad wear together. Good for the nations health but a right apin in the **** in my view. The other issue seems to be once the pad / disc have got out of line as on our 169 you cannot shine up the old disc once a problem has been resolved. I reflatted our 169 pads again today and its still refusing to shine the o/s disc even though its clear the new calipers have made the brakes work as they should so I am thinking of another set of discs and pads and then having the existing ones refaced as they have no measurable wear.

I used ‘strip-discs’ on my (now daughter’s) 169 Cross. The discs came up a treat

 

[The Panda Nut]

I used ‘strip-discs’ on my (now daughter’s) 169 Cross. The discs came up a treat

I shall give them a try. Thanks

 

[Cheest]

I received a report of another brand new 360 loader delivered to a customer that was not up to snuff. Customer is beyond pissed and the machine is being shipped back.
The all new management team said that the service guy with the least seniority had to stay and make it right. He said, "guess again."
They then called the next guy and he said, "No way, Jose."
Then they called me. I wasn't as politically correct as the other guys and ended up having lunch with my boss today. The CEO wants an apology from me. I said that I wanted an apology for all the time I spent away from home fixing crap that I was told was 'perfect'.

He's got a long wait. I'm done at the end of the year and he's got at least 30 years to go and nothing to back up why he even deserves an apology.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Strikes me that you will be very well out of it and they will not be long for this world without people like you. What ultimately sorts things out isnt straight knowledge, or seniority and certainly not pay grade. Its having the humility to accept that everything may not be perect and listening to genuine concerns of others and working out a considered and properly directed path from armageddon to a place of safety / a fix, respecting the people involved along the way. Something your boss is clearly ill equiped to do. Has a similar feel to my build up to retirement, one can only hope they turn up the heat on the burner of the frying pan they sit in. Im afraid I didnt hold back from expressing my views in unambiguous terms at the end. One hopes that just the odd comment and point expressed might sink into their thick heads, but without much hope.

I was told off for speaking to an HSE inspector and admitting there were deficiencies and that serious mistakes had been made after a muppet told hisworkshop staff to support a 30 tonne truck on axle stands rated at 12 tonnes, with inevitable consequences. He had just told said Inspector to go away when I arrived on scene and took action to prevent anyone else doing the same thing, booking retraining and giving an immediate one to one sessionto all personnel involved. I had just recorded this at the offending depot. The company also decried this. But it did do the trick in terms of getting breathing space. Having a clear plan and a history of action, I was told plainly that had I not been there, admitted hte mistakes and taken the course of action I did, that the manager and the company would have been prosucuted,and someone would have been likely to go to jail. But as I was aware of the problems had already acted locally and a plan to extend retraining nationally to inform about the range of issues identifed, that was no purpose in enforcement action. It didnt stop me having to listen to a load of pathetic bluster from a range of directors and senior managers along the way.. It was really satisfying when they got a follow up letter telling them what MM Inspector of HSE had said to me and making it clear who would be "going to jail if there were anymore incidents 'of any sort' in his area. All you need to do is just enough to prevent them from firing you. You now have 9 weeks to **** them off and three warnings to use up while politely showing them how to do it right- in UK at least. Make the HR people earn their crust.

Of course if you find you are subjected to unreasonable pressure and have to be off sick with mental health issues that result there is pretty well nothing they can do to make you stay until the end date!

 

[Cheest]

Strikes me that you will be very well out of it and they will not be long for this world without people like you. What ultimately sorts things out isnt straight knowledge, or seniority and certainly not pay grade. Its having the humility to accept that everything may not be perect and listening to genuine concerns of others and working out a considered and properly directed path from armageddon to a place of safety / a fix, respecting the people involved along the way. Something your boss is clearly ill equiped to do. Has a similar feel to my build up to retirement, one can only hope they turn up the heat on the burner of the frying pan they sit in. Im afraid I didnt hold back from expressing my views in unambiguous terms at the end. One hopes that just the odd comment and point expressed might sink into their thick heads, but without much hope.

I was told off for speaking to an HSE inspector and admitting there were deficiencies and that serious mistakes had been made after a muppet told hisworkshop staff to support a 30 tonne truck on axle stands rated at 12 tonnes, with inevitable consequences. He had just told said Inspector to go away when I arrived on scene and took action to prevent anyone else doing the same thing, booking retraining and giving an immediate one to one sessionto all personnel involved. I had just recorded this at the offending depot. The company also decried this. But it did do the trick in terms of getting breathing space. Having a clear plan and a history of action, I was told plainly that had I not been there, admitted hte mistakes and taken the course of action I did, that the manager and the company would have been prosucuted,and someone would have been likely to go to jail. But as I was aware of the problems had already acted locally and a plan to extend retraining nationally to inform about the range of issues identifed, that was no purpose in enforcement action. It didnt stop me having to listen to a load of pathetic bluster from a range of directors and senior managers along the way.. It was really satisfying when they got a follow up letter telling them what MM Inspector of HSE had said to me and making it clear who would be "going to jail if there were anymore incidents 'of any sort' in his area. All you need to do is just enough to prevent them from firing you. You now have 9 weeks to **** them off and three warnings to use up while politely showing them how to do it right- in UK at least. Make the HR people earn their crust.

Of course if you find you are subjected to unreasonable pressure and have to be off sick with mental health issues that result there is pretty well nothing they can do to make you stay until the end date!

My own boss, Old Weird Harold, who I have worked with for close to 30 years, said "Eric wants an apology from you for how you spoke to him. As far as I'm concerned, tell him to fcuk off again. Add a couple more times for me." Those of us left from the old regime are choosing to sit this fiasco out and let the 'new kids' clean up the mess they created. Let them see how easy it is.

There was another screw up on another run of equipment before this one. The BS explanation we got from the Production Manager was that the gauge used to set the working pressure was stuck at 1000 psi and would not zero out. So, according to the Chief of BS, the pressure was actually set to 1000 psi, not 2000 psi as per spec. First off, the dumbest guy that used to work for me at the old shop would have caught the faulty gauge at the start and had me get him a new one. Second, the Production Manager, allowed his people to make 12 machines and never checked at least one for proper operation. Three, the faulty gauge story is pure BS, his people just installed the pressure relief valve in the machine as it came out of the box and said, "Have a nice day!"

There's gonna be a lot of popcorn to eat over the next two months. Technically, I'm only working two weeks this month. Maybe only two weeks next month, too.

 

[bugsymike]

Sounds to me like the management of most of these companies need to "grow a pair and understand the benefit of constructive criticism" especially when it comes from people with hands on experience !!!

 

[portland_bill]

I visited a company offices yesterday. Young lady on reception asked me if I had the contact number of the person I was training. No, isn't that her job.
A little later, I found out that my trainee had collected the keys to the hire car from same receptionist, about 10 minutes earlier. Short memory?
Later, when we returned form training, she was a little concerned about two people entering the building, and challenged us, despite me wearing my "AA Driving Instructor" coat, and my name badge, and my trainee holding his company ID.
Silly me assuming that to be a good receptionist you needed to get ot know everyone's name, recognise them, at least by sight, and perhaps remember visitors, for at least the duration of their visit. Standards are slipping.
For every visitor, she wrote down the name of their host, on a post-it note, then binned it after calling them. That's an expensive system.

 

[bugsymike]

I visited a company offices yesterday. Young lady on reception asked me if I had the contact number of the person I was training. No, isn't that her job.
A little later, I found out that my trainee had collected the keys to the hire car from same receptionist, about 10 minutes earlier. Short memory?
Later, when we returned form training, she was a little concerned about two people entering the building, and challenged us, despite me wearing my "AA Driving Instructor" coat, and my name badge, and my trainee holding his company ID.
Silly me assuming that to be a good receptionist you needed to get ot know everyone's name, recognise them, at least by sight, and perhaps remember visitors, for at least the duration of their visit. Standards are slipping.
For every visitor, she wrote down the name of their host, on a post-it note, then binned it after calling them. That's an expensive system.

Definitely sounds "Management Material" .

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Look up the "Peter Principal" it was a satirical look at management in the 1960s which actually struck a cord with people and turned out to have more truth to it than satire.

The basic idea is that someone who is competent will earn a promotion up the ranks, only there will come a point where they will be promoted into a position in which they are not competent anymore, and so rather than be demoted again they will say in that higher position, without earning any further promotion but will also in essence be incompetent for the remainder of their career.

 

[bugsymike]

Look up the "Peter Principal" it was a satirical look at management in the 1960s which actually struck a cord with people and turned out to have more truth to it than satire.

The basic idea is that someone who is competent will earn a promotion up the ranks, only there will come a point where they will be promoted into a position in which they are not competent anymore, and so rather than be demoted again they will say in that higher position, without earning any further promotion but will also in essence be incompetent for the remainder of their career.

There is another theory that some are put forward for promotion to stop them causing damage in the department they are in, until they become senior management and eventually the company goes bust.
Many years ago during a recession I used to go to auctions of companies that had collapsed and it always amazed me that despite their dire financial positions, the company bosses cars were all nearly new.
One of the saddest things to me walking around one of staff rooms in February with all the Christmas decorations still up, I imagined the bosses saying "Happy Christmas, now f***off you are all out of a job!

 

[portland_bill]

Definitely sounds "Management Material" .

She certainly seemed very capable of managing her social media. Her phone 'pinged' every few seconds.