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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • Though many wear red, the Ace I managed for a few years had black vests. With the exception of a few large groups (like Westlake), each Ace is independently owned and part of the Ace co-op, but get to make their own choices about things like uniform, sales, and stock.

    I intentionally said blue vest because while an Ace employee (in whatever color vest/apron their store chooses) would take the time to explain why you can’t have the thing you think you need, a guy in a blue vest (if you can even find one) is likely to say “oh, I guess we’re out. Maybe we can order it for you online…” before wandering off.


  • People hanging Christmas lights do the whole house and when they go to plug it in, they realize they have the female end by the outlet, not the male end. “Fuck, I’m not gonna redo the entire process” the idiot thinks to himself, I’ll just get a male/male adapter.

    It’s not sold because as soon as you plug in the side to the house, the other ends become live, and touching them means “big ouch”.

    “That’s okay, I’ll just plug the end into the lights, and then into the house, problem solved” the idiot thinks.

    Except the far end of the lights has a male adapter and that end is still live. Plus, anyone who doesn’t know about your deadly modification is in danger of hurting themselves because they don’t realize the hazard.

    There are exceedingly niche applications where these cords are used, but those applications only come up for trained electricians who know how to make one of these cords, and use them responsibly. If you’re asking the minimum wage guy in the blue vest, this sign is for you.






  • High fees, inconsistent/false advertising, burdensome chores? When was this article written, 2017? This has been the state of Airbnb for half its lifetime. There was a year, maybe two, at the very beginning where it truly was “crashing at your friend’s place”, in the same way Uber was “getting a ride from a friend”. Both have become full time corporate institutions with wage slaves pushing a product that’s somehow worse than the original problem (generally due to the lack of regulations around these “gig economy” alternatives), at the detriment of communities and others who attempted to make a living “playing by the rules”.

    At this point, if you’re using Airbnb, not only are you impossibly ignorant of the problem, you’re actively contributing to it.






  • There was a rubric for qualified scores. Software X power user? +8%. Experience in position Y? +1% per year. Bachelor’s degree in the following fields? +20% The premise was "make everything internally clear and we can internally promote, set career progressions and encourage people to remain loyal. This was a huge company that tried to absolve themselves of any accusation of racism/misogyny/ageism by saying “no, we apply the exact metric to everyone”.

    I didn’t personally rewrite my job description. I was able to demonstrate other programs and processes were able to achieve the same/better results, and would do so quicker/cheaper/more easily. This was really easy because the job was stuck in the past. Shit like “I can upload a csv to import this data” was basically witchcraft, as the current description called for typing thousands of lines by hand (and rewarded this experience with +2% qualification for every year of data entry experience). Suddenly the two week long job that required ten years of experience was done in thirty minutes.

    I convinced them the -35% hit I took on my qualifications because I’d never used done ancient software could be swapped out with a +40% qualification in excel, for example, so my supervisor rewrote the job to include these advancements.


  • Started a job in July I was 60% qualified for. By December I had made enough changes to the job description (by adding things I was able to do that prior people couldn’t), my manager decided to reclassify my job. New title, new description, new salary pay band. Manager hands me an envelope with my new title, description, and rate of pay. I say "thanks, but we just created a job that I’m 95% qualified for. I expect to be in the 95% qualified section of the new pay band, but this rate is for the 60% qualified. We go back and forth for three months. With 1 hour notice he calls me into a phone meeting with his boss where I can state my case for a proper raise to reflect my new duties.

    Big boss says “we don’t negotiate raises, you were hired at 60% qualified, you’ll stay there, and get 1-3% raises annually based on merit. If you want a raise, find another job.” I did.

    Last I heard my job was filled by one of my subordinates who was maybe 30% qualified. The good news is the job was kind of a joke, so I’m glad one of my old reports was getting a huge raise to do essentially her same job, because even my boss didn’t understand the changes I made, and they were instantly forgotten when I left.


  • I think OPs point was the exact opposite. They give three examples where “matters of taste” are narratives guided by boardroom profit in the last twenty years rather than actual consumer preference.

    People didn’t want bigger cars. Corporations made bigger cars to circumvent American fuel efficiency regulations (because it’s cheaper to circumvent a law than it is to make a more efficient engine), and convinced consumers bigger is better. Size difference between the #1 selling truck in 1950 and 1990 is nothing compared to the difference between pre-CAFE and present day.

    People don’t want huge, fattening meals when they go out. It’s cheaper for companies to give “more”, “saltier”, and “fattier” meals than it is to create “tastier” ones, and for the most part we’ve been hoodwinked again. I’m talking about the “buy one for here get one free to take home” promotions at Applebee’s.

    People have been convinced owning a home is “the American dream”. Construction companies have found they can put a 2800sqft house on a .25 acre plot just as easily as they can a 1400sqft house, so that’s all they build. “Starter homes” aren’t as profitable as they used to be, so the companies are banking on the narrative they’ve created to force people out of apartments and into gigantic houses because it’s the “American dream”.