What REALLY grinds your gears?

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mooby

I tried, he made a mess after he was over a couple weeks ago and this time I gave him paper towels and a little talk about wiping his hands before he touched everything (we had Checkers a couple weeks ago and the same thing happened with the greasy doorknobs) and it appears not to have worked.

Honestly if someone kept trashing my place I wouldn't have them over anymore. If he asks why just say because you're a pig.

[Chico23231]

Should it be illegal to drive too slowly in the ‘fast’ lane | WTVR.com

YES!

"RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – What drives you nuts while driving around Virginia?

Is it:

A) People who text and drive

B) Drivers who won’t turn right at red lights

C) Folks who travel in the far left and set cruise control 5 m.p.h UNDER the speed limit

If you chose C, you might be in luck.

A Virginia lawmaker has proposed a bill in the General Assembly to make it against the law to drive under the speed limit while in the far left lane."

[SirLK26]

I don't know the road laws in Virginia, but in Texas, the law states that,

"An operator of a vehicle on a roadway moving more slowly than the normal speed of other vehicles at the time and place under the existing conditions shall drive in the right-hand lane available for vehicles, or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, unless the operator is:
(1) passing another vehicle; or
(2) preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway."

Don't know how much it's enforced, though.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

That bill seems a bit off the mark. How about we just enforce people needing to get back over if they aren't going fast enough to pass or are just sitting in the left lane? Don't think it needs its own bill.

[Monkeydad]

In PA, you can get pulled over for riding in the left lane for too long, period. You're expected to pull over once the right lane is clear and you've passed the other cars. They're strict about the left lane being a passing-only lane. There was a new law about 15 years ago emphasizing this and the cops were enforcing it heavily. Revenue-motivated obviously.

I know because I got pulled over by a jerk cop for being in the left lane for about a mile and a half. Said he was following me that far to see if I'd move over. I was crossing a mile long bridge over a river and just stayed in the left lane instead of changing lanes on the bridge.

I'm not calling him a jerk for pulling me over, he was screaming like he was on fire at me. He was a raving lunatic.

[Chico23231]

Eff negotiating car prices. Thinking about just going home and grabbing the ski mask and just taking the vehicle, I'm trying to be nice

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Eff negotiating car prices. Thinking about just going home and grabbing the ski mask and just taking the vehicle, I'm trying to be nice

Do your research. If it's new, you can probably pay cost for it, because from what I learned from selling cars at a reputable dealership is that more money is made depending on the amount of cars a salesman sells. I never hit any bonuses because I never sold 8 cars in 1 month (closest I came was 7 cars my first month). Some fees are negotiable, some aren't, like state tax. Processing fee might be lowered/dropped, same with delivery fee, etc. Also get multiple quotes from multiple dealerships.

Always get a paper quote from another dealer, then you can go to the dealer you want to buy from and use that to haggle them down. And if you can afford to wait go at the end of the month, that is when every salesman is desperate to get cars out of the door, to hit the bonuses for units sold. The way my pay was set up is 1500/mo, 750 base, 750 draw (i.e. pulled out of your bonuses if you got one). If you sold 8 cars, you got a $500 bonus plus 10% commission. Those bonuses/percentages went up the more cars you sold. I'm sure it was similar at other places because we were part of a chain of dealers owned by one guy. The one I worked at was a Mazda dealer but he also owned Hyundai/Nissan/Honda/Acura/etc. dealerships too. And like I said, profit wise very little money is made on new cars, because with manufacturer incentives if you can hit the bonuses you'll make more money.

Most big profits come on used cars, we would always put a several grand markup on a used car so that even if you haggled us down, there was still profit made on it. No use hitting the units bonus if you never made any profit on the cars you sold. And it never hurts to ask to see the invoice on a new car to see how much they paid for it. If you want any more help pm me, I know it can be a hassle but it might help in the long run. Also see if you can get some service incentives thrown in, we used to offer anything to help us sell a car. Free all-season mats? Done. First 3 oil changes free? Done. It might be different at a bigger dealership because we never sold as many cars as bigger stores out there, but there's lots of help out there if you need it.

[Chico23231]

Thanks man, worked out. Felt like I got a fair price and a decent deal. 2010 awd Chevy equinox with the mid trim. Speaking of trim, I did score a telephone number and good convo with a female there as well. Probably take her out for a test drive too

[jamf]

Great info Mooby.

Today I went to a public restroom in my office complex and a guy was in the stall next to the urinal I was using. His crap smelled so bad I can still smell it 10 minutes later in my office. I swear I can smell it on my clothes. I might go home to shower at lunch time. Horrible smell.
I've never smelled anything like this.
This is what I imaged the "funk of 40,000 years" smells like from the Thriller video.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by jamf

Great info Mooby.

Today I went to a public restroom in my office complex and a guy was in the stall next to the urinal I was using. His crap smelled so bad I can still smell it 10 minutes later in my office. I swear I can smell it on my clothes. I might go home to shower at lunch time. Horrible smell.
I've never smelled anything like this.
This is what I imaged the "funk of 40,000 years" smells like from the Thriller video.

Wearing someone else's shit particles, gears grinded for sure.

[Daseal]

Originally Posted by mooby

Do your research. If it's new, you can probably pay cost for it, because from what I learned from selling cars at a reputable dealership is that more money is made depending on the amount of cars a salesman sells. I never hit any bonuses because I never sold 8 cars in 1 month (closest I came was 7 cars my first month). Some fees are negotiable, some aren't, like state tax. Processing fee might be lowered/dropped, same with delivery fee, etc. Also get multiple quotes from multiple dealerships.

Always get a paper quote from another dealer, then you can go to the dealer you want to buy from and use that to haggle them down. And if you can afford to wait go at the end of the month, that is when every salesman is desperate to get cars out of the door, to hit the bonuses for units sold. The way my pay was set up is 1500/mo, 750 base, 750 draw (i.e. pulled out of your bonuses if you got one). If you sold 8 cars, you got a $500 bonus plus 10% commission. Those bonuses/percentages went up the more cars you sold. I'm sure it was similar at other places because we were part of a chain of dealers owned by one guy. The one I worked at was a Mazda dealer but he also owned Hyundai/Nissan/Honda/Acura/etc. dealerships too. And like I said, profit wise very little money is made on new cars, because with manufacturer incentives if you can hit the bonuses you'll make more money.

Most big profits come on used cars, we would always put a several grand markup on a used car so that even if you haggled us down, there was still profit made on it. No use hitting the units bonus if you never made any profit on the cars you sold. And it never hurts to ask to see the invoice on a new car to see how much they paid for it. If you want any more help pm me, I know it can be a hassle but it might help in the long run. Also see if you can get some service incentives thrown in, we used to offer anything to help us sell a car. Free all-season mats? Done. First 3 oil changes free? Done. It might be different at a bigger dealership because we never sold as many cars as bigger stores out there, but there's lots of help out there if you need it.

Don't forget the most effective technique. Bring food. If you're negotiating spend 20 bucks for doughnuts and coffee for the folks you're negotiating with and you'll make that back plus quite a bit. Should You Eat While You Negotiate? - Lakshmi Balachandra - Harvard Business Review

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Don't forget the most effective technique. Bring food. If you're negotiating spend 20 bucks for doughnuts and coffee for the folks you're negotiating with and you'll make that back plus quite a bit. Should You Eat While You Negotiate? - Lakshmi Balachandra - Harvard Business Review

LOL. I remember hearing about that before, but I've never done that. One of the things I was taught was that if you're dealing with a customer over the internet or phone your first priority should be getting them in the door. I've heard of some of the newer dealerships having coffee bars/doughnut shops in them too, there's a BMW dealer in MD owned by the same company that I work for that has a coffee shop inside it. And if the dealer doesn't have one you can always get a dialogue going with a salesman and invite them to a restaurant or other place to negotiate. It definitely won't hurt to try that though, the article makes it sound advantageous.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Thanks man, worked out. Felt like I got a fair price and a decent deal. 2010 awd Chevy equinox with the mid trim. Speaking of trim, I did score a telephone number and good convo with a female there as well. Probably take her out for a test drive too

Nice. Congrats on the trim and the other trim lol. Hope it helped.

@Jamf: thanks, even though I only did it for 3 months (before I decided I didn't want to spend almost 60 hours a week doing something that paid around 1100 if I didn't hit any bonuses) it was useful if only for the learning experience.

[DynamiteRave]

My boss.

I just started a new job back in August and I'm ready to quit. I like what I do (administrative program support) and the community I serve but my boss makes it completely unbearable. What makes it worst is that this isn't a team environment, everyday its just me and her. It's a one year contract position with Americorps and I was grateful to get it because I was unemployed and deadass broke but it's not worth the abuse I put up with. Constantly being told I do everything wrong, receiving absolutely ZERO praise for anything, being snarked at and condescended to every day for 8 hours a day, I received no training from her, the Americorps member who was there before me gave me the best crash course she could before leaving. My boss was spoiled on the last Americorps member slaving for her on hand and foot and her sitting back and doing very little and I'm not the same way. Americorps works on a stipend and I'm technically making less than $40 a day. I have to listen to how chummy she is with her boss so complaining to him is out of the question and I have no HR to complain to and it makes me ready to hurl myself into traffic.

It's bad. Real bad.

And I have 7 more months in my contract. I already know I'm not going to make it. I'm looking for new jobs already.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by DynamiteRave

My boss.

I just started a new job back in August and I'm ready to quit. I like what I do (administrative program support) and the community I serve but my boss makes it completely unbearable. What makes it worst is that this isn't a team environment, everyday its just me and her. It's a one year contract position with Americorps and I was grateful to get it because I was unemployed and deadass broke but it's not worth the abuse I put up with. Constantly being told I do everything wrong, receiving absolutely ZERO praise for anything, being snarked at and condescended to every day for 8 hours a day, I received no training from her, the Americorps member who was there before me gave me the best crash course she could before leaving. My boss was spoiled on the last Americorps member slaving for her on hand and foot and her sitting back and doing very little and I'm not the same way. Americorps works on a stipend and I'm technically making less than $40 a day. I have to listen to how chummy she is with her boss so complaining to him is out of the question and I have no HR to complain to and it makes me ready to hurl myself into traffic.

It's bad. Real bad.

And I have 7 more months in my contract. I already know I'm not going to make it. I'm looking for new jobs already.

Damn. That sounds pretty unbearable. GL with your job search D-Rave. If you break your contract do you have to pay a penalty?