# Winter's a-coming! Season of Death Mini-Rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833 "2010-09-18T09:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 66
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1301 "2010-12-21T17:24:51Z")
What happens when you run a gas-powered hydraulic compressor in an enclosed area? That’s right, carbon monoxide. I had to go and order them to remove their compressor which they were running _inside the house_. Well, they may have problems, but from my research I’m uncertain if I would have fared any better with anyone else. This was the most reputable company in the entire 4-State area who were within driving distance. I did research on the company, their practices, their proposed solution, and they had lots of good professional recommendations. I don’t know what I could have done better. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1302 "2010-12-21T17:54:48Z")
Time machine. Go back and buy a better house. 😃 Seriously, though, I’m distressed that you’re going through this, and I hope you get through it without _too_ much more hassle. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1303 "2010-12-21T18:15:05Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Yeah, because everybody knows that people we don’t like aren’t entitled to the same laws as everyone else. :rolleyes: If you want to hate on somebody, hate on the people who make the laws in the first place. I’m sure you’re personally pushing for tougher sentencing for repeat DWI offenders, too, right? Yeah, because that’s _exactly_ what I said. And it makes perfect sense to hate on the people who (ostensibly) legislate against drunk drivers rather than the drunks themselves and the sleazebags who make a living trying to get the drunks out of trouble so they can do the same goddamn thing again. And yes, I do advocate for tougher sentencing. I also have the cognitive function required to understand that there may perhaps be a desire both to have a civilized discussion with one’s representatives in local and state government about the need to find a solution to this problem, and the need to vent off some steam about a bunch of fucking morons who think that their desire to drive somewhere is more important than _other people’s lives_. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1304 "2010-12-21T18:17:47Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Yeah, because that’s _exactly_ what I said. And it makes perfect sense to hate on the people who (ostensibly) legislate against drunk drivers rather than the drunks themselves and the sleazebags who make a living trying to get the drunks out of trouble so they can do the same goddamn thing again. Defense attorneys are a necessary component of our legal system. You really REALLY don’t want them to go away. You REALLY don’t. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1305 "2010-12-21T19:23:49Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Defense attorneys are a necessary component of our legal system. You really REALLY don’t want them to go away. You REALLY don’t. Which would be vaguely relevant if I was talking about defense attorneys in general, which I’m not. I’m talking about a very specific subtype of defense attorney; the type that does _nothing_ but try and get people out of DWI convictions. I’m talking about the type that advertise locally that they can get you back on the road sooner, presumably so you can go out and try drunk driving again. In my opinion, if is pulled over and has a BAC higher than the legal limit\*, it’s an open-and-shut case. They are guilty, there is never _any_ reasonable excuse whatsoever to drive while intoxicated, and they should lose their license and be put into prison for a significant amount of time. DWI attorneys make their money saying, “Nah, it’s cool, he didn’t mean to do any harm so we shouldn’t punish him,” which IMO, makes them just as bad. \*Which, in my opinion, is too damn high to begin with… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1306 "2010-12-21T19:28:58Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > In my opinion, if is pulled over and has a BAC higher than the legal limit\*, it’s an open-and-shut case. They are guilty, there is never _any_ reasonable excuse whatsoever to drive while intoxicated, and they should lose their license and be put into prison for a significant amount of time. DWI attorneys make their money saying, “Nah, it’s cool, he didn’t mean to do any harm so we shouldn’t punish him,” which IMO, makes them just as bad. > > \*Which, in my opinion, is too damn high to begin with… In other words, you have a problem with the laws. Because, see, people who are being accused of crimes get to have lawyers to defend them. And then those lawyers have to do their best to clear them of the charges. That’s what a defense lawyer does. You’re saying, “Oh, I have no problem with defense lawyers only these guys shouldn’t be able to have defense lawyers because I’ve decided they suck.” It doesn’t matter how personally offended you are by someone, they still get to have a defense lawyer when accused of a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1307 "2010-12-21T20:19:46Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I don’t know what I could have done better. Be prescient. You really should have looked into that. Some places even give basic precognition as part of a package deal with their services. > [@NinjaChick](#): > > Yeah, because that’s _exactly_ what I said. Yeah, actually, it is. You dislike a particular class of defense lawyer. Except that is how the legal system works in the U.S.: it’s oppositional. So hate on the moron who’s driving drunk (and again, and again, and again). Hate on the morons in legislature who makes it possible to get out of any real consequences (and again, and again, and again). But don’t hate on the person who is doing there job, which is to find any possible way to get their client acquitted or convicted with the minimal possible sentence. Because that’s how it works. And, like \*\*jsgoddess \*\*said, you can’t decide that it should only work that way for people you like. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1308 "2010-12-21T21:35:23Z")
Keys are handy little things. Did you know that? Yeah, me too. Know what else I learned today? They’re a LOT more fucking handy if you _take them with you._ ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1309 "2010-12-21T21:41:59Z")
I learned that lesson about wallets yesterday. It’s a good thing my boyfriend was grocery shopping with me after work, because I didn’t discover until I went to pay that my wallet was on the floor under my desk in the office. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1310 "2010-12-21T21:51:13Z")
Oh, is he back in town to see you again? Good - you’ll be getting laid more and be less cranky. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1311 "2010-12-21T21:54:14Z")
**purplehorseshoe** , can you refer me to a technician who specializes in removing half-chewed morsels of buttered toast from the keyboard of a netbook? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1312 "2010-12-21T22:04:48Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Good - you’ll be getting laid more and be less cranky. _A-FUCKING-MEN._ Screw you, all-caps nazi post-altering script. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1313 "2010-12-21T22:26:18Z")
No, I DON’T want anything to drink with that, as a matter of fact you just heard me end my order with “THATS IT”, in fact for some reason it was more emphatic than usual so almost deserved those caps. I almost answered “Why yes, thank you for reminding me. I would also like a large Coke. And because my life is incomplete without an order of fast-food masochism, I’d also like to order a running jigsaw inserted into my rectum. Because when I said “That’s it”, I was LYING TO YOU! I don’t see how you can run a business when you CANT TRUST YOUR CUSTOMERS!” ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1314 "2010-12-21T22:31:15Z")
Eh. It’s called “upselling.” Been around for a decade or three. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1315 "2010-12-21T22:36:51Z")
Yup. Upselling. And if they’re asking, it’s almost certainly because they’re required to ask and can be disciplined, up to being fired, for failing to do so. You know why they’re required to ask? Because upselling actually does work on a surprising percentage of customers; it’s very, very lucrative. You may not make an impulse buy just because a cashier suggested it, but lots of other people would. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1316 "2010-12-21T22:48:53Z")
Never underestimate how completely stupid the public is. Upselling works, you wouldn’t even believe how much it works. Simply cut them off and say “no thanks”. They won’t be offended. They know you’re not as dumb as everyone else. I gotta disagree on the “don’t hate on the class of lawyers who gets drunk drivers off”. There are attorneys who do\* nothing \*else but get people off DWI/DUI charges. That’s just disgusting. How the hell drunk drivers don’t serve jail time for their first offense is beyond me. It’s the equivalent of pointing a loaded gun while drunk in a crowded room and shooting randomly onto the walls. Plaxico Burress sticks an unlicensed gun in his waistband and sits in jail today while piece of shit 3 time DUI offender and special ed teacher Fuckhead still has a job AND a license? That’s a sad society we have. DWI attorneys are in the same league as personal injury or medical malpractice attorneys: they’re the scum of the earth, just like majority of their clients. Except DWI attorenys’ clients are guilty literally 100% of the time; some personal injury and malpractice suits are warranted. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1317 "2010-12-21T22:54:47Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Plaxico Burress sticks an unlicensed gun in his waistband and sits in jail today while piece of shit 3 time DUI offender and special ed teacher Fuckhead still has a job AND a license? Explain to me how this is a problem with defense attorneys instead of with the laws that determine the punishments for carrying an unlicensed weapon versus driving under the influence of drugs. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1318 "2010-12-21T23:19:13Z")
My wife caught me in the act of doing something rude today… We went to Wal-Mart to buy a new toaster oven and microwave, because the old microwave died two days ago and we can’t imagine life without one, and the old toaster oven was a fire waiting to happen. As I pushed the cart out the doors, a woman said something to me, which I didn’t hear very well. I then understood what she was saying. She was a “receipt checker” and she wanted to see my receipt. I simply said “no thanks” and moved on. My wife said “But wait, she has to check the receipt!” and promptly handed the lady our receipt. Here’s my problem: I lived many years without knowing that “receipt checkers” at the door of a store were a bad thing. I had dutifully handed my receipts to them for so many years without ever realizing that I was being a mindless sheep and they had limited or no legal basis to hold me back with my own merchandise that I had already paid for. It was only after reading several long threads on the subject on _these very boards_ that I became enlightened and saw receipt-checking for the disdainful unlawful practice that it is. In short, I “learned” there was a problem where there never had been a problem for me before. As I was in the car explaining to my wife all of the reasons why receipt checking is an annoying practice and I have every right to storm on through with _my_ stuff (“grumble…let them come out here and accuse me of shoplifting if they don’t believe I bought it…grumble”) I suddenly stopped in a moment of clarity: I said to her “You know… I don’t like the way I acted back there, and this is such a petty issue that I just can’t get all worked up about it, so I think I will choose not to be upset by receipt checking any more.” The person was just doing her job and had no choice in the matter and I have no control on my own over the store policy. If I’m going to get in a lather over something it had better be an issue worth fighting for. (necessary caveat: though I consider this a _bad_ bit of enlightenment from these boards, it is far outweighed by the positive enlightenment available here) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1319 "2010-12-22T00:06:59Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Eh. It’s called “upselling.” Been around for a decade or three. Eh, NO SHIT. Do you presume me of such low intelligence that I am not aware of this? Is anything that exists good, Professor fucking Pangloss? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1320 "2010-12-22T01:08:56Z")
… for Mariah Carey to leave me the hell alone. Every damn station here seems to be playing her “All I Want for Christmas is You” on continuous repeat. It’s a harmless enough song, sure, but not a hundred times a frickin’ day. There are many thousands of other holiday songs out there, so why in the name of Festivus are we subjected to that shrill, Auto-Tuned crap exclusively? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=65) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=67)