Winter's a-coming! Season of Death Mini-Rants

The BBQ Pit
1301

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.

1302

Time machine. Go back and buy a better house.

:smiley:

Seriously, though, I’m distressed that you’re going through this, and I hope you get through it without too much more hassle.

1303

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.

1304

Defense attorneys are a necessary component of our legal system. You really REALLY don’t want them to go away. You REALLY don’t.

1305

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…

1306

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.

1307

Be prescient. You really should have looked into that. Some places even give basic precognition as part of a package deal with their services.

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.

1308

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.

1309

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:

1310

Oh, is he back in town to see you again? Good - you’ll be getting laid more and be less cranky.

1311

purplehorseshoe, can you refer me to a technician who specializes in removing half-chewed morsels of buttered toast from the keyboard of a netbook?

1312

A-FUCKING-MEN.

Screw you, all-caps nazi post-altering script.

1313

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!”

1314

Eh. It’s called “upselling.” Been around for a decade or three.

1315

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.

1316

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.

1317

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.

1318

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)

1319

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?

1320

… 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?