Right? The town I live in has a couple pretty good (for the area anyway) places that seem like they struggle. Meanwhile, everyone here raves about another local chain that makes what is IMHO easily the worst pizza in the city. Maybe even the state. That’s even counting the chains.
I used to be a believer that pizza is like sex, even when it’s bad it’s still good but, this place proved me wrong. Soggy crust, unseasoned toppings and, way too many of them (hence the soggy ass crust).
So, I work in a maintenance position that really isn’t possible to do remotely but we have a fair amount of desk work too. We’re in the process of setting up a workstation to program and new head ends for our systems. The first thing on everyone’s list when we were deciding on a location was “as far from everyone else as possible” because we all know that other people being around to make small talk is a distraction that will easily double the time it takes to get this shit done.
In every maintenance position I’ve had, every one of us has had our own secret workspaces where most other guys didn’t know to look for us just so that we could get some desk work done in peace. Co-workers are a distraction more often than they are a help and I think we’ve all known this for years.
The thing is, you don’t even need to manufacture a good story. You could tell the true story of how companies have slashed overhead by reducing the amount of office space needed or how employees working from home turn out to be just as if not more productive than those working in the offices and happier with their jobs besides.
There were companies planning to move more jobs to work from home even before the pandemic because it’s a model that just makes more sense for a lot of positions. The return to office crowd could be beaten simply by pointing out the for most positions, working on-site is a needless expense. The problem is, the media isn’t willing to tell that story.
That’s the one we had! I still have that zapper somewhere…
My last car was a Ford escape called 7 after seven of nine from Star Trek. I was feeling less creative when we got our current car, a tan C-Max, and it’s just called Sandy.
The first car I had with a name was a 93 LeSabre that all my friends called “The Beast”!
That’s just enough to buy my wife and I ice cream cones at the best place in town and leave enough of a tip that we don’t feel like we’re being cheap. Date night sorted!
Depends on why/how my needs are being met I suppose. If this is a post-scarcity situation where everyone’s needs are met and no one has to work, I’d probably keep at my current job. I install and repair nurse call systems (the buttons you push in a hospital to tell the staff you need help) I mostly enjoy the work and someone is going to have to keep doing it. I live in a town with a huge hospital and could easily keep busy without leaving town.
If this situation where only my own basic needs are met and not everyone else’s, I wouldn’t keep going to that job. Management is kind of a pain and they can certainly afford to train someone who needs the work. I’d still fix whatever kind of shit I knew how to because honestly, I love working with a wrench but, I’d be doing it freelance at that point. I’d probably start by knocking on the doors of local machine shops, fixing machine tools and lasers was more fun than nurse call and if I wasn’t tied to one specific brand, I could probably keep busy without driving 4 hours a day (I quit that job because I was tired of travel). If that took off, I’d try to turn it into a business and train someone to pick up the slack so I could still take the occasional vacation without leaving regular customers hanging. If that wasn’t enough to keep even just me busy, I’d probably start asking around about other random shit that needed to be fixed. Lots of people deal with broken shit because they can’t afford to fix it and if I was only looking to stave off boredom, not having to make a profit, I could probably get it done affordably.
Pretty similar here. First time I saw a CNC mill run I was immediately hooked. I used to work as a field service tech for a CNC machine tool distributor and I can honestly say that I absolutely loved the work. You drop into some random factory, spend between 3hrs and a week fixing it and then probably never see the exact same issue again. It’s mentally engaging but almost never tedious or repetitive. You can get stuck working late or even spending a night out of town with almost no notice but, I like things a bit unstructured so for me that wasn’t a big deal. Also, I’m problematically introverted so for me the field service gig was perfect. I got to work alone most of the time but I was also forced to interact with complete or relative strangers virtually every day which is good for me because if I can avoid people as much as I’d like, I get a little weird.
Mine’s a little weird to explain but if a woman goes off to slip into something more comfortable (like, actual pajamas, not talking about the euphemism for changing into lingerie) I not only get turned on, I’ll get a little obsessed for a while. First time it happened was senior prom, I went with a friend of mine (just as friends) and afterwards a bunch of us ended up at her place playing video games. At one point she was like, “sorry you guys are stuck in your formal wear but I’m getting out of this thing”. She came back in sweatpants and a T-shirt and had ditched her contacts for glasses (I didn’t even know she wore glasses at that point) and for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about her for like, months. Tried talking her into dating a couple times but no-go. After that, when girls I dated would get into pajamas to chill with me for the evening, I’d always lose interest in chilling and want to take them right to bed. To this day it drives my wife nuts that she’ll buy sexy lingerie and not get more of a reaction than when she just changed into sweats.
I didn’t put the comfy clothes thing together until my wife and I started vacationing with other couples. Every time a woman we were hanging out with left to change into comfy clothes to hang out for the rest of the night, I’d be like, “Why the hell am I so attracted to Bob’s wife all of the sudden”. Eventually It clicked that I apparently have a thing for pajamas which was a huge relief because I was a little worried that I was falling in love with a couple female friends there for a minute. Turns out it’s a lot easier to turn off when you know what’s going on.
Public speaking ability. She was on speech and debate teams all through HS and college so she is utterly unbotherered speaking in front of a crowd. Once we were the best man and matron of honor at a wedding where the grooms had said they didn’t want us to give a speech, when the DJ double checked this the day of, they were clearly regretting the decision. She caught the DJ and told him to be ready for a toast in 15. She disappeared for 10 minutes, came back and gave a speech that literally had people in tears.
Meanwhile, I have threatened to leave a church if they insisted on making me read the pre written Sunday morning announcements.
I like to say “don’t become an anecdote.”
Lol, this makes me think of a guy I went to highschool with. He was a farm kid who would get up early and work around the farm before school. One day he spills gas on his flannel shirt before school but doesn’t have time to change so he figures it’ll air out enough on his way to work (it didn’t). Second or third class of the day was shop. He starts working in the welding booth without stopping to put on the flame retardant overcoat. A hot spark hit that gas soaked flannel and dude light up like the human torch. He had some serious burns but makes a full recovery. For years after that though, the shop teacher used to say to anyone who complained about the overcoats, “go ask Phil if they’re worth it or not”.
I had a friend in highschool who’s dad had lost part of his pointer finger to an encounter with a saw blade. He had just a little bit of the bone beyond the second knuckle that was weirdly pointed and it hurt like hell when he jabbed you with it. I know this because I used to help them build shit around their farm and if he caught us being unsafe he’d poke us in the chest with that damn half-finger while he yelled at us about it.
Those lessons really stuck too.
If we’re talking strictly flavor, I guess I prefer pizza hut. Almost never order them though because if I’m looking for that style, Domino’s is noticably cheaper for pretty similar quality. If I’m in the mood to spend money on a good pizza, I’m going to a local place so pizza hut is just at a quality/price intersection that I don’t find myself looking for.