Little Rants

[HighlyIrregular]

^^^ One of the questions was "you're a building manager, a tenant [maybe it just said 'someone'] says she lost her key. What do you do?" One option was ask where she last saw it. Another was open the door for her. Based on the other questions, I think the test maker made the choices that are best for the customer/tenant/client be the "correct" choice. But if someone sees her drop her key, they could pick it up with bad intentions and that poses a security risk. I answered "ask where she last saw it" but that's probably wrong by their standards. What do you think?

...major typo in cover letter. I can't imagine this matters any more.

[elfsprin]

I am a very good test taker; I typically understand what the test writer was looking for and am able to give that answer despite the deficiencies in the test questions/answers themselves.

I can't tell what they were looking for. IRL I would probably open the door while simultaneously asking where they last saw it, for the reasons you mentioned.

[Catoptric]

Cruise ships are stupid.
https://www.returnofkings.com/34943/goi ... -is-stupid


https://file.wikileaks.org/file

Nothing actually "new" but the documents apparently reveal: Vegas shooting done by an FBI sniper, John Podesta, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Bilderberg, CIA agents arrested for rape, WHO pandemic.

Some argue that revealing the truth allows for society to be far more cohesive, and with less bullshit, however, even with these documents it doesn't give context to what exactly shows up in it (such as the Steve Jobs HIV document which was actually faked by Wikileaks to sort of pay tribute to him?)

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https://www.factinate.com/things/gross- ... istory/11/

[Catoptric]

10 things about humanity that shows we are the worse:
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/10/12/wh ... an-nature/
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And at the local barbecue people get to congratulate you, saying, "That tastes like Dicks!"

They put a lot of love in their burgers.







I'm imagining Jared Fogle doing his best impression of the Dr. Bill Maplewood character in the movie 'Happiness,' reciting, "Aren't you going to eat your sandwich?"



He's going to Fogle you!



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Building suspense (just watch it. . .)

[Catoptric]

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Review: A Pop-Subversive Sequel Smart Enough to Realize There’s No Reason for It to Exist
https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/t ... 235140736/

[JohnClay]

There was a Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. There were costumes provided for the kids and there was no rehearsal. The lady running the show asked where the guy dressed up as Joseph was. He was going to the toilet. A guy about 50 years old - perhaps his father - came on stage to be Joseph (but didn't wear a costume). They should have gotten a shepherd to be Joseph. There was also no King Herod so a man that was about 30-40 was him (but didn't say anything or have a costume). A boy was given a bell and whenever the woman signalled him he'd ring the bell and the kids would all say "Do not be afraid". It was said every now and then - about 4 or 5 times. Some of the kids were given poems and speeches to read - some were poor readers. At the end they got the congregation to clap for the kids. Then later they got them to clap again and then later the pastor got them to clap again.
For the sermon the pastor asked if angels are real.... then he said angel means "messenger". Later he said that it isn't just about believing in angels but we can also be messengers or angels. He also showed a static scene from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - it was Snow White asleep with the dwarfs nearby. He said that Jesus is like the prince because he came to us to give us life.

[Spartan26]

I've probably brought this up before but I really hate the fees I have to pay on purchasing tickets. This has irked me over and over again over the years. I really hate more bands didn't take Pearl Jam's lead when they tried to circumvent ticketmaster years ago. Well, today it's not even ticketmaster I'm mad at. I can circumvent ticketmaster by buying tickets directly from the boxoffice of the venue. Now it's all the ticket services. Their prices all vary and there's no telling what the fee, wait, feez!, will be until you work your way all the way through to the confirm purchase point.

I went to a baseball game late in the season. Great seats for the price. Like ~$25, 1st level, 1st base side, just beyond the bag but still within the infield dirt. My fee per ticket was like $4.50, I wanna say. Tax. And no other bs fee. That I can live with. Was going to get some college football tix for $36. They wanted $8 fee plus facility charge. Bought two NHL tickets for ~$40 each, so why is my total up to $108?

I used groupon to get tickets to an NFL game. Was actually able to use one of their sale specials. It was a great price. Buuuuut idk, like I can't cuss paying like $225 for a couple of tickets, when it otherwise woulda been north of $300, it still looked like I woulda been getting out of there for a shade over two bills.

It's not just sports. I bought some tix for a play that's touring from Broadway. Went through this discount service, Goldstar, that boasts about having tix at 50% off. Sometimes free, depending on the promo but you pay the service fee. $35 tickets each. I bought two. My total is nearly $90. WTAF?! Why??

Years ago, if I wanted to see a play, opera, ballet or some symphony virtuoso perform and I didn't really plan for it in advance, I'd just go do to the venue, have a price in mind, and buy a ticket from some poor schlub who'd need to unload one. I wouldn't even have to find a scalper. It's LA. Someone always has a ticket from someone who flakes. But that was all cash and a paper ticket. It's so hard to do a seat transfer without going through a 3rd party service.

They still do the charge per ticket and not transaction, which I think it bogus. Completely random. The worst part is there's nothing you can do besides not go.

[Catoptric]

1:40 "Active shooter in the building," while Police drags his hands along the side railing bars as if he's 4-years-old and doesn't know what's going on.

Apparently, 3 were apprehended but two were "at large" after heading towards the mall, which is why it was evacuated.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/heavy-pol ... r-suspects

This also doesn't surprise me. . .


Update: I just posted this along with other iterations of it to various sites:

A company that demands a pound of flesh. . . in exchange for your soul?

Amazon is hypocrisy masquerading as a benevolent overlord pretending environmental interest, where technology is used like some Sword of Damocles surveying the ruin of the Luddites with people falling sway to the might of the jungle plantation,

People will regress towards tribalism, worshiping drones like some cargo cults.

No company should ever have dominion over the wherewithal of your life, whether it be as a consumer or an employee.

Any company that blindly claims a reviewer is violating standards of conduct by demonstrating very clear interpretations of a product and informing consumers about their rights to information (such as FDA violations which answers why their product label is now different, or if the self-professed 'Doctor' has any qualifications to that title) is somehow an offense to their standards, I'm VERY SORRY to say, Amazon has NO STANDARDS; in addition, they knowingly sell products branded Amazon that will light your house on fire.

The sooner society does away with it the better. Some sellers also have reason to start class action lawsuits against them because they will actively set up algorithms to channel Amazon exclusive products after enquiring from sellers where they sourced it from to then sell their own. To think that Amazon has got to where it is because of altruism and customer-centric focus is to completely miss the point of how it hoodwinked everyone who once believed in it.

Shut it down!

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Billy Chemirmir (who looks like the "missing link") was a serial killer active in Dallas, TX that specifically targeted nursing homes and posed as an anonymous worker, and many places have a history of not doing background checks on legitimate workers in addition to understaffing (and just recently I've seen an urbex exploration of one such building that was forced to close down, where apparently they were making a decent profit but never updated the living conditions and forced the residents to live in very unkempt conditions.) The rare occasion that such repeat offenses get documented, only suggests the treatment of people suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia probably rarely get accounted for unless people responsibly notice those bruises and "bedsores" are not just from old age.




"I feel safer back here" (I wonder if he felt that way when he rode that seat to jail the day before?)

These vehicles on more than one occasion have been known to crash into semis turned over on the road, firetrucks stopped at red lights, and likely won't protect fools trying to stop it from the back seat with no seatbelt (and the music is apparently played loud so that other people on the road know to get out of the way???)

[Spartan26]

Tell me this isn't BS! So I saw some tix to an NBA game for only $37 each. That's lower bowl "premiere seating." I'm actually not the biggest fan of the premiere seats. Yes, you can use the VIP/luxury suites entrance and there's wait service that comes and takes your order and brings your food, but if you've never been in the Crypto.com Arena fka Staples Center, the lower level spreads out pretty flat then goes straight up with the luxury suites, 3 levels, which is totally, totally excessive. Paying $120K for seats that are higher up than nosebleed seats in most other venues. But I've beefed that rant 20+ years ago when the place opened. Maybe the best thing are quick access to near empty bathrooms so you can go and come back without missing anything. Anyway, the seats are still on the side of the court, though technically beyond the baseline but not yet to the corner. They're OK seats in the grand scheme of things. Just the layout of the arena makes them a little farther away from the action than most other arenas. Now, relative to price, they're excellent seats! I'm seeing two playoff teams, even though neither are a league marquee team. There were seats farther back in the same section for nearly $30 more.

$37, I can't say no. Although I'm almost certain they were $36 a day or two ago. I was waiting to see if the NBA was going to cancel or postpone any games before I was to make any purchases. $37 bucks each, what would you expect to pay then in total??

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A nearly 30% markup fee. Then the real kicker, $5 fee to get the tickets on my phone. How is that NOT included in the $10.61? Isn't ticket delivery what you do?? There's no other way I can receive the ticket. And that's only to one phone. I can't split up the tickets to two or however many people I'm purchasing the tickets for. It's like those restaurants that won't seat you until everyone in your party is all there. Pretty nice of you to assume everyone carpools to a game. Up until this time, you'd have to pay for physical ticket delivery. Like maybe a few bucks for them to send by way of a .29 cent stamp. You could pay an extra $18 for 1-2 day service or maybe $30 for overnight. Or, you could NOT PAY anything and have your seats waiting at will call. Or, you wouldn't have to pay if you would like your tickets emailed to you and if you downloaded and printed them yourself. Remember those good ol' days of 7 years ago??

This was more like, "Ehh, he's so close to $100, let's just charge him $5 to push him over the top. Eff him!!" That's not all. Did you see the insurance you can buy?? What a joke. First off, it's only for the price of the ticket. We've already covered I'm fine with the ticket amount, it's the fees I'm upset with. And those don't get refunded. Nor do the $7.75 insurance. But you have request the refund before the start of the event. So, if you do get in an accident or too sick to go, which likely means you'd be too sick to go through the refund process, you're still SOL. IDK, maybe if you pay $350 to $1,000 per ticket, it might make more sense to back up your purchase but that's still so unheard of to me. I mean, I guess should be thankful that that wasn't an option most of my life. I've been the fortunate last minute benefactor to someone, even an unknown friend of a friend, who wanted to have tickets used rather than just go to waste. But those have been season seat holders. People generally make plans around events or are likely to be able to resale their ticket above face value.

Again, $50 for lower level, unobstructed side seats for an NBA game is a gift from heaven, falling into your lap deal. It's also what I'd expect to pay for tickets costing $43-$44, not $37. Rotten finks, every last one of them! Even though I'll be seeing my favorite team and I'm likely taking a date, I was still thisclose from not buying them because of those excessive fees.

[Senseye]

That's a valid rant Spartan26.

It's just corporate weasels being corporate weasels. It's probably the same way everywhere. I recall the days when teams ran their own box offices and you just had to pay the face value of the ticket. Although you had to either go in person to buy the ticket (usually at the venue) or maybe by phone. They would also outsource ticket sales to a 3rd party, so you could go through them and pay a modest service fee if you didn't want to deal with going to the box office location. It had to be a modest fee because excessive gouging would just drive people to go to the teams box office.

Of course, teams didn't like the overhead of paying for staff to run the box office, so they eventually outsourced the whole shebang. Now service fees can get out of hand because the 3rd party sellers have a monopoly or a small oligopoly of ticket resellers who have all have seemingly agreed on excessive fees.

And finally, the gouging for electronic ticket delivery is super annoying. That probably saves the company money over handling physical tickets and the staff required to do so, yet they charge even more for the convenience. It's like charging the customer to save the company money. Banks are the most notorious crooks here with ATM and POS (point of sale) service fees. They save millions in staff and bricks and mortar costs, and make you pay more.

People just roll with it though. And in fairness it's almost impossible to organize the kind of mass consumer outrage it would take to push back. So the corporate weasels get their cake and eat it to.