You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

[bob]

Speakng of digital cameras, I plugged the outlit that came with mine into my computer to upload some pictures I took and it boot up as normal, which is to say a screen would pop up and give me opions for it. It took me 20 minutes to try and figure out another way to upload the,.

Recently this has been happening with my flash drive when I try and use it as well. I think one of the automatic updates my computer did screwed this up.

[Mr. DS]

I cant stand what a lot of companies are doing nowadays when it comes to toys.  Lets put a random figure in a sealed box or bag and charge the public 10 bucks plus on a virtual grab bag.

[The Gravekeeper]

How unprofessional some bone cleaners on eBay are. Most of the skulls I've bought have been good, occassionally needing a little bit of cleaning up just to get a bit of dirt off or to finish degreasing. Nothing major. The last I bought, though...advertised as a professionally cleaned possum skull. It was nice and white in the photos, so I thought it'd be ready for display. When it got here? So much grease from in the bones had leached to the surface that I could see the roots of the teeth on one side! I'm not convinced this guy did any degreasing at all (for those who don't know, it's important. All that grease coming to the surface makes the bone look dirty and can eventually stain it and turn it black). I've had to soak it in ammonia for a few days already and it's not clean yet.

Yeah, this kind of crap is how you lose business. Especially if you claim you're a professional who's been in the business for several years.

[Jim H]

I cant stand what a lot of companies are doing nowadays when it comes to toys.  Lets put a random figure in a sealed box or bag and charge the public 10 bucks plus on a virtual grab bag.

Yeah, that drives me nuts as well.  I think they saw the money Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games drag up with that business models so they copied it.  Artificial rarity used to boost prices makes me mad.

[AndyC]

The dishwasher. Most stuff comes out spotless, but there is frequently one or two things that have a persistent bit of something stuck on. Sometimes, it's enough to run the piece through again with the next load, but not always. The part that bothers me is when I check to see how badly stuck on the food is, and the slightest touch of my finger takes it off. What the hell? It's been through two cycles of being sprayed with almost boiling hot water and a pretty generous amount of strong detergent. It's even been positioned so it catches the spray squarely. And that has failed to remove something that will come off with the touch of a finger?

For that matter, I also get annoyed with people who simply unload their dishwasher without bothering to look at whether anything is still stuck on. I give everything that comes out a quick inspection. Takes a second. If something isn't spotless, I run it through again. If it still isn't, I give it a scrub myself. But I've eaten at other people's houses where you can't find one piece of cutlery in the drawer that doesn't have a bit of something stuck to it. Are these people blind, or do they just not give a damn about using knives and forks with bits of old food baked onto them?

[ulthar]

the slightest touch of my finger takes it off. What the hell? It's been through two cycles of being sprayed with almost boiling hot water and a pretty generous amount of strong detergent. It's even been positioned so it catches the spray squarely. And that has failed to remove something that will come off with the touch of a finger?

I suspect that in at least some of those cases, the bit was not still stuck on the item, but freely "floating" around in the appliance and RE-deposited near the end of the cycle.

[AndyC]

the slightest touch of my finger takes it off. What the hell? It's been through two cycles of being sprayed with almost boiling hot water and a pretty generous amount of strong detergent. It's even been positioned so it catches the spray squarely. And that has failed to remove something that will come off with the touch of a finger?

I suspect that in at least some of those cases, the bit was not still stuck on the item, but freely "floating" around in the appliance and RE-deposited near the end of the cycle.

This is usually a piece of something (or a streak or a film) that stays on after two trips through the machine. It was definitely on there to begin with.

[ulthar]

No, I mean on there, then knocked off, then re-deposited.  If it's that easy to flick off with a finger, the jets of water are probably knocking it off...in at least some cases.  The general "crud" in the dishwasher during the wash and rinse cycles does not leave immediately or with 100% certainty.

YMMV. 

But, I've got to agree...dishwasher performance is woefully inadequate much of the time.  Years spent without one have taught me they are often not worth the effort..in the time it takes to load and unload, especially with 'retries,' I can hand wash them and just be done with it.

Our present one does something I've never had a problem with before.  A lot of items in the top rack (cups, bowls, etc), get blown over so they are right side up and them fill with cruddy water and stay that way.  The "jets" hitting top rack stuff hit from the bottom rather than the top (like the one in our last house, thus keeping the force downward).

Yeah, it's a lot of fun re-washing 30% of what was in there...

[ER]

Getting paper money that smells...bad.

[AndyC]

No, I mean on there, then knocked off, then re-deposited.  If it's that easy to flick off with a finger, the jets of water are probably knocking it off...in at least some cases.  The general "crud" in the dishwasher during the wash and rinse cycles does not leave immediately or with 100% certainty.

YMMV. 

But, I've got to agree...dishwasher performance is woefully inadequate much of the time.  Years spent without one have taught me they are often not worth the effort..in the time it takes to load and unload, especially with 'retries,' I can hand wash them and just be done with it.

Our present one does something I've never had a problem with before.  A lot of items in the top rack (cups, bowls, etc), get blown over so they are right side up and them fill with cruddy water and stay that way.  The "jets" hitting top rack stuff hit from the bottom rather than the top (like the one in our last house, thus keeping the force downward).

Yeah, it's a lot of fun re-washing 30% of what was in there...

I've managed to get nearly everything clean every time, but it requires a particular system of loading, so that the water can both reach and drain from everything, and items that need more water pressure (pots,tall glasses, etc.) are put where they'll get it (pretty much anywhere but the corners). Light stuff, that might flip over, go in the corners. And I don't overload the machine. If it takes two less-than-full loads, so be it. It works well.

Then my wife loads the dishwasher and I'd swear she couldn't do a worse job if she opened the door and pushed everything off the counter. Things are packed tight, everything's leaning against everything else, bowls are positioned so they don't drain fully. Some things are shielding each other from the spray, while the dirty side of other things is turned away from the spray. Some stuff seems to be just tossed in on top or wherever it will fit. And she always tries to fit everything in one load, no matter how much there is.

I've explained how I do it. My wife is fully capable of understanding the few simple rules. She has the spatial sense to know whether the water can reach something, and it really isn't any more difficult to do it right. She just doesn't do it. And if I press the point, and maybe explain that I will have to put half the dishes through again, she starts mocking and cites the halfassed job I did on something else, as if that makes me unqualified to know how to load a dishwasher. Fine, maybe I rush through the dusting and sweeping up, but this is about getting the best performance out of a machine. Apples and oranges, as far as I'm concerned.

The funny thing is, she's told me her mother used to tell her she was terrible at loading a dishwasher. Even funnier, I've seen how her mother loads a dishwasher, and it ain't much better.

[alandhopewell]

     Trying to use the online White Pages (which advertizes itself as "free"), only to find that I MUST present a credit-card number to access the information!

[tracy]

Getting paper money that smells...bad.

No kidding! As a cashier I get money that smells like the bottom of the lake,like a mechanic's greasy hands or the ever popular soaked in air freshener....wonder what they've been doing with it?

[bob]

Today I was supposed to have a phone interview for a position that I was not comfortable with in the least because of the company, but I need the money. So I got up early because the guy who was supposed to call me ever said when he'd call. He never called.

[ulthar]

Maybe he sensed you did not like his company and did not want to waste his time.

[bob]

Maybe he sensed you did not like his company and did not want to waste his time.

He emailed me yesterday saying he'd call so..... ?