Wednesday 16 December 2009

Sweet Nothings

I want to talk about something that has been bugging my ass for some time. Literally. I'd like to know whose idea it was to replace the soft, fabric tags on underwear with plastic ones. This guy (or gal) should be forced to wear his product until the day (s)he dies. By that time, death would be welcomed, I'm sure. You never even knew you had a tag on your arse before, but these new tags make it impossible to sit, stand or move around without the damn tag scratching you raw.

If you're lucky enough to not know w-t-h I'm talking about, these little plastic tags are on the inside of underwear, both underpants and undershirts and contain things like size, washing instructions, etc. The problem is that each time these things go through a wash and dry cycle, they shrink and dry out and become brittle and jagged almost like pieces of glass--not the best material to have chafing the back of your neck or the back of your ass. Whether your ass has a back is a subject for another day.

As if paying to be viscously maimed isn't bad enough, it's almost impossible to remove these blasted tags--at least after they've been through the dryer. They must use glue more powerful than Superglue. God forbid a tag may actually come loose after a few years of wear. Clearly, the manufacturer wanted to make sure at all costs that they'd never be named in a suit for the serious charge of "unlawful displacement of an underwear tag".

One day when I had a few hours to kill, I managed to remove the three or four tags off of one pair of underwear. The problem, though, is that it is my custom to buy four to six pairs of underwear whenever I decide it's time to top up my supply, so I'm stuck with having to store my "valuables" close to these dangerous devices for the foreseeable future.

Are you listening Hanes? I'll be happy to forget the whole sordid affair for a few multi-packs (size S, according to the impression currently on my butt) of the wonderful underwear I've been buying with your name on them ever since I can remember...provided they are of the "classic" design. When it comes to tags, I'd prefer sweet nothings.


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Monday 7 December 2009

Life in the fast lane

Many times I have bored people with accounts of why I dislike as a group, several professions. They are mostly the usual ones we all have good reason to hate--lawyers, politicians, and despite the dedication and good work of most of them, doctors. This last group because we put our lives in their hands from birth and often right up to death, but some of them cause us more grief than anyone else could given the chance.

Well, today, I'm adding one that I often forget to include. I'm sure you'll agree it is a fine addition to this list of infamy. Mechanics. Not necessarily mechanics per se, but the establishment they work at as a whole. Leaving alone for the time being the shoddy work that sometimes leads to life endangering events, I'm talking about their propensity for unscrupulous recommendations for unnecessary work and gouging both for parts and labour.

Case in point: I was recently stranded and needed a boost to get going. The following day, I took my car to the same place I have been going for about 15 years and to which I have given, as you can imgine, huge sums of money during that time. I figured it was either the battery not holding a charge or else the alternator not charging the battery. I figured if it's the alternator, I'll be looking at a total cost of about $700.

I should mention here that a life truth concerning garages has become evident. "Where there are multiple possibilities of a what the problem is, most of them and others will be found to be the cause."

I got the call--it's going to run me about $600. I won't leave you wondering what I'm complaining about for too long. That price does not include a new alternator. It's for a new battery, to clean up the terminals, replace the alternator belt and doing an oil change which was due, anyway. The bastids charged me $110 plus tax just to diagnose the problem--as if that took more than two minutes and two brain cells to do. With tax, they charged me almost $200 just to replace the damn belt, an item I'm sure costs them about $20.

They also recommended I replace my air filter and all four tires; the latter I said "no" to. I find it interesting that just over a year ago, when I brought my car in to be diagnosed for the smoke that had billowed out from under the hood, they found absolutely nothing wrong (and charged me about $100 for the "good" news), yet when you bring it in for some specific work, they seem to find a whole host of things that need attention, and of course, a sack of money to "fix".

You'd think with so many evil, selfish and uncaring "mechanics" out there, that people would find a good and reputable one and stick with them. The sad truth is that there are so few honest people in the profession, that it's like finding a needle in a haystack. If you're lucky enough to find/have found one, cherish him/her--they are more precious than your soul-mate. In comparison, soul-mates are a dime a dozen.


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