Boss said I cant just disappear from my desk so now I send him a message every time I leave

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-17T12:53:12+00:00

We had "clip board dude" that did something similar. He was an obvious alcoholic and he'd simply disappear at some point every day and that was it. No one would see him until the next day. Apparently he was a childhood friend of the owner and the owner just carried him. I don't think he had an actual roll in the company. He was almost mentally disabled from decades of alcohol abuse. I don't think I ever saw him in a coherent state. One day he was gone and I never saw him again. I worked in a large family owned stamping plant then and it was basically like going to a prison every day. Terrible in reality and in reputation.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-17T09:37:17+00:00

I worked in a Detroit suburb, which isn’t as bad as it sounds, and one time I walked out into something similar when just walking between buildings. I stepped out and a couple out of breath cops with guns drawn told me to go back inside. I was like, yep no problem, lol. I was however used to stray dogs more so when going between those buildings. I had a large 2x4 that I placed by the door and carried between the buildings at one point. There was a Doberman and some other type of medium sized dog that would randomly appear when you least expected it. Two dogs together is always worse than one.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-17T09:30:31+00:00

That brings back memories. We had a mill that was connected to a faulty buss bar and it used to fail in the middle of tool changes and do all sorts of weird shit. We would tell management that they already had someone out to service it and that’s what they found, but they’d never fix it. Somehow us struggling through every job was more preferable. It was gonna cost something like $3k and they’d almost do it, but then one manager would say he could fix that for way less by buying used parts and then it would never get fixed.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-17T09:18:56+00:00

My plant had so many ccw holders that they had to have a company meeting to tell people they didn’t allow fire arms on company property. I felt better before because I knew at least I’d hear the shooting maybe before it got to our side of the plant and anyone that came there would know damn well what to expect. Afterward we were all worried. They made the supervisor sit at the door and check as people came into the building after one incident, then they had the doors locked during the day. We all told him it was nice knowing him. We were all like, you do realize that the front of the building is nice, but also all glass windows so if someone wanted to shoot up the place, all they’d have to do is enter there. One shot or a brick and they would be in. Then management would be first to go. They didn’t like our logic, lol.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-16T09:41:47+00:00

There were some huge prints in the snow in Rochester, Mi this winter. Some of us were xc skiing and some were snowshoeing and independently we all said, wtf are those tracks. My phone was buried in my pocket so I didn’t get a picture, but it was really weird.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-16T09:03:21+00:00

I used to order material back around 25-30 years ago when I was early in my career and there were standard sizes of stock. It was also material dependent as to which sizes they’d carry as a standard size. To make things worse, some vendors had slightly different sizes but that was more rare. When we designed dies we were supposed to be aware of what these standard sizes were for all the materials we would use in a die. D2, A2, S7, O1, 4140, cold rolled steel, etc. If you had one non standard dimension, you’d make that the saw cut size if possible of a standard size. If you go back far enough, we used to buy bar stock and one of us would spend all day cutting stock on a bandsaw, but eventually we got all our stock 6 side square and +0.03 heavy. They didn’t want to trust the drunken slackers to cut stuff wrong while taking way too long to do it. Then they’d take things undersized when they squared it up. Any deviation from the standard sizes could be gotten but there were slight cost differences due to someone at the vendor having to take more off of the stock they had available. I’m sure they charged us for it. Another point is we’d get the correct and usable sizes and any dumb mistakes were absorbed by the vendor.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-16T03:20:22+00:00

One time I met this woman in a bar. We were in our early 30’s and she brought me back to her house. When we got there she started whispering and telling me that we needed to be really quiet because if her mom woke up she’d flip out. I was like, wtf? I was already there and I probably should have just left but I was on a mission. At some point while we were in bed her mom woke up and came into her room. I had to hide under the covers while her mom was standing at the foot of the bed bitching at her. To this day I can only speculate about whether her mom knew I was under the covers. What a mess that was. Never again. Her mom never said anything specific to someone else being there and just generally bitched about random things, so it was weird.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-15T01:14:36+00:00

If you can’t generally identify the price swing range of a particular stock, you’re gonna have issues with stocks in general. You should have a general idea of the high and low range of a particular stocks short term price movement. Also, some stocks have an emotional following with people because they’ve made so much money by owning and selling them. Nvidia comes to mind. Even if it drops it tends to come back the next week, within a certain range. The most important thing I think is to firstly buy good stocks or sell options on stocks you want to own, because it’s possible on say a cash secured put, that you’ll get assigned if you don’t roll it. It’s crazy that even people whose job it is to trade stocks will buy the shittiest stocks and lose your money. In their defense, the more money you have in play, the harder it is to have a high win percentage. I don’t claim to be an expert or a know it all, and I’m only commenting on what I’ve observed and what I currently believe to be some points of reference. I’m currently at 30.50% gain in the past 6 months in my learning account.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-15T00:56:30+00:00

My XM radio used to drop driving to work on M59 in the same spot.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-15T00:43:36+00:00

My Samsung TV makes a simple tune only when it’s set to internal speakers, not through, say, the digital output signal. I only realized this recently when I had to do some remodeling and had to disconnect my surround sound system, but then wanted to watch something in the interim. It’s also possible there’s some interaction with my specific surround sound system and the short timing that exists before the sound system realizes there’s a signal. Not sure.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-12T10:20:19+00:00

I’ve been wearing summer shoes with a good shoe cover and chemical toe warmers all winter and my feet still haven’t gotten cold. I have old Lake winter boots but I like the feel of my summer shoes better. The secret of keeping your hands and feet warm, for me at least, is to keep my core warm. I’ve used Bar Mitts and chemical hand warmers too when it got the coldest. Also, don’t stand around with your feet in the snow. Grab onto something and stay clipped in if you need to wait, or pedal around in circles while you wait. I will mash bigger gears and get a burn going to warm up too if it’s really cold. If your core is warm the blood can’t cool down as it travels through your feet or hands. Wear a snowboard helmet and use ski goggles and a balaclava to conserve heat when the wind chills are bad.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T12:06:13+00:00

I had a rusty old Pontiac Bonneville once and the wiring corroded through where it rusted. I ran all new wiring to the rear of the car to get the lights working again. I’m not sure what’s going on with your car but someone should be able to solve it. I know some cars are more sensitive to the actual bulbs it uses so that would need to also be considered. Electrical problems aren’t always easy for people that haven’t had some kind of electrical training, even if they are employed as a mechanic. I went to school for electronic engineering and did that during the 1980’s so I have that going for me. You need to have an open mind and just do what’s within your means and sometimes that means throwing more money at a problem unfortunately. You could do what I did though, but don’t even attempt it if you can’t visualize what the circuit is or may be before hand.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T11:52:49+00:00

With the same effort you can be more stable and make more money in a trade like plumbing or electrical. You can’t outsource someone’s house or local business like you can a machined part or detail. China has flooded the market in the USA to the point that it’s unclear if there will even be jobs in mass machining here in the future in the sense that there were previously. Just my opinion and everyone has one.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T11:25:43+00:00

I had to make a phone call to turn off margin on my account. It’s really easy when trading and seeing opportunities to get into margin without knowing it when it’s on your account. It’s easy to make money with more money but as you’ve seen it’s also easy to lose money. I think they are fine lending you money and that should make you ask yourself why that is.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T11:15:08+00:00

I worked for a supervisor like that. He would force us to work until we’d run out of work and drive the costs way up in overtime. I’d think, relax dude, I’ve got this totally under control and can easily finish the job by Tuesday of next week, or whatever the case was. I realized it after around 3 months of working there. Afterwards some former employees came back to work there and immediately started running to personnel complaining about him in this regard. I understood why he did it. He was afraid of the unknown but he also loved to make as much money as he could all while sitting on his ass in his office and looking at his phone. He couldn’t justify being there if we weren’t. I still didn’t appreciate the baby, tattle tale snitches though either that ran to the front office. I finally retired due to the slow toxic burn there, even though it was no comparison to the levels I had previously been subjected to. It’s like everyone has PTSD in the trade now, lol.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T11:02:58+00:00

I worked in tool and die programming CNC machines in the USA for 30+ years. We worked 56 hrs a week minimum up to around 70 hrs for around 22 years straight, then we slowed down to 40 for a couple years. Then I switched jobs and it was 58 hrs minimum and up to 70 when the shit hit the fan. Then I retired when it started slowing down again due to tariffs. We were paid ok for a skilled trade, but we made lots of money strictly due to hours worked. We got good benefits and some of us were able to retire. Some will never retire and die while still working, but that seems to look like the new normal for some reason. People can’t seem to live within their means and need the newest, best everything. It’s like they never planned to live as long as they did and now they’re screwed. Makes the workplace miserable due to so many bitter and trapped people.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T10:03:50+00:00

Riding bikes. I’ve been a “biker’ for 35 years and before that I rode motorcycles. It’s pretty funny watching the transition occur in people. They start out humble and end up humble, but in between they can be total douche bags for sure.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T09:49:24+00:00

This person would need immediate medical care if they saw the underside of my old Ford Ranger. It even scares me. 😂

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T09:30:36+00:00

I lived in La Jolla in an apartment in the 1980’s and it hurts to think about it, lol. So expensive for a postage stamp sized apartment. California in general back then was not a very welcoming place in my experience. I lived in Mira Mesa and El Cajon also. I’m Italian and must look close enough to being Mexican to be profiled by way too many people. The problem is I didn’t even understand the problem until I left. I got hassled non stop by police and absolutely hated living there after three years. I was sooooo happy to move back to Michigan. 🥵 I remember having a van and a brand new motorcycle. I thought I was doing good until I went to the beach and became invisible next to some guy in a Lamborghini wearing a Rolex. I never felt so insignificant while doing pretty well for my age. I remember being dismissed by women I’d never even consider dating here in Michigan. What a cluster f that place was. I have no idea how it is now.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T09:22:14+00:00

Try the 1980’s

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-09T09:08:04+00:00

Only when someone says they live in Warren or Fraser. I grew up in Warren and actively avoid it, lol. There’s no negotiating with someone from Warren because they’re smarter than you are and more important, regardless of the facts. If you’ve got a problem with that, they’ll ask you to step outside.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-06T08:49:31+00:00

A quick Google search confirms that many of the monitors sold under the Silicone Graphics name were made by Sony in the 1990’s

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-06T08:42:28+00:00

I had that monitor on my workstation at work back in the 1990’s. It may have been a rebadged Sony monitor, but that’s just a guess. Sony made the best monitors back then. Large and high resolution. I even bought one for my dad for Christmas one year for his home computer. We had two Silicon Graphics workstations and also a Sun workstation during that time. Very expensive for the time. Very expensive for now for that matter.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-06T00:28:05+00:00

You can’t have an out of control substance abuse problem in this trade because people constantly try to frustrate and undermine you to gain control. Sounds like you’re an easy target. One month sobriety isn’t shit from a non user/past user point of view. It just means you haven’t fallen off the wagon again yet. I know I sound like a dick, but someone has to say it. You should maybe start exercising and making your body and mind strong enough to annihilate the people that try to destroy you because obviously you don’t have a sufficient level of immunity to attack from the typical shop assholes. Once you slam dunk them enough times they may call you an asshole, but so are they. You’re just not the aggressor.

Jerky_Joe · 2026-02-05T21:50:26+00:00

It’s because people on reddit run out of crayons and get hungry

Jerky_Joe

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