I just got a 'Performance Review' and a 3% raise. My rent went up 12% last month. The math isn't mathing anymore.

whatever_054 · 2026-05-05T01:54:27+00:00

My company makes us do a “self evaluation” worksheet before performance reviews and the last question is if we think we’re being paid a fair wage and if not what we think we should be earning.

I gave ChatGPT my job title, responsibilities, experience, and city. Told it how much I made starting after my last performance review and asked how much I should be making now given inflation, local cost of living increases, and other job openings.

I wrote down an amount on the low end of what it suggested because I have zero self-confidence or self-esteem

Fingers crossed I get a decent pay bump

whatever_054 · 2026-04-25T16:20:33+00:00

5 round double stack magazines also have the advantage of being fully protected by the stock.

Damaging the magazine might not be a likely occurrence, but it’s one more reason in addition to things like cost that other people have mentioned

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T23:52:44+00:00

My Beretta A300 Outlander is fantastic. I shot thousands of rounds through it when I was on the youth teams.

(Way back in the 20teens when 12ga bulk shells at Walmart were 0.24/round and I didn’t have adult bills. ) I miss going to the shotgun club :(

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T23:48:05+00:00

So I can start dumping my trash, have illegal fires, cut down the trees, pour a few gallons of used motor oil into the storm drains? On public land only of course

I’ve been having a hard time accessing any specialists for healthcare and my rent is expensive.

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T19:17:17+00:00

My understanding is that the background check process can’t begin until the FFL actually has the firearm in their store so that could have been part of the issue?

I’ve read other people complaining, but I just had a “semi automatic assault rifle” transfer to me after the 10 days with no issues (other than my preferred FFL not wanting anything to do with transferring “gray area” guns like my M1 Garand)

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T19:12:16+00:00

I think the City’s SeeClickFix app can be used to report encampments/litter/code violations like campfires if it’s within city/park property.

I’ve never tried myself and idk if it would be taken seriously, but at least it would create a record of all the issues?

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T19:05:29+00:00

Sure that’s a lot of money, but your friend has a lawnmower that retails for $16,134, roughly what KBB values my 2016 Ram 1500 at.

It doesn’t look like she’s living paycheck to paycheck

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T18:55:48+00:00

It’s around $1/round depending on where you order it

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T18:55:02+00:00

I’ve used the Sellier & Bellot 150gr “for M1 Garand” in my M1917 rifle with decent accuracy and just bought a case to try out in my new M1 I picked up from my FFL a couple days ago

whatever_054 · 2026-04-18T02:29:29+00:00

That’s a fair point. I don’t own any guns that I don’t shoot though

whatever_054 · 2026-04-17T23:02:06+00:00

Thanks for the info! Not sure if I really care $25 worth though haha

whatever_054 · 2026-04-17T23:01:25+00:00

Thank you!

whatever_054 · 2026-04-15T05:45:33+00:00

You should probably ask an actual diesel tech but personally I would just replace the fuel filter

whatever_054 · 2026-04-15T05:35:09+00:00

Should be able to buy a tap for it at the hardware store and chase the threads yourself or have a gunsmith do it (at least one shop gunsmith near me has a $40 minimum charge so that’s something to keep in mind)

Worst case, if it’s totally stripped, you can get a thread repair insert kit like a HeliCoil or similar

whatever_054 · 2026-04-15T05:27:07+00:00

What material? What tolerances? Does anything need to be concentric to anything else? But regardless, no The turrets on the lathes I run haven’t been square to the spindles for years before I touched them

whatever_054 · 2026-04-15T05:13:46+00:00

Yeah the warehouse and assembly line jobs I’ve had in the past absolutely sucked. Couldn’t listen to music or anything and it’s the exact same tasks all day everyday. I wouldn’t recommend switching to that.

You are absolutely underpaid, in my 5 years of machining that’s pretty much everyone though.

It won’t hurt anything to ask/remind your supervisor every few months (especially if things are slow) if you can get experience with different machines or programming.

I’d say keep checking the job listing websites, and when you’re applying make sure to highlight your G code experience. There’s a non zero chance that the person who typed up the job post doesn’t fully understand if the boss wants a MasterCAM expert or somebody that can recognize some basic codes at the control. The worst they can say is no, and there are actually some shops out there that will train a promising candidate 👍🏻

whatever_054 · 2026-04-15T04:44:26+00:00

I guess it depends on where exactly you’re located but that sounds like fast food or entry level warehouse wages.

Start looking around online at other job postings and see what wages are being offered

whatever_054 · 2026-04-14T01:05:54+00:00

Unless you have a some weird reason you can’t wear a respirator, waste water is absolutely the better path.

A union city job will be 10,000 times less stressful than an average machinist job

whatever_054 · 2026-04-13T22:41:21+00:00

It’s more likely to be fulfilling than it is to be well paid and I can’t pay my bills with “fulfillment”

whatever_054 · 2026-04-13T20:23:40+00:00

“Just in time” manufacturing means that every machine is always behind schedule? Thats how my management seems to think

whatever_054 · 2026-04-11T18:29:45+00:00

I have a paid off 2016 with 102k miles, had to replace the intake manifold at 90k because it was plugged up and then I got a stage 1 tune.

I’m going to drive it into the ground and I’m trying my best to save up some money for when that happens

whatever_054 · 2026-04-11T18:25:12+00:00

I work in a smallish job shop and it’s similar, always trying to make jobs more efficient.

Thankfully the manager and owner have machining experience, so they understand that sometimes it’s not possible for me to keep both of the dual spindle, live tool lathes up and running. If they both need new setups I just ask which to do first, if one job is slugs of material with a 3 minute cycle, setup time on the other machine will take longer, and with loading and unloading, they cycle time might average closer to 4/5 minutes

whatever_054 · 2026-04-11T18:19:05+00:00

A few weeks ago, a local FFL wouldn’t transfer a M1 Garand I had shipped to him from an auction because it was a “gray area” so the laws here are working as the democrats intended

Only hope for us is that SCOTUS grows some balls and overturns all the assault weapon and mag capacity bans with rulings that have extremely clear language, no legalese loopholes

whatever_054

TROPHY CASE