You Know You Are Old When

[stuckmotor]

I recall in grade school one year a nun had a hankering for nostalgia I guess, and we were required to get fountain pens for handwriting class.

They had cartridges. No fountains. So why did they call them fountain pens? Teacher told me to stop asking questions.

And even without fountains, they caused a great mess and we were eventually told to stop bringing them to class.

I kind of liked those cartridge pens because i could bleach out my many mistakes with Clorox on a Q-tip.

 

[WinterDeere]

Either PA has really bad roads, or she's smacking curbs!

As a 50-year PA resident, who's traveled a lot of other states, I can answer that. Yes, many of our counties have roads that are comparable to a lunar surface, especially this time of year.

This occurs because the most-populated areas of PA (eg. Philly and 'burbs) lie in a climate zone where our temperature dips below freezing every night, then thaws every day, most days for six months out of the year. Frozen water liquifies by noon, penetrates further into any fissures in the asphalt all afternoon, then re-freezes overnight. Repeat ~180 times per year, and you can see where it's headed.

Our roads are a mix of local (township/borough), county, and state, and there are separate repair crews for each. Some counties (eg. Montgomery) do a great job of getting out there and repairing every pothole after every major weather event. Others (eg. Bucks) mostly wait for the road to completely fall apart, and then redo the whole thing. So, in Montgomery the roads are "lumpy", and in Bucks they alternate between smooth and absolutely lunar. Philly proper is known for having potholes so large they can swallow a Smart car, traffic volume is just too high to effect useful repairs at the frequency required.

 

[WinterDeere]

If you don’t follow the Christian Resurrection week holy days, no problem. Just don’t expect me not to follow them because you don’t and be at your house trying to sell you replacement windows.

Agreed. No one should be expected to work on their religious holidays, but the post that started all of this seemed to be more than just that. After all, if you're in a retail business, you have to make yourself available when people are not at work, it's the very reason retail stores aren't open only 9-5 / M-F. The contractor had said he'd be available only Monday morning... not Monday evening, after the customer was home from work?

So, while I agree with your point, I'd also not use any contractor who copped an attitude like that. There are just too many others available to call, to waste my time on one who gives me crap, as a paying customer.

In the poster's defense, I think he was joking around about the situation, and maybe they did meet up one evening the following week.

 

[Sigarms]

This occurs because the most-populated areas of PA (eg. Philly and 'burbs) lie in a climate zone where our temperature dips below freezing every night, then thaws every day, most days for six months out of the year. Frozen water liquifies by noon, penetrates further into any fissures in the asphalt all afternoon, then re-freezes overnight. Repeat ~180 times per year, and you can see where it's headed.

Having graduating high school and college in Pennsyvania, as well as living both sides of the state above Philly and above Pittsburgh, as well as taking numerous trips north to New York and south to WV to kayak (point being, I've been ALL over Pa as an adult), I can assure you the ENTIRE state sucks for their roads, not just around Philly

 

[WinterDeere]

Having graduating high school and college in Pennsyvania, as well as living both sides of the state above Philly and above Pittsburgh, as well as taking numerous trips north to New York and south to WV to kayak (point being, I've been ALL over Pa as an adult), I can assure you the ENTIRE state sucks for their roads, not just around Philly

Being an eastern-PA native, my bar is set so low that I marvel how "good" the roads are, every time I visit the western half of the state. It's all relative!

But, point taken... most of the state lies in climate zones with similar behavior, excepting the northwest corner.

I've also spent a lot of years driving thru NJ, and they're at the opposite end of the spectrum, with regard to road construction and quality. No wonder their property taxes are 4x - 6x what we pay!

 

[Sigarms]

Agreed. No one should be expected to work on their religious holidays, but the post that started all of this seemed to be more than just that. After all, if you're in a retail business, you have to make yourself available when people are not at work, it's the very reason retail stores aren't open only 9-5 / M-F. The contractor had said he'd be available only Monday morning... not Monday evening, after the customer was home from work?

So, while I agree with your point, I'd also not use any contractor who copped an attitude like that. There are just too many others available to call, to waste my time on one who gives me crap, as a paying customer.

In the poster's defense, I think he was joking around about the situation, and maybe they did meet up one evening the following week.

A novel idea...

Unless its something that is of the utmost emergency (say like HVAC or water leak, plumbing or anything else along that nature) when you call for someone to come out to your home, why not just ask when the contractor can come out and work around the contractors scheduel?

I don't need to know why the contractor isn't available to make time to see me, I need to know when he can make the time.

That said, I did have a contractor talk to me on a Saturday on something along time ago. Told him I'd be open any day except tomorrow (Sunday) because my wife and I were working on our new garden. He asked me "You're working on your garden on a Sunday?". I told him yes, only time my wife and I could get together. He then informed me that I'd be lucky to get anything to grow in the garden if I was going to work on building it on the "Lords day". For whatever reason, seems like the Lord disagreed with him.

 

[Sigarms]

I've also spent a lot of years driving thru NJ

As an adult I drove in Jersey a couple times. Kind of reminds me of the beltway around DC LOL

 

[newbury]

There are just too many others available to call, to waste my time on one who gives me crap, as a paying customer.

Maybe in your area. Quality contractors are in high demand in some areas and good work is worth adjusting to their schedule.

 

[WinterDeere]

Maybe in your area. Quality contractors are in high demand in some areas and good work is worth adjusting to their schedule.

This wasn't about schedule, it was about being a jerk to the customer. No time for that.

Again, in Bad Boy Biker's defense, he may have been ginning up the story a bit, for effect.

 

[Hay Dude]

As a 50-year PA resident, who's traveled a lot of other states, I can answer that. Yes, many of our counties have roads that are comparable to a lunar surface, especially this time of year.

This occurs because the most-populated areas of PA (eg. Philly and 'burbs) lie in a climate zone where our temperature dips below freezing every night, then thaws every day, most days for six months out of the year. Frozen water liquifies by noon, penetrates further into any fissures in the asphalt all afternoon, then re-freezes overnight. Repeat ~180 times per year, and you can see where it's headed.

Our roads are a mix of local (township/borough), county, and state, and there are separate repair crews for each. Some counties (eg. Montgomery) do a great job of getting out there and repairing every pothole after every major weather event. Others (eg. Bucks) mostly wait for the road to completely fall apart, and then redo the whole thing. So, in Montgomery the roads are "lumpy", and in Bucks they alternate between smooth and absolutely lunar. Philly proper is known for having potholes so large they can swallow a Smart car, traffic volume is just too high to effect useful repairs at the frequency required.

Our roads are atrocious. They have 1”-2” stiff branches at the height to rip off your $1,000 power mirrors and scratch those nice new dually trucks. The “asphalt” is pitched incorrectly and strewn with pot holes and cracks. They spray it with brine that rusts the underside of your vehicle in a few years.

When they do put some of their taxpayer confiscated funds towards fixing them, its the old “tar & chip” nonsense that ends up with 1/2 the people traveling through that repaired area with a car hood with several paint chips or worse, a cracked windshield.

I swear I don’t know what my local D representative does with the money she gets, but it sure as hell doesn’t go into cutting back vegetation along the roads or fixing the ”asphalt”.

I have 2 trees I drive by every day that are held in place by vines. Once the vines break, the electric lines will be torn down like a house of cards, and a driver could be injured or killed.

I’d give our state roads an “F”.

 

[WinterDeere]

I’d give our state roads an “F”.

We have some of the same problems WRT trees encroaching on roads, and tar and chip on local roads. Thankfully the major thoroughfares here never get that treatment, and there's always a way to skip around most local roads for a week or two after the tar and chip treatment. Here, they usually come back with a street sweeper to clean up the loose chips, maybe 2-3 weeks after treatment.

You're in a similar climate to us, maybe just 2 weeks less freeze/thaw cycles at each end of the season.

One thing that always scares the hell out of our out-of-staters, is that our roads have no shoulder. Our "45 mph" country roads, upon which everyone is doing 55 mph (almost no speed enforcement in PA), have two narrow lines, with the white line being almost on the grass, just a crumbling asphalt ledge aside a drainage ditch. Wander more than 6 inches right, and you're in a ditch. Get a flat, and you'd better find a driveway. Other than limited-access expressways, our roads generally have no shoulders.

 

[Hay Dude]

This wasn't about schedule, it was about being a jerk to the customer. No time for that.

Again, in Bad Boy Biker's defense, he may have been ginning up the story a bit, for effect.

I would rather hire a guy with some religious scruples than a guy who will come to your house on a Holiday and make noise for the neighbors.

Having graduating high school and college in Pennsyvania, as well as living both sides of the state above Philly and above Pittsburgh, as well as taking numerous trips north to New York and south to WV to kayak (point being, I've been ALL over Pa as an adult), I can assure you the ENTIRE state sucks for their roads, not just around Philly

The PA Turnpike is very good. I drive it all the time.

 

[WinterDeere]

I would rather hire a guy with some religious scruples than a guy who will come to your house on a Holiday and make noise for the neighbors.

I agree. But that wasn't the point at all.

1. There was never any discussion of construction work on a holiday, they were only discussing a sales call, to show samples.

2. The OP stated they'd stop by Monday morning, no offer of any evening after work the following week. Again, if you're in a retail business, like home repair, it's in your best interest to make yourself available for an initial consult or sales call, when customers are available.

I'm in commercial electronics, but my customers are in different time zones, all over the world. I accept invitations for plenty of midnight and 3am sales and support calls, when it suits the customer's schedule. That's not when I'm doing the actual work on their project, that happens on my schedule, but those 30-60 minute sales calls have to happen when the customer is available.

 

[Sigarms]

The PA Turnpike is very good. I drive it all the time.

Having lived 30 miles south of Erie for some time, when visting my parents on the east side of state, generally drove I-80 going east to west, haven't been on the turnpike since the late 80's. Unless things have changed, I-80 isn't the greatest road out there LOL 79 and 81 never seemed that great as well.

 

[Sigarms]

I agree. But that wasn't the point at all.

1. There was never any discussion of construction work on a holiday, they were only discussing a sales call, to show samples.

2. The OP stated they'd stop by Monday morning, no offer of any evening after work the following week. Again, if you're in a retail business, like home repair, it's in your best interest to make yourself available for an initial consult or sales call, when customers are available.

I'm in commercial electronics, but my customers are in different time zones, all over the world. I accept invitations for plenty of midnight and 3am sales and support calls, when it suits the customer's schedule. That's not when I'm doing the actual work on their project, that happens on my schedule, but those 30-60 minute sales calls have to happen when the customer is available.

Try being in the HVAC industry for residential and commercial work.

My wife gets agrrivated because I will pick up my phone between 0500 to 2100 hours, 7 days a week (I'm not answering the phone when I'm sleeping LOL). That said, I love my job because I'm not tied to a 9-5 scheduel at a desk and do what I want to do as I plan it.

New Years day, Thanksgiving day, Labor Day, Memorial day and Christmas day is what I normally take off. My wife works for a company that takes all the federal holidays off, and I can't believe how many there are LOL

That said, common sense dictates that if calls HAVE to be made over the weekends or on religious holidays, you're going to pay a surcharge for those days.

 

[Oaktree]

Agreed. No one should be expected to work on their religious holidays, but the post that started all of this seemed to be more than just that. After all, if you're in a retail business, you have to make yourself available when people are not at work, it's the very reason retail stores aren't open only 9-5 / M-F. The contractor had said he'd be available only Monday morning... not Monday evening, after the customer was home from work?

So, while I agree with your point, I'd also not use any contractor who copped an attitude like that. There are just too many others available to call, to waste my time on one who gives me crap, as a paying customer.

My point exactly. While I am not religious myself, I totally get that some are and respect that they may not wish to work on their religious holidays. But there is no excuse for giving a potential customer a snarky answer. Would it have been that much of an imposition to explain that he wasn't available that day, and ask the customer what would be a convenient time for the two to meet. You don't need to be a jerk.

 

[sixdogs]

I recall in grade school one year a nun had a hankering for nostalgia I guess, and we were required to get fountain pens for handwriting class.

They had cartridges. No fountains. So why did they call them fountain pens? Teacher told me to stop asking questions.

And even without fountains, they caused a great mess and we were eventually told to stop bringing them to class.

As mentioned earlier, my grade was the first to get ballpoint pens. You're right on the mess. Boys put them in their pockets and they leaked almost immediately. Hence the need for the pocket protector, and I had several.

Ink was everywhere till the quality improved and then they only leaked at the most inopportune time.

 

[Hay Dude]

My point exactly. While I am not religious myself, I totally get that some are and respect that they may not wish to work on their religious holidays. But there is no excuse for giving a potential customer a snarky answer. Would it have been that much of an imposition to explain that he wasn't available that day, and ask the customer what would be a convenient time for the two to meet. You don't need to be a jerk.

None of us were there to hear the conversation, so it’s hard to judge. For all we know, you may have been snarky, too.

I have stumbled upon other peoples jewish & muslim holidays, not knowing they had a holiday, but there’s no need to get offended.

I guess since it’s a Judeo-Christian founded country, some Christians may be annoyed at your suggestion that they work on one of the most religious holidays of Christian calendar.

There’s a general apathy & malice towards Christians these days and some of them are pushing back.

I would have just said I’d meet you on another day.

 

[Hay Dude]

Having lived 30 miles south of Erie for some time, when visting my parents on the east side of state, generally drove I-80 going east to west, haven't been on the turnpike since the late 80's. Unless things have changed, I-80 isn't the greatest road out there LOL 79 and 81 never seemed that great as well.

I think PA has thrown all the taxpayer money at the big roads and told the flyover country people to go $#*$ off.
Just my observation from being a resident of the state for many decades and paid for more than my share of passenger side mirrors, fixed stone chips & windshields and even a blown tire.

 

[scootr]

Your roads are bad if you know where every pothole is on your usual routes.