James Gillen Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Good News: The coupon says 1/2 off on any pizza. Bad News: It's Domino's. JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted August 12, 2012 Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings There is no silence so profound that it cannot be filled by some nit-wit with nothing to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Many years ago, the company introduced software for executing a daily Out of Stock Report for the stores. The programme title in our handhelds calls it the "2PM Manager's Out of Stock" report. The store manager would walk around the store in the middle of the afternoon and compile a handy report of missing items. To make sure it was done, the company added a corporate audit process. It was kind of like the white glove inspections we used to have, back in the day when we used to have time to clean. Once we got the paradigm, it even became the basis for other audits. Now we have people in looking at our compliance with merchandising directives and shrink control paperwork and "culture of safety paperwork every day, it seems. The only advantage to that is that no-one comes around looking for dirt anymore. (I know, a clean grocery store. They actually used to exist, you know.) The audit was important to ensure compliance, because the Out of Stock report was such a useful managing tool. It could even be used to generate an automatic augmentation of the nightly grocery order. Everything on the OOS that wasn't ordered would be added to the order. Which was fine, unless there was a stocking issue. But there shouldn't be, because the manager would see the hole, know that there was stock, and fill it! Yeah. Because managers do that. Well, some do. But contemplate the fact that stores have tens of thousands of listings, and you see real life starting to get in the way. Get in the way, mind you, in a way that leads to out-of-control inventory growth. (Though not as badly as corporate-imposed store schematics, but that's an other story.) It gets in the way in other ways, too. By now, roughly ten years later, the job has long since rolled downhill to the (sometimes teenaged) late night manager. Who does a halfass job, unless we get word on the grapevine that the corporate auditor is on the town, in which case we rush to fill the holes, or face over them, or take tickets off, or whatever it is that has to be done to manage the OOS count down to target. Notice how the law of unintended consequences comes into play here. The night manager is not only overwhelmed, the expectation that he can manage the audit down means an additional source of stress for them, because it's another thing to look forward to being yelled at about by the Management Trainee or acting deputy assistant manager. And, yes, I'm speaking from personal experience on that one, and, no, being yelled at by a freak who ended up taking a cashier position to save his job did not make me feel like I was receiving honest and useful constructive criticism. But I personalise too much. It's a big company. Injustice was done to someone out there, if not me. Move forward to today's hypercompetitive market, with the company floundering with flat sales and disappointing store returns for reasons that it can't comprehend.* Doesn't all this pointless out of stock scanning, of out stock scanning auditing and out of stock scanning audit managing sound like a counterproductive expenditure of time and money? Of course it does. So the company got rid of the OOS report this week. And, to save money, it cut the total management hours budget by an hour a day. Will the store manager take a cut in pay to pay for this? In your dreams: not after the "defined benefits to defined contributions" switch in the pension plan of a few years back. Take the plunge and cut their salaries, or benefits, or bonusses, and they'll just spend a little less time in the stores. So where does the hour cut fall? On the night manager who actually did the work. Hell, McFly? You didn't add the time needed to use the OOS report properly in the first place. That's why it turned out to be a big, useless drain. Taking away the time that people weren't spending doing the reports in the first place just ensures that other things won't be done. And if there's a person that you can't afford to alienate, I'm just going to throw it out there that it's the guy who runs the store, all alone, for the last five hours of the night. *Hello, take two. Pull out your old copies of the Canada Census. Read down the columns to "Births in Canada" for the mid-1990s. Notice how the birth rate dropped off the cliff in 1993? Notice how there were almost 70,000 fewer births in that year than in a "regular" year before or after? That's your impulse-buying teenagers of today. Also, your junior-most employees, whom you will need when the current crop of kids hits their teenaged years and starts spending again. Hello? Hello? Is anyone paying attention? No, of course not. What can we do about it? A corporate audit, maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics and the season finale of Doctor Who today reminded me that this year is a year of endings for me. Friends leave, and I lose contact with them. A beloved pet dies, hopefully the only death I have to deal with this year. It's the last week of summer session, although I won't miss that too much. Lots of things coming to an end. I know new beginnings come with those, but those seem a bit distant right now. Maybe I'll feel differently in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Ah, the prostate exam. What a wonderful way for the universe to say "Welcome to 40, mister!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Ah' date=' the prostate exam. What a wonderful way for the universe to say "Welcome to 40, mister!"[/quote'] And if you liked that you'll just looooove your upcoming colonoscopy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatinKitty Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings At least you sleep through a Colonoscopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings At least you sleep through a Colonoscopy. Most of it, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Went to the Doctor and now I have to go for a blood test tomorrow. But after my meal, I should not have anything else to eat/drink until about after the blood test. Oh joy. Got my last set of photoes back. Now I just have to find a PC that I can upload them from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings At least you sleep through a Colonoscopy. Most of it' date=' anyway.[/quote'] At the risk of perpetuating posting in the wrong thread , already been there, and I did get to sleep through it (thank god!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Last night, I kicked a cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I think I'm actually liking (loving) a few songs of the Spice Girls. #girlpower4eva Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings OK, so I've been working out and watching what I eat since January. In the first 3 months or so, I lost nearly 20 pounds. That's good. Now, I seem to have gained much of that weight back. But, my gut's not big and bulgy like it was, and I'm able to lift a lot more weight than I was when I started, so I'm thinking (hoping) that the weight I've gained is primarily muscle. How's a bunneh tell if he's losing fat but gaining muscle (without buying a bunch of fancy equipment)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings OK, so I've been working out and watching what I eat since January. In the first 3 months or so, I lost nearly 20 pounds. That's good. Now, I seem to have gained much of that weight back. But, my gut's not big and bulgy like it was, and I'm able to lift a lot more weight than I was when I started, so I'm thinking (hoping) that the weight I've gained is primarily muscle. How's a bunneh tell if he's losing fat but gaining muscle (without buying a bunch of fancy equipment)? Keep in mind that muscle is denser than fat so at least some of your weight gain may be due to increased muscle mass. That's a good thing, because pound-for-pound, muscles consume more calories just resting than fat cells. This will help keep the fat off unless you relapse at a buffet. There are scales which can measure the percentage of bodyfat via an extremely weak (insensible to most) current sent through the soles of your feet. I've seen them at Target and Wal-Mart. Surely one of your local stores has one. If not, there's always the internet. Links to a page full of similar products: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=body+fat+scales&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=162853537&ref=pd_sl_65awgqfv45_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klytus Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings As we bought a new vacuum cleaner yesterday, I realized that regardless of how well it actually works, if anyone ever asked, "So, how is the new vacuum cleaner?" the answer "It sucks!" will always be appropriate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klytus Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings If a woman ever asks for a hitachi, getting her a hibachi is not an acceptable substitute. Listening. It matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings I have my stuff back that had been in for repairs (4 pairs of trousers and a pair of shoes). $60 roughly in total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Gillen Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings You know the economy sucks when you're thinking of getting a second job to get the gas money to commute to your first job. JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings No migraine today. Just the "head stuffed with 41 lbs of compressed lint" feeling that typically follows, and that I despise almost as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings My brother found and gave me the complete collection of Mr. Terrific on dvd. I am not sure I dare watch it, since I have seen the show at all since 1967, and as an 11-year-old I didn't think it was all that great then, but it was better than what was on the other networks in that time slot ... hardly a ringing endorsement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Goodbye, Aeryn. Maybe if I were younger, or stronger, or just better, there would still be a chance. But I'm not, and now we will never meet. I am so sorry. Goodbye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Watching a company scramble to remove ads painting their customers in a negative light? Priceless. Thanks Apple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Can anyone tell me who the Australian girl at the Olympics pictured with the Australian flag on her nails was ? Brunette and wearing blue tracksuit if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Re: A Thread for Random Musings Question 2. Can anyone tell me what the cost of a pair of Levis roughly 34 waist and 30 leg is in America ? Price here is $120 or $78 in a sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Unless the baby is also a ninja From official Neil Gaiman tumblr Another Important Question of the Day Answered Mr. Gaiman, I am having a very hard time deciding between two books, both from Barnes and noble’s classics collection. One is your own, “American Gods”, and the other is the collection of Ernest Hemingway. Seeing as, to the best of my knowledge, only one of you two fine gentlemen is currently able to answer this question, to settle my dispute I will ask you. Which of you two would win in a bout of fisticuffs? zkaysol If the bout of fisticuffs were to be held now, I would win, because I am alive. If it were to be held while Mr Hemingway and I were both alive, he would win, because I was only nine months old when he died, and a nine month old baby, no matter how well trained in the manly arts, will always be beaten by a full-sized, 61 year old author. Unless the baby is also a ninja, obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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