I will show you a trade secret, you show me yours

[Muse]

Far too many glasses frames have a wholesale cost less than $50 when retail is >$300. I've even seen glasses frames with retail prices of $200 or more wholesale priced at under $10.

Of course, the "high end" stuff, like sunglasses from Maui Jim and Oakleys, are only doubled their wholesale price, but the vast majority of the frames on the boards in the optomitrist's showroom have markups that would make a jeweler blush.

I stopped buying glasses from B&M outfits of any kind when I discovered how cheaply I could get perfectly good glasses online a few years ago. Just don't buy the really cheapest frames, check the reviews... My HMO (Kaiser Permanente) has a credit toward glasses from their optometry wing that renews every 2 years, it's over $100, but with that their glasses are still a total jip.

There is some truth to that though. The first time I got glasses, I asked them to make the final adjustment not quite so sharp, because although I could see the most clearly, it "hurt".

This is funny because I tested some of my old glasses against my most recent the other day and decided I could see better with the old ones. So, I took them to the gym yesterday and everything look screwy. I forgot about it after a while, but I'd decided to go back to my most recent ones. Maybe I'll have my eyes checked again, it's been a while. I don't order glasses from the people who check my eyes, though. Buy online instead.

 

[Muse]

Every assertive statement in most any report we write is likely modified to potentially be inclusive of weasel words allowing plausible deniability in the somewhat foreseeable event that things go bad.

I do this routinely in my everyday speech. Not actually, but I've been well aware of this technique for many years. I'm glad I didn't become a lawyer.

Not to toot my own horn. But a good patent attorney is worth every penny.

Like most things, you get what you pay for in the legal biz.

Also - there is no such thing as a "provisional US patent." Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Edit - please remit $4.16 to our account for that nugget of information (1 minute at $250/hour).

Yes, some law firms charge by the minute of attorney time. Not all, but some.

The last lawyer who got paid out of our pockets was getting $400/hour IIRC.

 

[Muse]

I personally lick every envelope I send to our customers.

:hmm:

Select spanish to avoid the language barrier. Mind blown.

LOLOL ...Man, this just made reading this thread so worth it... Could have used that this morning, they must have been in India.

Pro tip: You can do almost anything you want to do if you're wearing a reflective safety vest, a hard hat, and a clip board. The A-Team taught me this, as well as what I see in real life. If anyone asks you questions, you say, "Hey, I'm just doing my job, take it up with my boss!" and then you continue doing whatever it is that you're doing.

On TV news they tell me to ask for ID (have I ever done that... no, but I don't recall being scammed like this).

 

[Muse]

I was trying to joke with one of my developers about a year ago when he got stuck on something difficult, thought he had it figured out, and then introduced a bug.

When I did tech support for our company's premier one size fits all (but customizable) program, we had the goods. There might have been stuff out there but I never searched the internet. Instead we had a searchable table of issues, to which I added a lot of stuff personally. It was all done internally. The people I was dealing with were almost all really smart, experienced programmers in their own right who were preparing installations of the software for their customers. Most of them had access to the source code, but the system was so complex it was way easier for them to call us for support than for them to try and figure out why things weren't going as they hoped.

The secret: Keep a searchable table of issues! It also helps if you know how to debug the code.

 

[James3shin]

disregard

 

[stormkroe]

Pre-soak your wicker in a slightly oiled brine. Your basket will come out smooth and tight, as the oil will keep the pool water from soaking in while you weave.

 

[Kaido]

Trade secret: Stuffed-crust pizza is just string cheese. No joke. Just roll the crust around it & bake

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The real question is if IT folks and techies just Google all the answers, who's posting the answers?

Bored software developers who play IT at home and have blogs.

 

[Fayd]

The height of naivety.

You can think its 'bogus' all you want. But there needs to be a standard of some kind. The fairest of solutions for the customer is book time. These times are researched, not arbitrary.

There would be zero incentive for becoming a faster, more efficient technician. We expect our guys to work at 130% at least.

Many industries have some form of this type of system. Think about it a little.

the book often assumes steps you don't really have to take.

For instance, when I replaced the clutch on my '84 camry, the book would have had us pull the engine to get access to the transmission.

it's simple enough to just pull the transmission and drop it down out of the engine bay. no need to pull the entire engine. massive time savings.

 

[Kaido]

Bored software developers who play IT at home and have blogs.

That's kind of the reason I post some of the different info-discussion threads that I make here, it's my own way of contributing & giving back to the Internet. I'm always so grateful when someone has written a post about a problem that I really want to solve because it saves me so much legwork & frustration.

Plus it's fun to nef sometimes :thumbsup:

 

[ultimatebob]

Think I'm going to try this is the women's locker room at the gym :hmm:

No, you just have to say that you're transgendered to get away with that one. Best of all, if someone complains about it they are likely to get their gym membership taken away and get humiliated by the political correctness police.

 

[dabuddha]

Trade secret: Stuffed-crust pizza is just string cheese. No joke. Just roll the crust around it & bake

Mind blown, heart sad!

 

[Muse]

Bored software developers who play IT at home and have blogs.

God bless 'em...

Trade secret: Stuffed-crust pizza is just string cheese. No joke. Just roll the crust around it & bake

I am pretty sure I have never eaten one of those, not once. Pizza's really easy DIY, especially if you have a bread making machine... and a little imagination helps alot too. I can my own sauce from tomatoes I grow in the yard, bought several sizes of professional quality pizza pans at a restaurant supply warehouse, have a great rolling pin. I could duplicate the stuffed crust thing, but why bother?

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

itt: a bunch of "tips" that are probably listed on a top 10 list on buzzfeed or some other clickbait article.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

When a piece of furniture advertises that the legs, or whatever was "hand carved". What that really means is the FIRST one built was, which gave the template for manufacturing. I love pointing this out to people when they say, "look at my chairs hand carved legs".

 

[Nograts]

This is actually my wife's who is an optometrist. When she first started out she used to work for this incredibly cheap old guy. One time the prescription she wrote was questioned by him because she did not cut it. I asked her why the fuck he would do that. She said his reasoning is people get a headache from getting the full prescription. I called bullshit and she said yeah...he needs people to come back more often because there isn't alot of margin in the business. So pay attention if the final prescription you get isn't as clear compared to what they got you to on the refractor, they are jipping you

OK let's see yours

If an optometrist writes you an Rx for contact lenses it is good for 1 year, and it is only good for the BRAND he prescribes you. Certain contact lenses (biometrics 55, optimetrics 55, etc), are all the same brand. One company makes multiple lenses with different names to sell to individual doctors offices as 'their brand'. But, with an Rx for any of these brands you can get their equivalents from third party sellers.

Contact lens Rx's are good for two years in: UT, MN, FL, WA, TX and I think one or two more I don't remember. If your doctor tells you to come in a year later to 'renew your Rx', get a new optometrist. They are also legally obligated to give you your Rx at no charge any time you ask, if they ask for a fee, kindly introduce them to a lawyer, and get a new optometrist. Third party sellers are also required to be given a copy of your Rx if they are doing it in your name (it does not violate HIPPA)

Glasses Rx's are not the same as Contact lens Rx's.

The average weight of a light infantryman's gear is about 110lbs. Ammunition counts for about 1/3 of this weight. More if you are in the heavy weapons squad, and even more if you are a mortarman. Add about 40lbs if you carry a rucksack. You can lighten your load by removing unnecessary attachments such as the yolk and collar assembly, groin protector, deltoid protector, rear flap, nape pad, rail guards, and only carry minimal amounts of water.

To keep night vision in an accessible 'off or on' state while maintaining both hands on your weapon, remove the rear strap from your helmet's chinstrap. With a quick flick of the head forward or backward it will lift the night vision goggles up or down (along with your helmet). This is practical for patrolling through close quarters in moonlit conditions, as the night vision is both visible when lifted, as well as turns off when lifted using the rhino mount assembly.

When approaching someone who is wounded but still alive, ensure that you '2 to the chest 1 to the head' before you walk past them. Once you move past their location (as in an LOA) you can no longer kill them according to the Geneva conventions.

You can only legally use CS gas against citizens of the United States. And only when approved by the SECDEF.

 

[Phoenix86]

itt: a bunch of "tips" that are probably listed on a top 10 list on buzzfeed or some other clickbait article.

These 10 dirty industry secrets and why Exxon wants them to stay quiet!

 

[Rage187]

when using an online shopping cart that allows promo codes/discounts, try BOGO or B1G1, 50off or test.

 

[slag]

The height of naivety.

You can think its 'bogus' all you want. But there needs to be a standard of some kind. The fairest of solutions for the customer is book time. These times are researched, not arbitrary.

There would be zero incentive for becoming a faster, more efficient technician. We expect our guys to work at 130% at least.

Many industries have some form of this type of system. Think about it a little.

Think about what you are saying. If one guy can do it in 4 book hours, and another has a better way of doing it in 1 book hour, then that shop needs to hire more of the 1 book hour guys, or teach the other guys how to do it quicker, and charge me for the time he spent on my vehicle and get rid of the inefficient 4 book hour workers. They are either lazy or unmotivated if it takes them 4 hours to do a 1 hour job. As a consumer, I don't want an inefficient, slow worker doing work on my vehicle. I want someone who knows what they are doing and is familiar with the part I need.

That's a large part why I don't take my car into the shop anymore. If any joe schmoe mechanic can fix my vehicle, I can too, and probably faster. Definitely with more care as I have a vested interest in it.

 

[jlee]

Think about what you are saying. If one guy can do it in 4 book hours, and another has a better way of doing it in 1 book hour, then that shop needs to hire more of the 1 book hour guys, or teach the other guys how to do it quicker, and charge me for the time he spent on my vehicle and get rid of the inefficient 4 book hour workers. They are either lazy or unmotivated if it takes them 4 hours to do a 1 hour job. As a consumer, I don't want an inefficient, slow worker doing work on my vehicle. I want someone who knows what they are doing and is familiar with the part I need.

That's a large part why I don't take my car into the shop anymore. If any joe schmoe mechanic can fix my vehicle, I can too, and probably faster. Definitely with more care as I have a vested interest in it.

And that would be (one reason) why I started doing my own work, and continue to do so. Not only is it cheaper, but I am more confident in my attention to detail than I am in some guy trying to knock out as many jobs as possible in a day.

 

[hanoverphist]

IT. We Google about 90% of the problems.

i tell my customers all the time that the benefit of hiring us isnt that we already know how to fix the problem, its that we have the phone list of people to call that DO know how to fix it available to us. truth is, most of the time ive already dealt with the issues and remember the fix, but when new stuff pops up, i have the resources to get a workable answer/ fix much sooner than a customer googling it.

May I ask what field you work in?

i work in water/ waste water and we see specs all the time that are written to try to specify indirectly in favor of a specific contractor, not a huge deal usually. a few times it has caused us to up our certifications to match, others it has caused our competitors to change theirs to match ours. the ultimate goal is to be written into the specs as a sole source, then other bidders have no choice but to call you.

 

[Belegost]

Think about what you are saying. If one guy can do it in 4 book hours, and another has a better way of doing it in 1 book hour, then that shop needs to hire more of the 1 book hour guys, or teach the other guys how to do it quicker, and charge me for the time he spent on my vehicle and get rid of the inefficient 4 book hour workers. They are either lazy or unmotivated if it takes them 4 hours to do a 1 hour job. As a consumer, I don't want an inefficient, slow worker doing work on my vehicle. I want someone who knows what they are doing and is familiar with the part I need.

That's a large part why I don't take my car into the shop anymore. If any joe schmoe mechanic can fix my vehicle, I can too, and probably faster. Definitely with more care as I have a vested interest in it.

Please think about what you are saying. You want the mechanic who gets it done in 1 hour; great, what is his incentive for doing the work faster if he makes less money?

Mechanics (and bodymen (persons?) and painters) work on flag hours as a commission system. Generally they earn a rather low rate per flag hour (my stepdad has worked auto paint for 30 years, he gets $16/flag hour in San Diego as lead painter for a major dealer repair facility) and it's on them to perform the work as efficiently as possible in order to make a reasonable living. Further, mistakes or rework is done on their time - if a paint job is not satisfactory, the painter repaints it on his own time. Any good shop does the same for mechanical or body work as well, meaning that rushing the work and doing a sloppy job will not pay off as the amount of time needed to redo it will take away from time on new jobs.

If the industry was to move to a literal hours system there are several things that will happen: up-front estimates go out the window as you will need to wait for the actual time spent on the job.

Cost/hour becomes much higher than currently, my stepdad averages 2-3 flag hours for each hour worked to maintain a reasonable middle class income - he's certainly not going to take a 66-75% pay cut; plus, the shops currently don't pay the workers when business is slow, there are many days when guys have little or nothing to do because no new cars have come in, with a flat hourly rate they will need to be paid for that time, which the company will pass along to the consumer. I would expect the hourly rate for work to triple, if not quadruple.

I expect quality of work will suffer. The best tradesmen in the industry make good money by doing quality work quickly, they have a strong incentive to improve their skills, because the better they do the more money they make. With a flat hourly rate the only way they could make more money by being the best would be to charge more per hour - however, if a consumer goes to a shop and sees that the hourly rate is 20-30% higher than competing shops, they're highly likely to walk away. This means that shops would put a cap on wages to the tradesmen, and the best of them will go do something else where they can make better money. For instance, a good auto mechanic can move to heavy machinery, or marine mechanics easily and those industries will generally be able to pay more since the customer is often a corporation.

 

[angminas]

Secrets from old jobs:

Valet
- We usually won't steal from your car*
*unless we need a pen and you got one, or you're carrying drugs. the nose knows.

- Of course we know how to drive your car*
*or at least we will by the time you pick it up

- We never take cars out on joyrides*
* Unless your car runs a quarter mile in 12 seconds or less OR can run over curbs (H1, I'm looking at you)

Do people who valet not take pictures of their odometers?

 

[hanoverphist]

Do people who valet not take pictures of their odometers?

i dont. but no one wants to joy ride my old subaru wagon.

 

[glenn1]

In government contracting, projects of any appreciable size need to be put out to bid. The requirements for the bid are spelled out in a thick document known as a Request For Proposal, or RFP. These RFPs are carefully written so that only certain pre-selected products/vendors will qualify, and the product vendors themselves will provide architectural and engineering specifications that can be copied and pasted into the RFP. The government department that originated the bid request is usually in on it as well.

Government procurement is the very definition of inmates running the asylum, a perfect storm of ultra risk-adverse government political appointees being herded by clueless laywers who have no idea how the business works. A lot of the time the only way you can get anything procured quickly is to use some preferred source that allows you to bypass most of the typical red tape. If I don't want to wait 4 years to get my hammer, I'll just say fvck it and buy one for $50 each from whatever "minority owned small business" run by an blind albino that the lawyers say is OK. Why go through the hassle of years of paperwork and waiting and for no payoff other than getting the exact thing I need to do my job in the first place.

Indeed, the cost of the fraud control hurdles you have to jump over to get anything in the federal government is often higher than the actual cost of the item itself. For example, I need a $700 software package to support the implementation of a multi-million dollar application I'm working on. I've been working on the software acquisition for over a year and it's been reviewed by at least a dozen different people in multiple agencies. If you assign a generic resource "cost" of $120 hour for lawyers, contracting officers, systems architects, etc. you're probably already well above the $700 cost to just buy it outright. Plus at this point the acquisition probably won't go through before our "go live date," so since it's an actual business need the government will likely instead pay our technical contracting partners to do the work. Which means they will need to go buy the software, and will bill they government for it and bill the hours to actually do the work performed by the software. All this to avoid the "risk" of some random government employee "mis-using" a few hundred bucks of taxpayer money.