1565 Why Is There A Picture Of A Burger On The Wall?

by

I will say that Rulette is still a bit young to be a small business owner, but I couldn’t see her being the same age as the main cast. I’ll give you that there are exceptional people who can run a business at a very young age, but they are rare. I’ve know a few people who tried to do have little shops of their own, and it’s insanely difficult. I suspect it’s onl;y gotten worse in the U.S. as we are not very kind to small business owners right now.
It seemed a little better in the early 90s, but that might just be a mistaken observation on my part. By the late 90s it seemed much worse. Getting people to go out of their way to visit your shop is doubly hard in a small town. American consumers are some of the most spoiled asshole in the world. They’ve heard “the customer is always right” for so long it’s practically a religion. It’s a ridiculous statement in modern times because the modern consumer has little to no respect, on average, for the property of others. They’d shit on the floors if restrooms weren’t provided.(Just as an aside, since a few people have commented about people pooping on the floor even when there are restrooms. I once had to hose a restroom down, literally, because apparently a woman had exploded in it. There was an outline of her discarded jacket on the wall. Like a cartoon explosion, except with human excrement.) I have very little respect for the American consumer, since they have so little respect for themselves or others.
My mother didn’t tolerate horseplay when I was little. We were banned from going to the store for a year for acting up once. We were expected to put anything we decided we didn’t want back where we found it, and leave things as we found them, or better. No stealing, obviously, but also we corrected mistakes made by the cashier in our favor. I tease her for it now, but mom is an excellent customer, and I try to be one as well. For many years after working retail I would unconsciously straighten shelves as I browsed. I still do if I get distracted by thought while I’m trying to shop.
I think a person should try to be helpful and courteous until the customer breaks that trust with bad behavior. It’s not your right to be allowed in a shop. They are private businesses. They should be allowed, and gernerally are, allowed to refuse service for breaches of this trust. People need to be taught that their actions have consequences. I’ve got some ideas about that, but we’ll get to them later.

I went to get more water tonight. As the car was sitting there waiting for me to fill my 5 gallon jugs it started belching thick, white, smoke from the tail pipe. Luckily I was able to get home, but clearly the vehicle can’t be trusted. It’s making new, odd, sounds every time I take it out. I wouldn’t chance a trip to the bigger town that’s further away again until after it’s looked over. This could potentially be a big problem. I really need to get my truck repaired to the point that the AC will work. Hopefully this winter I’ll be well enough to fix it myself. I really don’t want to spend a huge amount of money to get it fixed. At minimum it’s gonna be 1000$ if someone else does it. That’s practically a month’s worth of earnings, which I can’t spare. It’s a problem no matter how I slice it.
I lost 10 pounds in the last 2 weeks, but I’m still just as affected by heat as I have been, so it’s not enough for me to be okay yet. It’s gonna take at least 50 more before anything really gets better, I think. I could stand to lose another 50 after that too if we’re honest. Anyway, baby steps and crossed finger, I guess.

51 Comments

no comments it says so i defy this no comments rule by leaving a comment to comment on the no comments MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sounds like you could have a fouled gasket. Maybe the head gasket? White smoke means a coolant leak is occuring. Blue/black is unspent fuel blow by or burning oil.

Do you know anyone with mechanical skills that could assist you for some food and beverages? New gaskets don’t cost much. Labour on the other hand can to do the work to install. Might be able to fix your A/C troubles by going to a wreckers or a Pick N’ Pull and get A/C parts and a freon recharge kit.

Lots of good info out there on fourms and tutorials with pictures and video.

Concur. The head gasket is about to go, so you need to look at that soon as possible. It’s likely what’s causing the problems with the vehicle to be honest.

Came here to say this. You don’t want to let this go, it can and will destroy your engine if you ignore it.

Jackie, is that your truck, or the teen’s car? If it’s a car, depending on the engine, the heads might also be warped, or cracked. In that case, it may not be worth the expense of repair.

In any case, it might run for a while, but it’s cooked. And if coolant is getting into the crankcase, it’s really cooked. It’ll wreck the main bearings that support the crankshaft.

It’s the Teen’s car. My truck is fine, I just can’t drive it because of the heat.

You might be able to get one of those r134a cans with the hose and all and get by with that. If you buy it at an automotive supply, they’d probably walk you through doing it, at least verbally. I concur about the head gasket. If it’s an overhead camshaft engine, if it overheats too much, it can ruin the head because the camshaft just runs in journals in the head, no cam bearings. Don’t ask me how I know.

Hey Jackie just wanted to say proud of you for the weight loss mate. I know it’s tough but you’re a fantastic guy, and quite frankly with everything I read your comic still means the most to me on a daily basis.

Small business owners are having a harder time because physical shops are taking a beating from Internet ones. You can buy just about anything on Amazon and have it shipped to you in a matter of days for a discount compared to buying something in a physical shop with tax and whatever additional cost the store owner has to tack on to make a decent profit.

I try not to kill my brick and mortar FLGS but the problem I’m starting to have is that I can buy a boardgame on Funagain Games during a sale and get it really cheap while I can’t do that at a physical store. They have ten year old boardgames there that they won’t mark down because they can’t afford to sell them at a loss.

Yeah that stuff KILLS. There was a comic shop in my town RIGHT across the street from my high school, so they go the absolute best business in kids coming over for candy and junk right after school. Problem was that the owner didn’t really pay attention to prices and try to get good deals, so he had a million ridiculously priced items that he couldn’t afford to mark down (or wouldn’t) so they sat there, collecting dust, until his shop closed down.

Then again, the owner was also a bit of a doormat, letting kids keep a “tab” that they never paid off and had too many items right by the door for kids to easily steal. One way or another it’s a HARD business, even when right next to a good customer base.

Jackie . Is right about the U.S. not being kind to small business. The tax code desperately needs an overhaul. As good-hearted as the affordable care act is, it’s essentially more taxation without adequate representation. We din’t need new taxes. We need to better manage the money we have.

Yeah, thick white smoke means coolant is leaking into the cylinders. Check the coolant level very often until you get it fixed.

A google for “can I drive with a blown head gasket” says… maybe. One commenter said “Blue Devil sealer” fixed his problem but warned that it won’t always work. As long as it’s leaking, it puts extra stress on the engine in several ways, and the cooling system may not work as well even if you keep it topped up.

My father told me that, while he was at his job or a college class, he told the teacher this piece of wisdom: “The customer is never right, but they’re always in charge.” In other words, they could be the most retarded piece of shit in the entire world, but they’re still giving your business money for a product/service. Thus, they give you economic power.

That’s hardly justification for theft, damage of property, littering, loitering, or abuse.

I’m agreeing with you, Jackie, however; did you know that it is acceptable practice for bookstores to discard books and ship back the covers to the publisher for credit for ‘stolen’ books? (from what I’ve read, some stores actually do this for up to 10% of their earnings. per month)

I thought that was for unsold books and magazines. The theft is when they then go and sell the book or magazine without the cover.

We called them “tears” at the bookstore I worked at. That’s a separate thing from regular theft though. My store allowed associates to take one tear a week, but I never did because I didn’t want a fucked up book on my shelves. Once a year the old stock that wasn’t redistributed was destroyed and the covers sent back for credit. The magazines did this monthly. Anything missing from inventory was counted as regular loss and could be written off on the company’s taxes.

I actually worked at Western Merchandisers for awhile, often throwing boxes and boxes of de-covered books in the compactor. What an incredible waste. You could’ve filled a lot of libraries with these.

That phrase was not meant as a free pass for crime and misbehavior, but a reminder that one should not be a dick to the retard who gives you money. You may know your industry well, but you aren’t purchasing your own product/service; they are. So direct them to what they want, make sure they keep in line, and let the wallets open forth unto you. Enough said.

Edd is very wise in this matter. I work in a supermarket and, naturally, I have to try and guess the age of customers now and then. I have found that when they ask you to guess they enjoy the first answer, but any further attempts are irksome to them. Sometimes makes me wonder why they ask in the first place.

Working in retail, I’ve learned that the customer is rarely right. I mean, the customer might know they want a toaster or a TV, but when it comes to details, they rarely know shit all.

And when it comes to rudeness, my bosses don’t tolerate that. If a customer is an absolute dickpickle, then they will, with all due politeness and respect, tell you to GTFO. They will not say exactly like that, of course, since they have some measure of accountability to head office, but you learn their tone and their words just have that GTFO-ness about them :)

First rule never ask a lady her age

I thought the first rule was don’t be too eager to get into their pants, unless they’re horny and/or intoxicated. Of course, anything involving their weight and age are examples of risky business as well.

The hardest part is not to gain the weight back right after, because your body is feeling like you’re starving him, which is false, so it will try to stock as much as it can when you eat.

“They’d shit on the floors if restrooms weren’t provided.”
Let me tell you a secret – sometimes, they do that even when there are restrooms.(Granted, it might have been an accident, but after this magical discovery I only use the employee restroom. Thank god cleaning’s not part of my doodies.)

Also, congratulations on your weight loss! I know firsthand how hard it is, so I’m cheering for you. Cheering you on? Whatever :P

Definatly a coolant leak, important thing to check, take off the oil fill cap, if there is white foaminess in there do not run the engine as the coolant is in the oil as well so it no longer lubricates.

I worked at a campsite one year and some of the customers that came up from the states were amazingly rude and destructive, someone actually went into the washroom packed the toilet above the rim with paper towel and then shit on top of it while flushing it enough times to soak a 200 square foot bathroom a 1/4 inch deep.

I’ll join the ranks of bathroom-explosion-cleaner here. No need to go into details.

I work at a library, where “give me things for free, NOW DAMNIT” is king. The role of the library is changing drastically, nowadays, from information center, to “you’re still open?” to what we are now: Free Computers Building With Slaves.

…okay, so that’s a little dour. We’ve only got a small chunk of people who treat it like that – and I’m not being deadpan about the fact that we’re used for our free computers. That’s VERY important, because many jobs nowadays want you to submit your resume online, and many people don’t have computers or internet at ALL, contrary to what those jobs think is 100% of people. Lots of folks depend on us to be able to simply submit a resume, and they’re honestly trying to get back on their feet.

However, that’s also why the absolutely disgusting people bother me so much. We have people doing important shit, trying to get a job, trying MULTIPLE TIMES over and over with resume after resume, faxing junk, all that – and then we have people taking up the whole freakin’ day on a computer looking at porn and being all shifty about it so we can’t tell what they’ve been doing. We don’t have a million computers, many people need to do important things, and these jackasses are holding them up looking at porn. Or worse. And then treating us like slaves.

Bah. Dealing with the public kinda gets the same complaints, so I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. Some days are golden, some days make you want to take folks and toss them in the dumpster.

It’s kind of a good rule, not to ask women about [their] age or weight. BELIEVE me.
It’s similar to what one cartoonist said about drawing pictures of your friends:
“lengthening a nose, or diminishing a chin, will lose you all of your friends”.

I’ve had to clean restrooms for 4-H before. How people even managed to create an actual pile of mud in the corner is beyond me. I agree, customers have a tendency to be assholes. I have a sense that people in general feel fairly entitled, whether that’s a shift from former times, I don’t know, but there’s certainly an atmosphere of ingratitude and taking things for granted. I was raised to be uber-polite and thank people for things they’re obligated to do for their jobs or whatever reason, and certainly to thank people for things they’re not obligated to do. I know a lot of people who get mad at others for not going out of their way for them for something they’re not obligated to do in the first place. Courtesy is certainly becoming rarer.

Listen to Specs, Curly. Do not touch that tainted bait!

In re: poo on the floor. Here’s what Douglas Adams had to say in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe:

Like every parking lot in the Galaxy throughout the entire history of parking lots, this parking lot smelled predominately of impatience.

Can’t imagine what he’s talking about.

P.S. I think your Mom and my Mom went to the same school.

I’ll second that advice to Ed. Also, I think Douglas Adams had a knack for understatement.

P.S. Both my parents went to the same ‘school’ as yours and Jackie’s, and I am very thankful for being a recipient of that same education. The world is in desperate need of more people with good manners, and I think it would go a long way toward curing some of the ills that beset our modern life if people recognized it.

Not a great subject, but:
I also remember, when working in retail stores, that: a customer(s) would sometimes, when you were not looking, be very rude, by leaving a used, baby’s diaper…in a shopping cart, or on a table.
Now that is very unkind way to treat a store’s workers.

Adding my congratulations on the weight loss. I took a bunch off a few years ago and have managed to keep most of it off. It’s amazing how much better you will feel after taking off 30 or 40 or even 50 pounds.

Ugh, customers. When I worked at a laser tag place in the late 90’s a couple came in looking like they had been In a fight. They asked if they could use the restroom to get cleaned up. We had just closed and had cleaned the restrooms, but we let them in anyway. About 10 minutes later they left, and the bathroom was a disaster. Feces and clear-ish vomit everywhere that smelled absolutely horrible. Couldn’t walk in without fighting the urge to vomit ourselves. Had to clean it up all over again.

Definitely get the head gasket taken care of soon. I had a top-side head gasket blow on my old car years ago, and it sucked the coolant into the cylinder, then punched it back into the cooling system with enough force to crack the plastic cap on the side of the radiator. So in addition to a gasket job I had to replace the radiator too. Not too difficult if you have a shop manual. Cars actually come apart fairly easily if you have a guide.

“We don’t have a million computers, many people need to do important things, and these jackasses are holding them up looking at porn. Or worse. And then treating us like slaves.”

Let them book the computers, 1 hour at a time. Keep the schedule behind your desk.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.