OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[OrangeAfroMan]

It made sense, the percentages lined up.  There was only 1 other guy in my cohort, and he didn't finish. 

tbh, of the attractive ladies I was in classes with, they were all kinda crazy.  Not like horror movie psycho, just weird and not someone you'd want to pursue.

[FearlessF]

[betarhoalphadelta]

A campfire,2 guys and a 12 pk and you've got philosophy

12 is barely getting started. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Ugh. Since I'm likely to be traveling more often, we decided to spring for ADT. Specifically their more transferrable DIY version since we rent. 

So that arrived yesterday, and I got started this morning trying to set it up. 

And I got as far as the ADT+ App. I'm stuck in an endless loop to set up the "Verbal Password", i.e. the safe word, in case their monitoring service ever has to call one of us. Had trouble trying to get into their normal web portal as well. 

So I tried the online chat for support. Immediately I was turned over to a real person, I think... But after going back and forth for an hour, we still had no luck. He did a bunch to try to reset / authenticate my account, had me try the plus.adt.com web portal, etc. So we got to the point that on two different browsers on my laptop, on one browser on my Linux box, and on my Android phone... Every single one gets stuck in an infinite "Set a Verbal Password" loop. 

I was hoping he could help set it manually, and apparently he can. I just need to get into the app, tap on three lines, scroll down to get the "Technician Code", and then we're good to go with the account...

...except that the app is stuck 100% at the "Set a Verbal Password" screen. There are no three lines to tap on. 

So he can't help me because the account isn't fully set up. But the account can't be fully set up because I can't progress beyond this screen. 

FFS. 

[FearlessF]

I blame Generation Z and the Millennials that should be managing them

[847badgerfan]

Ugh. Since I'm likely to be traveling more often, we decided to spring for ADT. Specifically their more transferrable DIY version since we rent.

So that arrived yesterday, and I got started this morning trying to set it up.

And I got as far as the ADT+ App. I'm stuck in an endless loop to set up the "Verbal Password", i.e. the safe word, in case their monitoring service ever has to call one of us. Had trouble trying to get into their normal web portal as well.

So I tried the online chat for support. Immediately I was turned over to a real person, I think... But after going back and forth for an hour, we still had no luck. He did a bunch to try to reset / authenticate my account, had me try the plus.adt.com web portal, etc. So we got to the point that on two different browsers on my laptop, on one browser on my Linux box, and on my Android phone... Every single one gets stuck in an infinite "Set a Verbal Password" loop.

I was hoping he could help set it manually, and apparently he can. I just need to get into the app, tap on three lines, scroll down to get the "Technician Code", and then we're good to go with the account...

...except that the app is stuck 100% at the "Set a Verbal Password" screen. There are no three lines to tap on.

So he can't help me because the account isn't fully set up. But the account can't be fully set up because I can't progress beyond this screen.

FFS.

We went with Ring. Really simple.

[betarhoalphadelta]

We went with Ring. Really simple.

Good thinking, Badge. I didn't even know they had moved up into the alarm world. We already have a Ring subscription with a doorbell and a backyard camera.

So I just ordered a Ring system and will call to return the ADT. 

[FearlessF]

it's a good thing you subscribe to this board
I learn more here than most bars I sit in.

[OrangeAfroMan]

You know, the whole automated help lines and talking to someone in India thing is part of the wealthy corporate greed.  
Example 193713951797129471 of it.  
It's certainly not for us, the customer.  It's so they can make 8 more cents per thousand dollars.  At the expense of American jobs.
But you know, don't blame them for anything.

[FearlessF]

I'm not going to argue that one

[MikeDeTiger]

I'm not going to argue that one

I will. 

I've seen and even done a few (years ago in my first college life) case studies on business expenditures and logistics.  Curious to get utee's thoughts, because I think he has an MBA.  And when I was in college, UT had the #1 ranked business school in the nation.  According to some metrics, at least.  He could probably comment on this in a much more qualified manner.   

Anyway, what I've seen (and found, in my limited, undergrad educational experience) is that the big culprit for moving jobs overseas is taxes.  When the numbers shake out, yes, companies save a little bit on salaries by moving jobs to India or wherever, but it's a drop in the bucket and probably many of them wouldn't have bothered.  What they're really doing is evading the US tax system, one of the less friendly ones in the world to businesses.  That's where they're really raking in the savings.  Supporting the findings of such case studies, I've also seen the movement away from and back to the States by businesses when laws change that either favor or disadvantage their bottom line.  

For a long time I didn't understand that, because we've got the whole mystique about being a free enterprise economy.  I don't want to use the word "research"--because that word actually means something and is frequently abused--but in trying to learn a bit about the economies of some other countries (particularly the Scandinavian ones) and the modern history of their economies, I also wound up learning a bit more about our own.  The taxes thing still seemed to carry pretty good explanatory power and scope.  We are, on the whole, I think, not as friendly to businesses as I grew up thinking.  Consequently, we're not as attractive for keeping their jobs here.  

[FearlessF]

seems like you are agreeing 

It's so they can make 8 more cents per thousand dollars.  At the expense of American jobs.

[MikeDeTiger]

No, I'm positing that they wouldn't move for 8 more cents per thousand, or whatever the real figure is.  But they will move for a lot more per thousand, and that has little to do with lower salaries and more to do with taxes.  I don't consider their offshoring corporate greed, I consider it wisely evading unfavorable taxes that eat up the profits they earned with risk.  And that they've shown a willingness to reshore business here with more favorable conditions.  

You can say American jobs get caught in the crossfire, and that's fine.  Acting like it's all just corporate greed, as if the companies were looking for reasons to squeeze one last drop of blood from the turnip, overlooks the reality that there is a real profit/risk ratio that drives what business owners are willing to put up with, and that "corporate greed," while real, is hardly the great explainer it's made out to be.  

[FearlessF]

well, his statement didn't mention lower salaries (yes, he usually mentions that)

profit/risk ratio = corporate greed in many folk's minds.  Especially when the profit seems egregious