Coronavirus

Although I am quite capable of changing my car's oil, properly disposing of the old oil is a big hassle, which is why I have been paying to get my oil changed by professionals for many years now. They always tell me to get my old changed every three months or 3,000 miles, but I have had decent results with every five months or 5,000 miles. Anyway, that means that I have gotten multiple oil changes during this pandemic. The place I go to doesn't fuck around, they make customers stay inside the vehicle during the entire visit, and all of their people wear masks. It's actually a better experience, because my car seat and the heat in their garage is better than their plastic chairs and chilly waiting room.

I’ve got four rooms that I want to renovate, including switching the living room with the kitchen. I keep holding off because of this. It’s already an inconvenience, we don’t need it to be an additional health issue.

n815e wrote: I’ve got four rooms that I want to renovate, including switching the living room with the kitchen. I keep holding off because of this. It’s already an inconvenience, we don’t need it to be an additional health issue.

I live in a former marijuana grow house. It was remodeled before being sold to us, but the wiring is on its last legs from being overloaded for years like the Christmas tree in A Christmas Story, except for hydroponics. About a third of the outlets in the house simply don’t work, and we’ve been dealing for years. Right before the pandemic we decided to finally call an electrician, then everything shut down.

(Not the worst thing though: for the first year, every time it rained, something new would rise up through the backyard: various bongs, razor blades, batteries, and once an entire box spring.)

Is it the outlets themselves, or the wiring?

Sagrilarus wrote: Is it the outlets themselves, or the wiring?

I don’t know. My experience is that I plug things into the outlets, and then they don’t turn on. Is there an easy way to tell?

Replace an outlet. It’s easy and it’s cheap. See if it fixes the problem.

hotseatgames wrote:

ubarose wrote: My cabinet maker has COVID.

I have a similar "tangential to my life" covid story. A couple of months ago I was getting routine service done at my car dealership. I noted that no staff was wearing masks.

A month ago I scheduled a transmission fluid flush since I had ignored it when my car was really due for it. They pushed me all the way out to tomorrow because of scheduling issues and apparently only one person in the whole shop knows how to do this? Whatever.

Yesterday I got a call that they could not perform the maintenance due to 6 people being sent home with covid, and one of them is the transmission expert. I kept my appointment because I also need a turn signal replaced. I am very eager to see if their mask policy has changed...

UPDATE: The only person wearing a mask at my dealership is me.

I have to add this post-script to the story. After sitting in the waiting area this morning, waiting for my turn signal to be replaced (I did look to see what was involved, thinking I might try it myself, but yeah, fuck that), the guy comes in and says that they "may" not be able to do it because they "may" have to take the bumper off and they don't have the personnel, because again, COVID. I looked at him incredulously, considering I was sitting in a NISSAN dealership and I drive an ALTIMA. I said "It's an Altima, how do you not know what's involved?"

His reply was that both of the people in the building were from the GM dealership across the parking lot (same owner). Apparently the entire NISSAN staff got sick. A few moments later he returns to tell me that they in fact can not change the bulb, and they will call me when they can. But good news... no charge for today!

The cherry on top was when I was walking out the door... of a building ravaged by COVID, containing unmasked workers... he said "Be safe!"

Wait, you got to take the bumper off to change a turn signal bulb?!? Glad I don't own a Nissan or Infiniti...

cdennett wrote: Wait, you got to take the bumper off to change a turn signal bulb?!? Glad I don't own a Nissan or Infiniti...

That's what I said! Out loud! That has to be bullshit.

"A dealer that can't change a turn signal" sounds like a punchline to me. Go to Jiffy Lube. They'll have that fixed in a New York minute.

This has nothing to do with Covid. This has to do with that dealership treating their employees like shit and all of them upping and leaving to get better wages at a smaller repair shop. Dealerships are notoriously cheap when it comes to paying their mechanics.

Covid is the get-out-of-jail-free card for all business owners now. Hair in your soup? Covid. "It's not our fault!"

I eagerly await the inevitable email from Nissan, asking about my recent service call. They will get both barrels.

I've read that dealerships are very reliant on their customer reviews as their corporate brands monitor them; maybe you leave a bad review and they'll respond ?

As for having to remove the bumber to replace a turn signal - on todays cars nothing would surprise me. Designers are so focused on streamlining and packing as much stuff into as little a space as possible that there is little to no room to work w/o taking shit apart. My 2005 Subaru wasn't quite that bad but I had to spend about an hour taking apart the rear plastic assembly to replace a bulb; headlight bulbs you needed the hands the size of a 4 year old to get access . Go look at the engine bay of your typical 80s/70s US car. You could stash a fucking igloo cooler in all the spare space under the hood . My current car, a BMW wagon, required removing the bumber to install a trailer hitch.

ubarose wrote: The Spawn had a little fender bender the first week of October. Her appointment to get the car repaired is the last week of December.

I noticed that, too. I used to be able to get an appt at my dealer within days, or just drive in and get service. Now it is weeks and they don’t take drive ins.

I’m not sure if it is safety precautions, lack of staff, greater number of customers, or something else.

Msample wrote: I've read that dealerships are very reliant on their customer reviews as their corporate brands monitor them; maybe you leave a bad review and they'll respond ?

As for having to remove the bumber to replace a turn signal - on todays cars nothing would surprise me. Designers are so focused on streamlining and packing as much stuff into as little a space as possible that there is little to no room to work w/o taking shit apart. My 2005 Subaru wasn't quite that bad but I had to spend about an hour taking apart the rear plastic assembly to replace a bulb; headlight bulbs you needed the hands the size of a 4 year old to get access . Go look at the engine bay of your typical 80s/70s US car. You could stash a fucking igloo cooler in all the spare space under the hood . My current car, a BMW wagon, required removing the bumber to install a trailer hitch.

The hose from my washer fluid reservoir to the washer pumps in my Acura needs to be replaced, and it's going to require me to jack up the car, take the right front wheel off, and crawl under the car just to get to the hose. Maintainability is not a concern.

As for surveys, my brother sold us my daughter's new car. He hounded the shit out of me until I filled out that survey. And anything lower than a 9 on a 1-10 scale led to a talk with his boss. This kind of defeats the whole purpose of the survey IMO.

n815e wrote:

ubarose wrote: The Spawn had a little fender bender the first week of October. Her appointment to get the car repaired is the last week of December.

I noticed that, too. I used to be able to get an appt at my dealer within days, or just drive in and get service. Now it is weeks and they don’t take drive ins.

I’m not sure if it is safety precautions, lack of staff, greater number of customers, or something else.

Probably all of the above. I have an appointment on Monday that was 2.5 weeks from when I called and I didn’t even ask for a loaner car. It’s not urgent, just routine but that’s still unusual . They are very diligent about masks.