Entries from September 2009 ↓

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Mummmmm.......Did somebody say McDonald's?

Stephen Von Worley has figured out that while located in these United States of America, one is always within 107 miles of a McDonald's.

He also created this nifty map to illustrate the concept. According to Mr. Von Worley, "Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald's, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!"

That's quite a drive.

Where The Buffalo Roamed [Weather Sealed via Buzzfeed]

While they certainly missed the boat on "late summer", AT&T confirmed today on their Facebook page that MMS will launch this Friday, late morning Pacific time. You'll need to apply new carrier settings to get it up and running, which apparently you'll have to download through iTunes. It's like Christmas came early this year—Christmas 2003. [AT&T's Facebook MMS Update via Gizmodo]

Even though I rent an apartment I like to take care of things around it if I can to save myself time in waiting for them to come over, but primarily so I don't become a total slug having others wait on me. Because of this I have found a few easy fixes that I can do and also save some money.

Stove  -
• check to make sure there are no cracks around the gasket
• make sure the seal is secure by trying to slide a dollar bill out from the edge
• Save myself money by keeping the most heat inside the oven
• clean metal grease filter that is above my stove

Refrigerator -
• clean the coils either behind the kick-plate or at the rear of the fridge
• look for and change or clean water filter system
• check to make sure there are no cracks around the gasket, use vaseline around gasket to keep it soft
• make sure the seal is secure by trying to slide a dollar bill out from the edge


Sink Area -
• check dishwasher for rusty tines, get a tine repair kit if necessary
• deodorizer and sharpen garbage disposal with a mixture of ice cubes and vinegar; tossing in some orange peels for a better smell
• check for leaking faucets and replace o-ring, gasket, etc
• stained dishwashers can be cleaned up with a package of lemon/lime koolaid run through the rinse cycle

Laundry Area -
• pull the exhaust off the back of the dryer and pull out large clumps and vacuum the rest
• check washer hoses for cracks


Around the House -
• check seals around doors and windows for leaks to reduce cold air drafts
• clean clogs in drains of tub and sinks
• change furnace filter
• clean the registers around the house, check closed ones
• tighten any loose door knobs and hinges
• WD-40 squeaking door and garage hinges

Then when I'm done I stop, take a look around, in each room I check and make sure there isn't anything else that can be checked, cleaned or fixed. Then I'm done.

Stephen Von Worley has figured out that while located in these United States of America, one is always within 107 miles of a McDonald's.

He also created this nifty map to illustrate the concept. According to Mr. Von Worley, "Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald's, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!"

That's quite a drive.

Where The Buffalo Roamed [Weather Sealed via Buzzfeed]

Here's a different sort of grocery store math than you're probably used to. A high school math teacher in Santa Cruz, California drew up a lesson plan for teaching students to answer the question: "which checkout line is the fastest?" Clearly, this is education after our own hearts. You may have your own anecdata on this subject, and even try to make predictions as you choose your line and thus your destiny, but that is no match for science.

The conclusions, after studying the lines in his local store as well as cash register data: it's people that slow down the checkout process, not items, and the express line is slower when all other things are equal.

The express lane isn't faster. The manager backed me up on this one. You attract more people holding fewer total items, but as the data shows above, when you add one person to the line, you're adding 48 extra seconds to the line length (that's "tender time" added to "other time") without even considering the items in her cart. Meanwhile, an extra item only costs you an extra 2.8 seconds. Therefore, you'd rather add 17 more items to the line than one extra person! I can't believe I'm dropping exclamation points in an essay on grocery shopping but that's how this stuff makes me feel.

We know the feeling!

What I Would Do With This: Groceries [dy/dan] (via Economix)

(Photo: gin_e)

Dear Peter Wiggin: This letter is to inform you that you have received enough upvotes on your reddit comments to become president of the world. Please be at the UN tomorrow at 8:00 sharp.

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Looks like they thought they were a Buy More, not a Best Buy....

Can I apply to work on the nerd herd?

It all started out as a good-natured, if ill-advised Best Buy promotion to encourage employees to entice customers into signing up for store credit cards. But it ended up in a fracas of verbal and physical assaults. Allow Best Buy employee "X" to tell a tale of mayhem at what was supposed to be a pleasant evening at Best Buy.

On the night of the 30th, the entire store had a meeting to attend from 7:30-9:30. A few months ago, we had started a store wide contest that stated that any employee who got the most BBY Credit Card applications got to throw a pie at the manager of their choice. This contest ended on the night of the meeting, and the winners were given pies to throw at the manager of their choosing. It is important to note that all of the managers were aware and consented to this contest.

You probably have guessed that this did not go very well.

One of the managers, [Manager 1], came to the meeting late and dressed in what only can be defined as "Thug Clothing". Seeing as she has always lectured and disciplined employees on being in on time and dress code, she was an obvious target for the pie contest.

One employee, whom I will call [Employee 1] won in his department and was given a pie. Immediately, [Manager 1] exclaimed "If ANYONE throws a pie at me, I'm gonna KICK THEIR ASS!". We later found out that she was not joking, as many thought she was at the time.

So, in order to reduce a mess, we all head out to the front of the store. The store was currently closed and it was around 9:10 p.m. It is important to note that all of these people were punched in and working on the clock when this happened. About 40 or so witnessed it.

[Employee 1] walks up to [Manager 1] to throw the pie, she loses it and slaps it out of his hand. Ironically enough, this causes pie to spill all over her. So, naturally, she decides to chase [Employee 1] in the store yelling [expletive that means "your father"]! Pie debris is spilled everywhere at the front entrance.

The contest continues outside and [Employee 1] joins the rest of the crowd to watch other managers get pied. [Manager 1] shows up behind [Employee 1] and threatens to kick his ass yet again and begins to cuss him out. Another employee walks up behind to talk to [Manager 1]. Being the crazy bitch that she clearly is, [Manager 1] thinks this other employee [Employee 2] is trying to throw a pie too. So, she turns around and begins to cuss him out and threaten to hurt him, even though the guy did absolutely nothing.

In an act of sheer stupidity, a supervisor named [Manager 2] jumps out and says "I got your back, [Manager 1]" and begins throwing sprite bottles at random people. You know, to add onto the stupidity, I suppose. Two cashiers get hit with the sprite bottles (and the sprite)! [Manager 2] begins picking fights with other people and ends up calling one employee a [very rude slur.]

Did I mention? This entire time, the General Manager is nowhere to be seen. He didn't even come to his own meeting.

About 13 employees have gone to BestBuy HR about this. While the investigation is "pending" many of us fear the GM will give both of these people a slap on the wrist and continue with business as usual. This is because the GM is very close with these people. We feel that if Consumerist made people aware of this, perhaps HR will act differently in the situation and might actually solve this problem.

Why do BestBuy employees seem to be featured on Consumerist so often? Maybe it's because of this. Look who we have to work under. You may have a bad experience with a manager and never shop at the store again. Given this economy, many of us have no choice but to listen and witness this bullsh*t daily. These are both examples of people who clearly should never have worked in retail, but somehow actually got authority of some kind. I would work elsewhere, but I currently have no choice.

X's story sheds some light on just how badly Best Buy management wants to sign you up for their credit cards, as well as how little oversight there seems to be — there's no chance the pie-in-the-face thing was corporate policy. Or is there? We e-mailed Best Buy CEO corporate:

We received word that managers were offering the chance for employees to hit one of them in the face with a pie if they got the most customers to sign up for a credit card. Can you comment on whether this was corporate policy, and assuming it's not, also say what is being done to stop this from happening again?

And got this cryptic reply from Susan Busch, senior director of public relations:

Having fun while being the best is one of Best Buy's core values. Our employees are both encouraged and empowered to make sure fun is infused into all aspects of our work.

Corporate-endorsed pie and soda bottle fights that spice up what would have otherwise been a dull sit-down meeting? Is it just me, or does that particular Best Buy seem like a fun place to work? Well, if it weren't for the violence, profanity and hateful slurs, anyway.

(Photo: Morton Fox)