Nary a bump in the road...

So our condo corporation, in order to slow down speed demons, had speed bumps built on the roadways in our complex this past summer.

The very first time Sandy and I drove over one of 'em, we bottomed out on it. Presuming that we were going too fast, we slowed down to a snails pace the next time we crossed it.

Well, that didn't work--the speed bump still hot the bottom of our car whilst we traversed the bump.

This happened with both our cars--the Sunfire and the Honda.

We didn't think about it that much until Sandy took her car in for servicing. Turns out (as we mentioned in a previous blog post) that our transmission pan was dented up, and the bottom struts on the car were scraped with yellow paint.

So this lead back to the speed bumps at our complex.

Knowing this new information, I went to a member of the board (who happens to live across the street from me) and mentioned out concerns about the speed bump.

I was told in no uncertain terms that the speed bumps, since they meet 'MTO Standards', wouldn't be changed--we were to update and enhance the suspensions on our vehicles if we were having issues crossing the speed bumps.

Not going to go into the details about tracking down MTO speed bump standards (they don't have any, by the way--the MTO's 'mission' is to get people to where they're going quicker and safer--speed bumps, in their studies--don't accomplish either of those two things) and such--just saying that I did contact people 'in the know' and got what I needed.

'Cause Sandy and I were going to the Condo Meeting!

If you live in a condo complex, you probably have at least a yearly meeting with your fellow condo holders and 'The Board'.

So we got fully prepared--MTO notes, safety certificates, other unit owners that had issues with the speed bumps...

And I was going to get into it with 'The Board'. Since the representative of the board--politely, mind you--stated emphatically that the speed bumps were there to stay as they are, I wanted to have as much ammo as I possibly could to try and convince the entire board that these speed bumps need to be fixed in some way.

Now I'm no speed bump expert. I never went to Speed Bump U nor have any on-the-job training where speed bumps are concerned. The only thing I ever needed to know--until now that is--is that you slow down for 'em.

But I know enough to know that speed bumps shouldn't damage transmission pans whilst travelling over 'em at very low speeds.

Having never been to a condo meeting before, I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't anything extraordinarily unexpected happening at this one--reading of minutes, auditors notes, old business, etc...

So when we get to the new business (which is the part where I'm going to bring up the speed bumps), other unit owners talk about this issue, or that issue, and I listen politely.

(See, some of you may have the wrong impression about me--I really don't like 'public speaking'--at least, not in formal situations. I'm more of a casual 'group of friends' talker. Moreover, where confrontations are getting involved--such as confronting boards about bad speed bumps--then I really get anxious--but back to the story)

So I'm sitting there beside Sandy at the condo meeting and other people are talking about our condo complex and the problems they're having.

Finally I get it in my mind that I should speak up about the bumps.

So I stand up, say my name and unit number, and start with basically the same thing I told the board member earlier 'The speed bumps by our place are obviously needed to slow down speeders, but they are damaging both my wife’s car and my car no matter how slow we go..."

Then other unit holders stood up and just took over from there--I didn't get to bring up what the MTO stated, or show the safety certificates we had for the cars...

And the board, after everybody got to vent about the speed bumps, stated as if this was the plan all along--"We'll fix the speed bumps in the spring."

That was it. Done deal.

My only issue with this then was why couldn't that have been said when I brought it up before? That would have saved Sandy and I much aggravation and consternation.

Eh, such is life in a condo complex.

Please stand by

Our little website is slower than its usual slowness.

So if, sometime in the future, you surf over here to our little corner of the internets and you find that the pages aren't loading at all (or extremely slow), know that we do know about it and are presumably doing something about it.

I do have plans--set up new servers and stuff--but these plans require time. Time is a non-existant entity between now and after the new year.

So we're going to have to live with it as is (for now)

Periodically I'll try and give the server a swift kick to keep it going, but that's all I can do at this time.

On a completely different note, anyone out there know anythign about Linux and Apache? I have a new server to build and it's going to be a Linux box--me thinks that Windows is the root of most of our web server slowness issues.

All that I'm saying is I'll give Linux a chance.

In one conversation...

Them: "Hello tech support customer service--may I help you?"

Me: "Yes, I have a faulty power supply in my system. My system didn't turn on so I swapped the power supply with another and then my system worked--can you please send a replacement power supply?"

"What other steps did you use to determine that the power supply was faulty?"

"Beyond the one where I replaced the faulty power supply with another one? The system powered up after that"

"Yes--what other steps did you take to determine that the power supply was faulty?"

"What steps did you have in mind?"

"Well, how did you determine that the power supply was faulty in the first place?"

"I pushed the power button on my system and nothing happened."

"No lights?"

"No lights, no fan--nothing displayed on the screen."

"Did you take the cover off your system?"

"Well, I had to--y'know, in order to take out the faulty power supply."

"Did you see any lights on the motherboard?"

"Of course when I said before that I saw no lights I meant no lights except for the blinding ones on the motherboard..."

"And then what did you do?"

"Well, I grabbed a power supply from another system and tested it in this one."

"And then what happened?"

"the system came on."

"Sounds like you have a faulty power supply."

"Yes, can you please send me a replacement?"

Now picture this conversation occurring at least once a week for the past 8 years.

And then picture the guy at the other end of the phone--being as how it's 1 a.m. in India and English isn't his first language and he has to follow some arbitrary script that HP gives him...

Tech support? Reading thru a script does not make someone remotely capable of tech support.

And customer service? Well, at least the people I've spoken with in India are exceedingly polite (for 1 a.m.).

To all you corporations that think that 'offshoring support' is a fantastic way of saving 'da monies'--give yer head a shake. The above isn't remotely 'good customer service'. Nor is it making people want to buy your products and services.

At least, that's how I see it.

Again with the car...

Sandy takes l'auto in for servicing. Whilst up on the hoist, the mechanic notes that the transmission pan is leaking.

After our previous run-in with loose bits on our car after being fixed at the Mr. Transmission shop in town, I immediately thought about poor workmanship by their staff.

When Sandy took the car to the transmission shop, the manager of the shop--remembering our previous issues--checked the car out himself.

The manager caled Sanndy into the shop area and pointed out the leaky transmission pan.

The reason for the leaking? The transmission pan was banged up and had yellow paint on it.

That issue we will get into at a future date, but bottom line regarding our leaky transmission is that the new speed bump at our condo complex (which happens to be painted yellow) is causing damage to the underside of our cars.

The leaky transmission pan had nothing to do with Mr. Transmission. Further, the manager went above and beyond by trying to bang the pan back into some semblance of proper fitting shape and reinstalled it with new gaskets--for free. He also wants us to bring the car back into the shop in a few weeks to see if that work fixed the leak. If not, we'll have to replace the bottom pan of our transmission.

The manager, mind you, didn't have to do any of this work. The leaky transmission was entirely the fault of the speed bump.

I jumped to conclusions when I heard about the leak. I should have waited until all facts were known.

Thanks to the manager of Mr. Transmission for stepping up like that.

Good on ya!