Friday, March 25, 2011

Day 465

Welcome to the strange new world of manufacturing on demand. I found out today that since the new heat pump I need for my rental property isn't one of the common models you usually see at Home Depot or Lowes, nobody carries it in their inventory anymore. If I want one of these units, I have to order one and then the factory will build it for me. This obviously doesn't make my renter very happy, since it means another two or three weeks without an air conditioner. This seems to be the way things are done in the manufacturing world these days, however. I had the same thing happen several years ago when I needed an odd and hard to find faucet for the same rental property. It took almost a month to get this faucet manufactured and installed. I hope the air conditioner factory works a little faster.

Isn't is odd that the more "advanced" our society gets, the more we have to give up. Nobody wants to maintain a warehouse or stock inventory anymore. It isn't just building supplies either. Even clothing and shoe stores don't carry much merchandise anymore. If the store is out of stock, it's very likely that they will tell you to just buy the item you're looking for on the Internet. Personally, I liked things a lot better when every store had a big stock room in the back. Of course back when every store had a big stock room in the back, people would pump your gas for you too. I'm not old enough to remember when the milk man came to your house every day, but that must have been nice as well.

It seems to be taking me longer and longer to get the employee updates up on the websites I manage. As people have gotten to know me, they've started asking me to retouch their pictures before I put them online. I try to oblige when I can, even though it takes a bit longer. I don't know why companies do these employee pictures anyway. Nobody ends up liking their picture. I can't really blame them. If I come to take your picture on a day when you're wearing hospital scrubs, don't have any makeup on and just finished cleaning up dog vomit, you probably aren't going to look your very best either.

There is a message on my answering machine from my ex-wife saying she's going to be in town this weekend for the NCAA basketball tournament and would like to have breakfast with Janet and I. What was she thinking? Maybe it would be best to just ignore this call.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

2 comments:

  1. John-- ALERTALERTALERT! Just read your post on your roof-top Heat Pump problem...I served as a Sales Engineer for HVAC Contractors for over 20 years and I have NEVER heard of such a thing!!!!!

    My advise is your getting (fill in the blank)! STOP what your doing--get in touch with me privately(EC, facebook) don't want to give my email here.

    Let me know the particulars= take a picture, model/size, who the hell is your contractor?. A pic would be worth a 1000words!

    I know I can help you! I have excellent contacts in DFW area.

    I will also follow this up with a Private Message in EC.

    Don't fret, contact me ASAP

    ReplyDelete
  2. I managed to get a 30-year-old stove repaired this summer by manipulating the male chauvinist pig repairman to move off his square by proving that the part he said he couldn't get could be gotten. He didn't like that at all, and got busy and got it. Good luck- hope Don can help you out.

    ReplyDelete