Random Rants LXXII - What is wrong with us?

[rah]

Yeah, their servers were too busy sending out e-mails to get people to visit their servers.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I got the Blood-C series and movie, although i did it at like 7:30am. Early worm eats the bird!

 

[Synobun]

There was a list of random stuff we needed around the house and we decided to wait until Amazon Prime Day to see if any of the things we need would be on sale. They weren't. It appears Prime Day is just an excuse for them to push 10,000 Alexa-branded products and a selection of random crap on discount. It's definitely not a site-wide sale. I've never shopped on a Prime Day before so I did not know that. Also their website wasn't usable for much of yesterday.

I find it hilarious that their response to Prime Day sucking for years is to just make it exclusive to Prime members. Now it sucks for an exclusive group instead of just everyone.

My washing machine has been in its death throes for two years. Each passing month came with slightly reduced capability and more and more conditions for use (like not being able to put any heavy linens in it anymore). Use of a washing machine is covered by my lease but the landlords are... anti-spending, to say the least. I've been dealing with it and trying to keep it going for as long as possible, knowing full well that a fight would be on my hands the second I let them know the appliance was crap.

Today, I no longer have a choice. The drum is seemingly kaput, and tore itself off its bearings so heavily that it dented the back of the machine. You have to physically hold it in place for it to spin now. I am sure the landlord will resolve this issue promptly and without complication, seeing as the washer model is 26 years old.

According to the serial number this product may have been manufactured March of 1992.

 

[Lexicus]

the landlords are... anti-spending

I am shocked, shocked, to hear this!

 

[Broken_Erika]

Maybe they'll upgrade you to a 1996 model!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I find it hilarious that their response to Prime Day sucking for years is to just make it exclusive to Prime members. Now it sucks for an exclusive group instead of just everyone.

My washing machine has been in its death throes for two years. Each passing month came with slightly reduced capability and more and more conditions for use (like not being able to put any heavy linens in it anymore). Use of a washing machine is covered by my lease but the landlords are... anti-spending, to say the least. I've been dealing with it and trying to keep it going for as long as possible, knowing full well that a fight would be on my hands the second I let them know the appliance was crap.

Today, I no longer have a choice. The drum is seemingly kaput, and tore itself off its bearings so heavily that it dented the back of the machine. You have to physically hold it in place for it to spin now. I am sure the landlord will resolve this issue promptly and without complication, seeing as the washer model is 26 years old.

Your washing machine would fit right in with my old appliances from my first apartment. Everything except the fridge was from the 60's. The stove frequently electrocuted me, the oven coils broke and the A/C broke whenever it got above 90 degrees (which is every day in summer in Missouri).

Thankfully, my fridge was from the 90's. Most of my neighbors were still rocking green fridges from the 50's that would have fit in to the atom bomb explosion scene in Indiana Jones 4.

It's amazing how slum lords manage never upgrade anything and then get to keep the security deposit of whatever sucker is renting from them when (+6 months or so) the appliances finally crap out and have to be replaced with bargain models.

 

[Synobun]

My oven isn't as old. I think it's from 2002. It flips the breaker if you accidentally turn on broil instead of bake.

The microwave is also from the early 90s. No rotating plate, just a monstrous box. I think it came from a restaurant.

 

[Takhisis]

The "middle-aged man speaking emphatically into a camera inside an automobile" is my least favorite media form and possibly the worst media form in all of history.

Are you really going to say that Seinfeld is unfunny?

It's amazing how slum lords manage never upgrade anything and then get to keep the security deposit of whatever sucker is renting from them when (+6 months or so) the appliances finally crap out and have to be replaced with bargain models.

We call it the ‘free’ market.

 

[shadowplay]

Maybe they'll upgrade you to a 1996 model!

One from Eaton's!

 

[Traitorfish]

I didn't buy anything on Prime Day, but I can't remember if I'm boycotting or just forgot. We'll go with the former, sounds better.

I am shocked, shocked, to hear this!

The overlap between people who scoff at the socialist magic money tree, and people who believe whole-heartedly that a magic money tree and it's a two-bedroom flat in Croydon, is at this point about 1:1.

Clearly, what Corbyn needs to do is buy up a bunch of old council bedsits, and the NHS will be set for the next century.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Never heard of this "prime day" before

 

[cardgame]

Are you really going to say that Seinfeld is unfunny?

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic.

I'm boycotting everything related to jerry seinfeld after bee movie.

 

[Lexicus]

The overlap between people who scoff at the socialist magic money tree, and people who believe whole-heartedly that a magic money tree and it's a two-bedroom flat in Croydon, is at this point about 1:1.

Clearly, what Corbyn needs to do is buy up a bunch of old council bedsits, and the NHS will be set for the next century.

*stares dumbfounded as references go over his head*
So how about that global warming, eh? That's always good for a rant.

 

[Takhisis]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic.

You cannot tell whether I am being sarcastic, you mean.

I was making a reference to the facts that a) there is a trope called Seinfeld is unfunny, and b) he had a series called ‘comedians in cars’ or something like that.

I'm boycotting everything related to jerry seinfeld after bee movie.

I never watched it.

 

[Lexicus]

I was making a reference to the facts that a) there is a trope called Seinfeld is unfunny, and b) he had a series called ‘comedians in cars’ or something like that.

It wasn't a reference to comedians in cars or Seinfeld. There are just a lot of videos on social media where dudes talk emphatically into their phone cameras while in their cars, and I don't understand why some of these videos seem to get tens of thousands of views.

 

[Synobun]

It wasn't a reference to comedians in cars or Seinfeld. There are just a lot of videos on social media where dudes talk emphatically into their phone cameras while in their cars, and I don't understand why some of these videos seem to get tens of thousands of views.

Feelin' some solidarity with Rodger, are ye?

 

[Traitorfish]

*stares dumbfounded as references go over his head*
So how about that global warming, eh? That's always good for a rant.

Well, if we're looking for a rough and ready analogy, Corbyn is Sanders, naturally, the NHS is Medicare, a bedsit is a studio apartment, and Croydon is... New Jersey? Maybe? Honestly, I know piss-all about London to begin with, asking me to reframe London in terms of New York is like asking a tapeworm to do advanced calculus. I was going to say Finnieston, but that would really be shooting over people's heads.

More generally, landlordism is a social disease in the UK in a way which I don't think is quite true in the United States. It's become almost normal for middle class people of a certain age and certain means to buy a to-rent property, and blithely imagine that this property is just a big bucket full of free money that other people will just give them, like they were eighteenth century French dukes.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Never heard of this "prime day" before

Here's a summary.

 

[Synobun]

Never heard of this "prime day" before

It's Amazon's attempt at... something. I don't really understand the intent. The only good deals tend to be their own products and not the "thousands" of other products that are discounted. They've been at it a couple years and it's only noteworthy based on how pointless it's been, IMO. It is very strange given how effective Amazon is at beating everyone else in the retail space yet they cannot, for the life of them, put on a sales event.

The numbers disagree with that, though. They sold a billion dollars during last year's Prime Day.

Here's a link about prices during this year's: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/16/17570304/amazon-prime-day-best-deals-tv-echo-kindle-sales-2018

As you can see, middling at best.

It says that Prime Day was always exclusive to Prime members but I bought stuff during both 2017 and 2016 at their Prime Day prices and I'm not a Prime member.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There was a list of random stuff we needed around the house and we decided to wait until Amazon Prime Day to see if any of the things we need would be on sale. They weren't. It appears Prime Day is just an excuse for them to push 10,000 Alexa-branded products and a selection of random crap on discount. It's definitely not a site-wide sale. I've never shopped on a Prime Day before so I did not know that. Also their website wasn't usable for much of yesterday.

So far the only thing they've offered me that I might possibly use is a pressure cooker.

I don't cook. Even if I wanted to, there's so little counter space in the closet-sized "kitchen", I have no idea where I'd even put one.

Never heard of this "prime day" before

Apparently it's something only Amazon Prime members are allowed to take advantage of.

Which would be great if you want a new vacuum cleaner or whatever else they're offering. So far I haven't seen anything I can use.