Battery Thief

Maintenance/Repairs
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@bing

Doesn't everybody think they work harder than most everybody else, whether physical or mental? Now I know my surgeon works harder than I ever did and deserves every dollar he makes. Its mostly inside work though so that makes a difference.

Try climbing a 55 foot pole after an ice storm when the temperature is -10 degrees and pulling up a span of 559 conductor, all to get your power back on, then come talk to me about me thinking I work harder than everybody else.

That being said…

I don’t think I always work harder than everybody else, but honestly some days I feel like I work harder than alot of people do, but most people serve an important role in society, and most of us work hard, imagine if we didn’t have the lowly unappreciated fast food workers? Our society would collapse if we couldn’t drive our Expeditions and Tahoes to McFattys and get a burger.

I couldn’t work fast food, I couldn’t handle it. Too hard, bet many of us here couldn’t.

Imagine if we didn’t have “unskilled” factory workers. Imagine if we didn’t have mechanics, power plant employees, line workers, truck drivers ect… Jobs that are looked down upon but are neccesary for our modern way of life.

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People work hard in different ways, it kind of reminds me of the statistic from Allstate "Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of American drivers rate themselves as “excellent” or “very good” drivers."
Now if we were to use a bell curve, there cannot be more than 50% above average, percentage cutoff for very good or excellent, you decide, but you and I are probably in the excellent category:)

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Besides, is it really work if one does what he enjoys and enjoys what he does.

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@WheresRick

When I was in my teens, I actually did do food service on at least one occastion

Once, I spent a few months working in the officer’s club. I wasn’t serving anybody, but I did clear stuff out and spent time in the kitchen cleaning up. I cleaned up after the lunch buffet, and since there was always a lot left over, I was able to gorge myself on some good grub. Nothing too exotic or too spicy, but there was a lot of it. That was a perfect job, because I’ve always loved to eat. With me, quantity is very important.

What I distinctly remember was that there was an 80 year old guy from the deep south who was working there. He didn’t have much hair left, but he was extremely fit. He wasn’t fat at all, and it looked like he might actually pump iron, because he had some guns on him. He said he couldn’t read or write, and I didn’t believe him, so he showed me his driver’s license. His signature was literally an x.

He also had some great stories about growing up in the south (I forget what state). He mentioned how we would kill rattlesnakes as a youngster, without a gun. If this guy was to be believed, he grabbed them by the tail, quickly swung his arm back and snapped their head against the dirt in one quick motion, thus killing them. Supposedly, he would bring the dead rattlers back home, so that his mother could prepare them to be eaten. I’m not even sure he believed the story, but he sure enjoyed telling the it.

There was another guy who would wash his personal laundry in the commercial size dishwashers. Anyways, the head cook would always get worked up about it, because the machine wasn’t available for use while the clothing was in there. The head cook was in his mid 60s, but the 80 year old guy was in much better shape.

There was also a young couple working there who were always sneaking off to make out and smoke reefer. Reagan was in his second term, and some straight arrow lady always got on their case about the reefer. Remember Nancy Reagan’s slogan “Just say no” . . . well, that’s what this lady was always preaching about.

I actually have pretty good memories of working in that place . . . it’s funny how some of our most vivid memories are of working at really menial jobs

65

Yeah I put my time in flipping burgers too (edit, geeze too, not to, slap) and putting hand trucks together, and putting cooling units together, and making tin cans and bottle caps. I actually have a respect for all the jobs that people do and don’t discount the importance of any of them.

Interestingly in this months INC magazine, there was a short article on 5 Guys Hamburger joints. The mother always told the kid that if he didn’t study hard he’d end up flipping burgers. I think they’ve got about 1000 franchises and the burgers are very good. Only one I’ve ever been to is in Peoria though so not an expert. I did have some suggestions for their kitchen layout though to make it more user friendly but I kept them to myself.

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I think they've got about 1000 franchises and the burgers are very good.

We have a few around here. Along with Fudruckers. Both make EXCELLENT burgers. I like the fries better at 5-Guys though.

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@mikeinnh

I am lucky enough to have a Five guys within an hour of here, I have been to Fudds as well and they are both top notch. I also agree Fiveguys is a tad better.

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Wow, you guys are so far off topic, but, in classic Car Talk style, so entertaining. Click and Clack would be proud!

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I will second the opinion about 5 Guys Hamburgers. When we visit our son in Smyrna, TN there is a Five Guys near his house. We always make sure to go there.
So that we get the discussion about battery theft back on track, when we eat at Five Guys, I sit by the window so I can see my car and make sure nobody steals the battery.

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Is 5 Guys better than fatburger?

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@db4690

I have never been to a fatburger, I would say fatburger is better because it is warmer there right now, I could be eating a burger while wearing shorts and a t shirt.

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OK, back to batteries. Hook one of those snap, bank, whistle devices on the battery so it goes off when the battery is pulled. Then look for a guy with soiled pants as the culprit. Seriously though, after happening a few times, people can get very very irritated and do things that they otherwise wouldn’t do, so it really has to be stopped. A guy in northern Minnesota is on trial now for shooting a couple of teens that repeatedly broke into his house. He just laid in wait and snapped. The kids laughed about it up until they died.

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@WheresRick

I found a 5 guys within a few miles of my house, and decided to go there

I felt the burger was not better than a fat burger, but the fries were, I suppose. Lately, any fries that still resemble potatoes are considered premium

The restaurant had an extremely strong resemblance to In 'n out. Another problem was that this particular 5 guys was in a strip mall, with no free parking. Fortunately I found a spot on the street that still had 52 minutes left on the meter. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have eaten there. I can’t justify paying for parking unless I’m with a significant other, or am going out for a fancy evening on the town.

All in all, I think I’ll stick with In 'n out and fatburger. The prices aren’t higher than 5 guys, I feel the food is comparable, and the parking situation is better. Not to mention, there’s hardly any 5 guys around here.

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I’m shocked at 5 Guys growth. Ten years ago, there were only 5 of them; all in the DC area. The big attraction seems to be the large portions. There are enough fries for 2 or 3 diners and the standard burger has 2 large patties. My first experience was when my then teenage nephews raved about it. I didn’t expect the regular burger to be a double, and a big one at that. You know how tee boys like huge portions.

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But it doesn’t taste better than fatburger or in 'n out

For that matter, there are several non-franchised local burger stands that serve burgers that are just as tasty. Unfortunately, those small burger places often don’t have very good fries

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I live out in the sticks myself and it seems that the meth heads are pretty much stealing anything that isn’t tied down. This includes farm gates and batteries out of tractors and trucks. Yes, they are stealing this stuff to sell it for scrap metal. You could have a brand new $100 battery stolen and turned in for $10 in lead scrap. They are stealing copper wire, pipe, and air conditioning equipment out of houses for the scrap and doing $1000s in damage. Another guy I know happened to have 4 tires and wheels stolen off of a pickup. The tires were new and the wheels were whatever the stock alloy wheels were on an F-150 the year it was sold. He later found out that meth heads had cut brand new tires off the wheels with a sawzall, ruining the tires and the rims in the process, so they could sell the rims for a few dollars in scrap. The tires were worth more than the wheels in this case.

I recently ran a trespasser off my property. I don’t know what he was up to but it was during deer season so I thought it was an inconsiderate hunter. Well, he had driven through my neighbor’s yard to get here and was on his way out when she tried to stop him. He floored it and ran her down. IT was just luck that she didn’t get under the truck and crushed by the wheels, otherwise I have no doubt this would have killed her. After this story, all the neighbors including myself are pretty much ready to shoot first and not ask questions. These crazed meth heads are willing to do anything for a fix.

The truck that was involved in this is an older and very distinctive model. It has been seen on the road with the same driver since this incident but the cops can’t seem to locate it for some reason. No one has ever had the opportunity to get the license plate and the one I did call in was a false alarm.

We have all put up security cameras. I bought an analog security camera for like $40 at Harbor Freight and then a cheap USB analog to digital conversion setup from eBay. I then downloaded some freeware security camera software that records on motion detection and it has been working great. It mainly captures me coming and going, the outside cats wandering, and the one time some of my other animals got loose from their pasture. All this is recorded to my computer and an offsite server where I can review it if something serious goes on. I have a game camera too but it always seems to have dead batteries when I go check on it. The time/date stamps seems to indicate it doesn’t last more than a few days but I bought a cheap $50 game camera from Wal-Mart so I guess this is what I should expect. I put this camera up in a tree with a ladder so it is a pain to change batteries and it often just sits there dead.

I would suggest a game camera if you don’t want to confront the guy. Otherwise I suggest a 12 gage shotgun loaded with turkey #4 shot. This will turn someone into hamburger meat at close range yet lose energy and not penetrate houses and hurt someone. The worst I would expect is to have to replace some siding or windows on a house. If this is happening at night, I don’t expect that the kiddos are out playing in the street or people are out walking the dog and such.

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When I was a kid, a distant neighbor had a big dog which was always running loose and that XXXX dog took great pleasure in terrorising our animals. One day my old man got fed up with it, took a cartridge, opened it, removed the pellets and refilled it with coarse salt. Then he spent a long evening in a tree with the shotgun and waited. The dog came and as it was within reach and the behind was facing the tree, it got it. You could hear that dog howling for miles. He then called the owner and told him what had happened and that this was a warning. The dog continued to run free for several years after (even the day after getting “salted”), but it never ever got onto our property again. Mind you, this was in denmark many years ago.

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I say “trunk monkey” with disposal clause(dont like thieves)-Kevin
PS@Rick, they are trying to automate a lot of those jobs or use immigrant labor.what suprised me was some of these fast food places have order takers several states away

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@cwatkin

We have the same problem here. Many people on this forum think its silly, but around here you have to be armed, if you call 911 it could be a half hour until the police show up because our county only has squad cars on duty at night. If there is a wreck on the opposite corner of the county and both squads are there, and you call 911 it can take a long time for them to get to your house.

About a year and a half ago I got a knock on my door at 9 at night, it was a girl asking for directions, she was smoking a cigarette, obviously tweaking and possibly drunk as well, innocent enough right?

Well its odd, I live way off of the road, and there was two people waiting in the car, I believe they were determining if anyone was home (my house was dark). I have no doubt if I didn’t answer they would have broken into my home.

I always answer the door armed. Sounds overkill to some, but around here its the norm, too many home invasions robberies by meth heads.

Anyone who has this idyllic view of the country needs to come 'round here. People burn their trash, shingles, couches, anything that will burn to dispose of it, many people you encounter are either on meth or pain pills or drunk or all of the above, we also have a big heroin problem. Many are in a big hurry, inconsiderate, and rude. We have this wonderful creek that runs thru the county, people come from far away to canoe and fish it, yet the locals will dump tires and trash in the creek. Illegal dumping is a huge problem here.

It could be an awesome place to live but the minority ruins it for the majority unfortunately, and the problem compounds itself, we can not get business to come here due to the lack of a suitable workforce, and everything goes downhill from there.

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@cwatkins

Around here the meth heads also stole alot of portable fencing worth over 20 grand. They stole it from the 4-H fairgrounds, so they may have got a few grand scrap value, and hurt the kids in the process, Now during the 4-H fair someone has to be there 24-7 working security, and you know what, most of the volunteer that work security are armed.

You can’t have anything nice around here, it will get stolen, damaged or destroyed.