What do the pros think about this article?

General Discussion
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A job I got to help put myself through college involved computers (back when computers were not well-understood outside of IT circles). They wanted me to take account information from an old DOS-based database and transfer it manually over to their new Windows 3.11 database. This involved opening the old database file and the new database file and manually entering the information from the old one to the new one. There were about 40 fields per account, and this was long before the days of dual monitors, so I’d be alt-tabbing back and forth 40 times - each account migration took about 10 minutes. There were thousands of accounts.

They figured I’d be at it for years (really huge insurance company, and this database had all of their customers in it).

Well, I figured, there’s gotta be a smarter way to go about doing this:

All of the information on the old database’s display was always in the same place on the screen, so I wrote a macro that used keyboard navigation to pop to each field, copied the information, then alt-tabbed to the new database and pasted it. Then it would go back, pop to the next field, and repeat. What had taken 10 minutes per entry now took about 30 seconds. And it could run all night, when I was at lunch, etc.

Long story short, in 3 weeks, the migration was done. They were very impressed and congratulated me. Even gave me a little company logo mantle clock thing that they usually gave to long-time employees on their nth anniversary.

And the next day I walked in and they fired me. “Well, we don’t have any more work for you to do. Sorry.”

That taught me a very important lesson about not thinking your way out of a job!

The coda that somewhat delights me is that this insurance company no longer exists. It had efficiency problems, wasn’t making much money (how the hell do you not make a ton of money in the insurance game?) and was bought at a fire sale by a competitor. Perhaps if, instead of firing me, they’d had me go look at their other ultra-inefficient processes, they’d still be around :wink:

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I agree Shadowfax. I would never have gotten rid of anyone showing that kind of initiative. I would have turned you loose on other areas. Insurance companies though rely on earnings from their investments though to make the difference, so if investment income goes south, so does the money pool.

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Durham is a lovely place. I think it is better to let your children live at school if you can afford it. The independence and a chance to forge strong friendships is well worth the expense. Commuters don’t get to experience campus life in the same way that resident students do.

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UNH is only one of his choices. Right now his first choice is Dartmouth. We’ll see.

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“Never had a kid able to commute to college. It’s possible to commute to UNH from where we live…but if you have an early class…that means getting up before 5am”.
@MikeInNH It’s best not to commute to college. My son teaches at an elementary school connected with a university. He has a 30 minute drive each way. Next year, he will begin a doctoral program at this institution while keeping his teaching job. He his selling his house and moving himself and his family into a married student apartment on campus. He says he will gain an hour a day for studying or being with his family while not having the upkeep of the house.

When I was a married graduate student, my wife and I lived in married student housing. Our apartment wasn’t luxurious, but it was adequate. The price at that time (1969-1971) was $90 a month and included all utilities. There were graduate students who were on the same program I was that came a year before I did and were still there when I had completed my coursework. These students lived in more luxurious apartments off campus and had to worry about finding a parking place every day. I jumped on a bus right outside our apartment and was on campus in about 5 minutes.

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Back to the subject of warranty work and mechanic’s time, we really had problems when we first bought our new 2003 4Runner. After numerous trips back to the dealer, I suggested that the dealer buy the 4Runner back under the lemon law. In the meeting with the manger of the agency and the service manager, the service manager agreed to put his best technician to work on the car. It was finally fixed. However, on one trip back, he had one of his not so good technicians work on the 4Runner and that mechanic did not put the serpentine belt on correctly and the belt pulled out the oil seal behind the crankshaft pulley. That mechanic took over an hour to install the belt while we watched and waited. I think I could have done that job in half the time. Now I understand why the best technician wasn’t assigned to my vehicle in the first place.

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“That mechanic took over an hour to install the belt while we watched and waited.”

I don’t know about any of the other guys, but I’m not particularly comfortable when the customer’s looking over my shoulder

I know it’s sometimes unavoidable

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I understand why customers are typically not allowed in the service area. Liability.

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t's best not to commute to college. My son teaches at an elementary school connected with a university. He has a 30 minute drive each way.

We’re over an hour…and it’s all back-roads (no highway near Durham)…and parts of it very heavy traffic…plus have to deal with rt 125…which has more deaths on a 5-mile stretch then most areas in the country. Where ever he goes…he’ll stay on campus.

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@db4690–We weren’t standing by the mechanic. We were in the waiting room and there was a window that looked into the service area. The service manager said that the job would take about 15 minutes. We saw him go to work on the car. After about 15 minutes, my wife was hungry, so we walked down the street and got sandwiches and came back and the mechanic was staring at a manual trying to figure out how to put the belt on. This was the 3rd serpentine belt that had been installed on the 4Runner during the first two weeks we owned the vehicle. With each belt, it would start to chirp after a couple of days. After the third belt and the damaged oil seal, I told the dealer that I wanted him to buy it back and we would buy something else. At that point, he gave us a loaner and said he would put his best technician on the vehicle. The problem turned out to be a weak spring in the tensioner.

@MikeInNH–Our son went to a college 50 miles from home and lived on campus. I did let him take a car, but he only came home during breaks. Once in a while we would arrange to visit him and take him out for supper on a weekend. He had his schedule so jammed with activities that we were lucky to see him for an hour. I don’t like commuting at all. We used to live one mile off the campus where I taught. My wife wanted a better house, so we built a house two miles off campus. The two mile drive was tiring and wore the car out twice as fast. Until my last year before retirement, I had a friend and colleague that lived at the half way point. I would stop in in the morning and have a cup of coffee to break up the drive and he would ride to campus with me. On the way home, I would take him to his house, we would have a couple of drinks and then I would make the final mile back home. Unfortunately, he retired a year before I did and moved out of town and I had to drive the entire two mile trip each way without a break.

Retirement isn’t any better. We now get up and walk three miles six days a week and do it in 50 minutes. I shouldn’t have complained about the long 8 minute drive to work.

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Wow, did this one wander off! It went from commentary about mechanics’ work situations in dealerships to self service cashier stations to college costs to commuting.

From what the experienced postings say it sounds like mechanics in dealerships are sort of independent contractors, earning money only as a result of doing the primary job. They are not paid a salary. If that’s true, then there is no reason why they should be available to do other work unless they are paid their agreed rate of pay for that work.

@Triedaq - I’ve got to say, a 2 mile commute is hardly a big deal. I have never had a job with a two mile commute. The only wisdom I ever developed about commuting was, “Never live West of your job.” Every day you drive into the sun, both ways.

Also, since I’m blowing off about my mottoes, “Never suspect a conspiracy when incompetence will explain it all.”

@MikeInNH - college just costs a whole lot of money, just like raising kids does. And, in the last years, the American people have decided that college is a luxury item, and the state and federal subsidies for higher education have shrunken a lot. When I went to UConn Law School in 1970 the tuition was $0. $150 a semester student fee, and a couple of hundred for books. Today annual tuition there is $22000+ for a state resident and $45,000+ for out of state.

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college just costs a whole lot of money, just like raising kids does.

I know…I sent two thru college already…one had a scholarship for undergrad…but I paid for grad at Harvard. The other I paid full for. Not sure if we get any financial aid or scholarship for my 3rd…

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@wentwest–I know my 2 mile commute wasn’t a big deal, although I did live west of my job. If my city had put in sidewalks to my addition, I would have walked the distance. Living a mile from my job was really great and I often walked.

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Now that we’re talking about short commutes, when we were first married I lived about a mile from work. We had only one car and I worked the night shift. So I would take my wife to work, then I would put my bike in the trunk, deliver the car to her, and take my bike to work. After work I would pedal home at midnight to repeat the same thing again the next day. Rain was a problem and we finally just bought a second car for $125. (My 61 Corvair). Then I changed jobs and had a 50 mile commute so the bike was out of the question.

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Hello - I’ve been watching this thread for a bit, and I know there are a few strands of conversation going on here at once. Mike, I do wish your family well with the college admissions process, and I’m glad others have offered their thoughts. Wentwest is right that it’s not the subject it started out with. Just please be mindful of wandering out into a non-car topic (and staying there), because closing the discussion prevents others from offering their thoughts on the car subjects unless they create a whole new discussion. I’d like to give the others a chance. Thanks for your understanding, and please feel free to use the PM function if you’d like.