Today was a good day because _________

[T0RM3NT]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Employee action form received: +18.9%. 4% COLA on the way. Both retro to 7/8

Last non-COLA was 2016, when I hit top of pay scale.

Damn!!! Nice man. Congrats!

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by dradernh

You've reminded me of a time in San Francisco (~1975 to ~1995) when parts and labor tended generally to be equal charges on shop invoices. As a person oriented towards numbers and data, both personally and professionally, that balance always stood out to me.

During those years, I used the very capable shop of a high school friend, so I can't speak to the breakdown of dealers' invoices during those two decades in the City.

My friend the shop owner was always quite forthcoming in sharing why charges were what they were, whether for parts or for labor. He was the person who introduced me to book-rate charges for labor. That was startling to me at the time, and it still is when you consider customers' costs for supposedly labor-intensive work like brake jobs and other jobs like those where the labor charge may have absolutely nothing to do with the number of hours it took to do the work.

As an example: at a Toyota dealership, I once had my Tundra returned to me after an hour-and-a-half while I was charged for four hours labor. Knowing about book rate labor, I put it to the person checking me out: "How can I be paying for four hours of labor when I've only been here for an hour-and-a-half?" I'd like to say that I got an intelligible answer. Instead, what I heard was the sounds of someone who had never been asked that question before. After listening to a bunch of nonsense, I simply asked: "You're charging book rate labor, right?" At that, the person collecting the money brightened right up, and said "Yes!"

The so-called "book rate" or "flat rate" has been around for decades. Where your shop screwed up is allowing you to wait for the car.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

The so-called "book rate" or "flat rate" has been around for decades. Where your shop screwed up is allowing you to wait for the car.

Yup, almost 50 years ago is certainly a decent number of decades. Wish I had 'em to do over again!

The dealership didn't screw-up; it used the book, and the math was perfect.

[leopard print]

The CFO of my company announced his retirement for 12/31/2023. The CFO himself and two other execs reached out to me individually and urged me to apply and go after the position. Not sure if it's something I want to pursue right now in my career, but it feels good to have the higher ups recognizing my work and encouraging me to pursue that role.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Yup, almost 50 years ago is certainly a decent number of decades. Wish I had 'em to do over again!

The dealership didn't screw-up; it used the book, and the math was perfect.

But the shop trick is to let you believe they spent much more time working on your vehicle. They typically do that by having you drop the car off early and don't get around to calling you until late in the day.

Meanwhile, your car was probably ready to go hours before they called you. Ask me how I know.

Like many things in the world today, it's an illusion.

[Sedan_Clan]

I slept in my new Adidas wrestling shoes and they feel much better.

[Kowalski2011]

I didn't hit that deer with my M3.

[Djbell3333]

Today was a terrible day, because I hit something on the highway and cracked my front lip 😩

[Dpc2u]

Always a good day when you pay $1.669 per gallon for 93 octane. Gotta love 5x Kroger fuel points!

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by Onesie

1.67 a gallon?

Heck I paid 2.7 a litre just last week…

Damn! I thought it was bad here. I just filled up yesterday at $1.80/l for 91 octane. How far north are you?

[Lady Jane]

A beautiful riding day and cruised the countryside and looked at some creative Halloween decorations.

[antgenn]

Phillies won and go to the World Series!

[Murf the Surf]

My day in pictures. Life is good.

[Murf the Surf]

So these cigars are a 60th Birthday gift from my very good friend.....

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Murf the Surf

So these cigars are a 60th Birthday gift from my very good friend.....

Happy Birthday Murf!

[vreihen16]

...because I *finally* got the last of the dashboard warning lights fixed on the getting-mightier Freightliner. Cost me over $60 in light bulbs (including a $34 proprietary one because Daimler), two new TPMS sensors, and a seat belt buckle that was throwing airbag system faults.....

[Murf the Surf]

Originally Posted by Buug959

Damn! I thought it was bad here. I just filled up yesterday at $1.80/l for 91 octane. How far north are you?

Diesel is at $2.29 a litre. OUCH.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Murf the Surf

So these cigars are a 60th Birthday gift from my very good friend.....

Inner thigh rolled...? HA...! Check your messages.

[UncleWede]

Mixed.
I did manage to get everything that needs shredding into the Iron Mountain shredding bins

My father's 50+ year career fits in 5 such bins

[floridaorange]

Monster Trucks with my 10 & 4 yr old boys (and wife)

[3.0L]

I got all of my chores done before 11:00 AM.

[JMcLellan]

I had an incredible experience (2 weeks ago) snorkeling off the beach in front of a resort we stayed at. I was out a couple hundred yards from shore with my group. I got some seawater in my goggles that swished around and got sunscreen in my eyes. My eyes were burning so I swam back to the shallows and got myself in order. On my way back out I came across this sand flat area that was about 12 feet deep. I look below and there is a huge northern stingray just hovering away. I spent about 2 to 3 minutes shadowing him as he/she moved around the water. Just the stingray and me having a moment is something I will never forget.

My sons were really jealous that they weren't apart of it but a couple days later we got to swim with some other stingrays and experience that together. So basically saying that swimming with stingrays in pretty cool!