The new news 24 thread

[Jamie]

Just now, artdjones said:

If the back windows were any smaller you might as well have a crew van.

i know! I imagine the C pillar makes for interesting motorway overtakes/lane changes. Probably why it has blind spot warning indicators on the side mirrors.

[artdjones]

When I moved from South Wales to Ireland I hired a Luton from a company on Colchester Avenue in Cardiff, who had a load of nearly new VW LTs for hire. When I went to pick the van up they'd given me a Transit several years old and a foot shorter. And when we loaded it up one tyre on the twin wheel rear axle proved to be flat. They sent out a fitter who changed it double quick, but we got to the ferry  two minutes two minutes before they closed the doors. Luckily, this was many years before 9/11 so travel arrangements were much more flexible, and we were waved straight on.

[omegod]

I picked up a couple of year old astra from Hertz at Dublin airport, I got stung for the all singing and dancing insurance as I didn't have a credit card. I said to the guy can we do a walk round before I leave and he said we "Don't need to as you're  covered for absolutely everything " so I asked was I covered to leave it in the town center unlocked with the keys in it? he replied " Please don't do that sir"   

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, N19 said:

A few years ago I rented a van from a local firm. Not my usual go-to place, but this crowd were close to where I lived then, and I only needed it for a couple of days. When I arrived he took me out to the van, ordinary SWB transit, did the walk around, then tried to turn the ignition on. Nothing. Dead as a dodo. First offered to jump start it, then after protestations pointed to a medium wheelbase saying "I'll try that one instead". It started fine and I took it away.

On my return a couple of days later he proceeded to ask me for an excess payment "because you got a bigger van than you'd paid for". Needless to say, I was not forthcoming.

 

Oh, about 12 years ago I was with a friend who'd hired a Luton - the clutch was slipping wildly ("just rev the engine sir" went the rep). Protestations followed that we were about to fill the back with Stuff and then spend 5 days hurtling around various parts of the countryside, and that we didn't want to risk it giving out midway. "Well, it's not broken now sir so I can't replace it" goes the rep. 

Five minutes round the block later, and with an eye-watering smell of burning clutch, wouldn't you know but it's broken down and won't move at all (opposite a popular greasy spoon). The rep sighed heavily as he brought a replacement out (very quickly and from the yard, so it's not as if he didn't have one!)

I returned a van to Enterprise once dropping it off in London on a one way from Glasgow.

The girl inspecting it found a tiny scratch low down on the side, which we had missed when picking it up. We argued about it but she insisted it go to the workshop to see how much they’d sting us for. ( XS was £500).

As she moved the van into the workshop , there was an almighty screech as she scraped the entire length of the van against the door frame. A few minutes later she returned and said “ we’ll let that one go”, pretending we hadn’t noticed what she’d done.

[Jazoli]

11 hours ago, Spurious said:

Currently renting a 2020 Three pot turbo Clio in Poland. 

It's excellent, drives well, interior is ace and it's very refined too. Looks smart too.  You can only hear the engine if you thrash it, frequently driving about in 3rd gear at 3k rpm and I'm none the wiser as I cannot hear the engine. You actually need the rev counter to change gear as it's that well noise dampened. 

Big spread of torque. Gone are the days you'd thrash a 1l and only get more noise. 

Mrs Spurious is very enamoured and wants one. She's agreed to pay part for it as she's very frustrated at me turning up to pick her up in Shite. 

(Dont worry I won't get rid of it all the shite). 

 

I agree with what you say about the Clio, my daughter has just recently bought one and it's very nice and great to drive.

[Austat]

I've had a lonely start to 2022, primarily due to the problematic Omicron variant which has been a burden on our health system here in Australia, so I've been stuck inside for most of the year so far. I haven't been out of the house for just over a week now, stuck inside amongst the boxes of stuff for our bathroom renovation which has been brought to a halt due to the covid situation. It's been a bit bleak at times, one of my New Year's resolutions was to start going to the gym, but of course those places are human incubators for covid so I'm annoyed and waiting for things to clear up, if they ever do. 

On some brighter news, these came in the mail today from eBay which has cheered me up a bit. Great chod in these, I've already posted some stuff from these on the Shite Magazine Scans thread:

[hairnet]

8 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Iyak yak yak

Rented a 08 micra from budget once

It looked like all the staff in the airports kids had jumped up and down on it on all panels

Guy didn't mention the insurance and when asked he said Shure no one will.come.near ya at twscos now don't worry about it

[Markeh]

Intended to rent a van when I moved into this place, as I was moving out of my folks it didn't make sense to hire proper movers as a large amount of my stuff was boxed up ready to go anyway. Figured an SWB and a few trips will be fine. Delays with exchange meant I had to book the van the day of completion for the next day. And that's how I ended up behind the wheel of a Luton Transit. Looking back it made life a lot easier (except for anyone I was with who was made to watch me reversing because I was petrified of hitting something)

[TheOtherStu]

12 hours ago, Liggle said:

Listed my R53 for sale on Facebook, Jesus Christ I wasn't prepared for the mouthbreathers a £2.5k Mini attracts

I'm going to guess.....

"Would you take a grand for it?"

"What's the lowest you'll go?"

"Can I give you a grand now and 3 payments of £500 a month?"

"Does it have full BMWMini Service History?"

"If you replace the cambelt and clutch, I'll give you £2200"

"Will you put a full year's MOT on it? (Despite it having 10 months)"

 

And lots of

"If you'll take £1500, I'll be round in 20 minutes"

 

Just thank the Lord you haven't gone to eBay. At which point you get

"If I give you £5k for it, you give me £2.5k back and my brother will be round next week to collect it as I'm in Nigeria"

"Would you ship it to Spain?"

"I know I've bid £3k for it, but I don't have that much. Would you take £2k?"

"I'm not paying £2.5k for it. That tyre doesn't look perfectly round to me and there's a sweet wrapper in the ash tray"

[reb]

I have my second and final A+ exam in a couple of hours, I'm a bit nervous about it as I'm pretty sure the only reason I was passing the practice ones was because they kept using the same bloody questions. If I pass, I'm theoretically qualified to be an IT technician again. Having been variously employed at minimum wage or unemployed for the past 5 years it's quite an exciting prospect to have a meaningful job that pays well enough again. There's a fair chance it'll be a remote job too, which I have discovered suits me quite well (I left the remote job for reasons unrelated to it being remote). I just need to pass this damn exam.

[TheOtherStu]

27 minutes ago, reb said:

I have my second and final A+ exam in a couple of hours, I'm a bit nervous about it as I'm pretty sure the only reason I was passing the practice ones was because they kept using the same bloody questions. If I pass, I'm theoretically qualified to be an IT technician again. Having been variously employed at minimum wage or unemployed for the past 5 years it's quite an exciting prospect to have a meaningful job that pays well enough again. There's a fair chance it'll be a remote job too, which I have discovered suits me quite well (I left the remote job for reasons unrelated to it being remote). I just need to pass this damn exam.

Having worked in IT for 26 years, the last 18 as a hiring manager, I've never once considered people not worthy because of an exam. Quite honestly, I tend to read people's CVs of what they can do rather than what they've passed.

If you tell me you can disassemble a laptop and put it back together without faults, rebuild an operating system or follow processes and procedures, keep customers happy etc., I'm more likely to hire you. If you lie about the above, you'll get found out pretty quickly and won't pass your probation.

I had a guy came in who said he had years of experience implementing a particular product when I was a product owner (actually, I am again now!). It was very clear that he didn't.

[reb]

8 minutes ago, TheOtherStu said:

Having worked in IT for 26 years, the last 18 as a hiring manager, I've never once considered people not worthy because of an exam. Quite honestly, I tend to read people's CVs of what they can do rather than what they've passed.

If you tell me you can disassemble a laptop and put it back together without faults, rebuild an operating system or follow processes and procedures, keep customers happy etc., I'm more likely to hire you. If you lie about the above, you'll get found out pretty quickly and won't pass your probation.

I had a guy came in who said he had years of experience implementing a particular product when I was a product owner (actually, I am again now!). It was very clear that he didn't.

I'm doing the exam as part of a course with a job guarantee, it seems to me to be the only way back into the industry for me right now with such a big gap in my experience. I'm capable of doing most things required, even if I need to refer to documentation sometimes, but I haven't done any of it in a professional setting since 2016. The course has been a bit shite if I'm honest, but I need to see it through in order to either get a job or my money back. Really I want to be a web developer, but I'm (slowly) working on that in my own time. I like to mess around with VMs to learn how stuff works in windows and Linux, my last two PCs have been way overspecced in the CPU and RAM area to facilitate that. I'm not sure how to put that on a CV though, my CV is supremely shite to be honest. I'm hoping this course and the exams serve as a foot in the door.

[chodweaver]

How about
'Familiar with building and managing virtual environments, specifically using VMWare products. Some experience with Linux based OSs.' ?

[LabRat]

In its never ending quest to see me penniless and broke in the gutter, the MG6 has started crunching into 2nd gear no matter how nicely you treat it. 

Fuck only knows where the hell I'll get another gearbox for it. Chinese build quality at its finest! 

[brownnova]

I once got given a BMW 530d M Sport touring as a hire car… it was absolutely epic. My then BMW was in for repair (again), and as it was taking 4 weeks they said they would have to hire me a car (it was warranty work), it had to be BMW so I was expecting a Mini or some such. I have no idea how I landed such a nice car, but trust me I put some miles on it in the couple of weeks I had it!! 

[reb]

I passed the exam!

[320touring]

Just now, reb said:

I passed the exam!

Congratulations! Well done😃

[Spurious]

12 hours ago, Jazoli said:

I agree with what you say about the Clio, my daughter has just recently bought one and it's very nice and great to drive.

It's been fairly good to us. 40mpg with 4 people in minus 9 cold. 

I think the diesel would suit me better to be honest, but it's a good wee car.  Android auto is awesome too

[Tickman]

Well done @reb

[AnnoyingPentium]

Good on you, @reb. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

4 hours ago, reb said:

I have my second and final A+ exam in a couple of hours, I'm a bit nervous about it as I'm pretty sure the only reason I was passing the practice ones was because they kept using the same bloody questions. If I pass, I'm theoretically qualified to be an IT technician again. Having been variously employed at minimum wage or unemployed for the past 5 years it's quite an exciting prospect to have a meaningful job that pays well enough again. There's a fair chance it'll be a remote job too, which I have discovered suits me quite well (I left the remote job for reasons unrelated to it being remote). I just need to pass this damn exam.

Just going to guess that's the CompTIA A+, right?  Really ought to get on with that one seeing as I've been doing the job for 2.5 years now.  Congratulations on the pass, it's a toughie.

[AnnoyingPentium]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:11 AM, AnnoyingPentium said:

The wee Fabia is being dragged kicking and screaming into my new 30 mile (round trip) daily commute because I'm only timetabled to be in 1 hour every day at University. At least the wee thing doesn't have to drive all the way up though.

It's only 20 miles, it's closer to 30 if I'm going to Tesco, it turns out. 

It's been pushing on quite well, even if like always, it wants to be a bit stroppy.

[reb]

1 hour ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Just going to guess that's the CompTIA A+, right?  Really ought to get on with that one seeing as I've been doing the job for 2.5 years now.  Congratulations on the pass, it's a toughie.

Yeah, CompTIA A+, I'd studied for it in the past but never done the exam. I didn't find it too bad, got tripped up on the performance based questions because I couldn't remember any of the commands I needed for one of them. I didn't really do much prep for either exam, I've never been very good at revising for exams. The principle difference between the exam and real life is in real life you can google stuff!

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, reb said:

I passed the exam!

Top man! Well done and enjoy the confidence boost.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

17 minutes ago, reb said:

Yeah, CompTIA A+, I'd studied for it in the past but never done the exam. I didn't find it too bad, got tripped up on the performance based questions because I couldn't remember any of the commands I needed for one of them. I didn't really do much prep for either exam, I've never been very good at revising for exams. The principle difference between the exam and real life is in real life you can google stuff!

It's always struck me as a lot of content to learn rather than anything individually being difficult but it's a lot to cram into the brain.  Had the proper textbook for at least a couple of years and keep meaning to crack on with it.  Learning on the job is great but something systematic and accredited is very helpful indeed.  True enough on the Googling stuff...

.

CompTIA A+ is no joke.  Congratulations!  A career wondering why people don't read instructions lies before you - but you already know this.

 

[Carlosfandango]

What do you use to move a shite load of shite Land Rover parts when all of your shite land rovers are broken? 
A Peugeot of course, silly. 
 

CFD 

[reb]

13 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

It's always struck me as a lot of content to learn rather than anything individually being difficult but it's a lot to cram into the brain.  Had the proper textbook for at least a couple of years and keep meaning to crack on with it.  Learning on the job is great but something systematic and accredited is very helpful indeed.  True enough on the Googling stuff...

.

CompTIA A+ is no joke.  Congratulations!  A career wondering why people don't read instructions lies before you - but you already know this.

 

The main thing I struggled with memorising was the steps for troubleshooting and malware removal, I feel like there's an element of the "proper" way of doing things is different from the real life way. I'll probably learn more in my first year on the job than I have done through the whole course. The ITIL section in particular completely passed me by. I'm quite interested in the networking side of things though, and not just because there's good money there! Back when I was an IT tech before I was being trained as a replacement for the outgoing network engineer, I wish I'd stayed to be honest.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

My organisation insisted (now-outgoing Deputy Director of IT's idea) that we all get basic ITIL4 training (he had a complete ITIL3 and was converting) so I've done the ITIL4 Foundation.  Piece of cake but very interesting and definitely a good starting point when it comes to process management and change management.  Did an Azure Foundations course and exam as well and just about scraped it (one day of teaching with a terrible tutor and a remote exam) and that was very eye-opening.  A lot of scope for building on either of those and I don't think you'd have an issue with either.  Cloud computing is definitely worth brushing up on and knowledge is in demand.

I generally use the 'shit against the wall' approach but I promise I'm systematic about it when it comes to troubleshooting.  Mind you, troubleshooting is at least 50% of my job, just generally very basic stuff.  Trying to move up in the World...

Sounds like you're way ahead of me.

[reb]

The ITIL training I got was a rather rubbish series of videos, it felt like someone just reading off the learning objectives. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it properly in the future. I'm quite interested in cloud computing so will definitely seek out training/certification in it in the future. My goal is to get into a position where my interaction with end users is fairly limited, hence my interest in web development. I'll probably end up in helpdesk to begin with though, which is fine really.

I'm not sure I'd say I'm ahead of anyone, my professional experience is less than 18 months 5 years ago!

[Liggle]

6 hours ago, reb said:

My goal is to get into a position where my interaction with end users is fairly limited, hence my interest in web development. I'll probably end up in helpdesk to begin with though, which is fine really.

I'm not sure I'd say I'm ahead of anyone, my professional experience is less than 18 months 5 years ago!

Once you get above the 2nd/3rd line support level and in to more project focused roles the interaction with end users is minimised, you don't have to be a developer (unless you fancy it of course)

7 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Cloud computing is definitely worth brushing up on and knowledge is in demand..

It sure is. This is the area I work in and I'm looking for my next contract, there's 100+ a day advertised at the moment, and that's just contracts. It's booming!