Things that frustrate us all
- Thread starter rhubarbodendron
- Start date
Why do I get the feeling 2026 is just 2025 in a trench coat?
Good news. My health insurance provider and the hospital system I go to have agreed to extend the current contract while going through the final details of a new contract.
My boss is kind of a sanctimonious dick.
2026 is starting out great. I was heading out to my old house today to check to see if there was any mail and to feed the birds and squirrels. My car wouldn't start. The battery is shot.
My car (2016 Ford Escape) is engineered in such a way that you have to perform surgery in the engine compartment to get the battery out. I finally got it jump started and headed to Costco to get a battery.
When I get there I find out that there aren't any of the right type in stock and they won't get any for at least a month. But I can drive 20 miles north or 40 miles south to get one at another Costco. I have to make sure to call first to see if they have one. Can't have it where you can look it up online and see if there are any in stock.
My car (2016 Ford Escape) is engineered in such a way that you have to perform surgery in the engine compartment to get the battery out. I finally got it jump started and headed to Costco to get a battery.
When I get there I find out that there aren't any of the right type in stock and they won't get any for at least a month. But I can drive 20 miles north or 40 miles south to get one at another Costco. I have to make sure to call first to see if they have one. Can't have it where you can look it up online and see if there are any in stock.
Is there any other kind?
Trying to get documents using Social Security online.
Here is what their email promises:
Go Digital! To receive your 2026 annual Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) notice in your account, up to three weeks earlier and more securely than by mail. Receiving your records securely online will safeguard important personal information, like tax notices, from being lost or stolen in the mail.
Here is what the website delivers when you select the Sign In box:
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Here is what their email promises:
Go Digital! To receive your 2026 annual Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) notice in your account, up to three weeks earlier and more securely than by mail. Receiving your records securely online will safeguard important personal information, like tax notices, from being lost or stolen in the mail.
Here is what the website delivers when you select the Sign In box:
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
I've actually been lucky, at least with the local ones.
Otherwise, going to to go with nope.
I didn't even bother. Got my COLA letter in the mail later. Figured it was some sort of data harvesting thing and refused to click on it.
I got my COLA letter in the mail too. It had me down for an incorrect Medicare Part D payment deduction. Because of the non-functional website, I had to go to the local SSI office (25 miles away), online was of no use. They had 20 windows in total, but only had 6 windows staffed. I got it straightened out after about an hour of waiting.
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Well that's just grinch-y.
I think we have our first "Darwin Award" nominee for the year that's barely a week old.
Couple brought in a 2021 Toyota Prius Hybrid in because the "Check Engine" light was on and the vehicle was making a noise while starting up.
Technician pulled it into the bay, opened the hood, did a fluid test; the dipstick came back almost bone dry. There was less than a quart of oil remaining and it was turning to sludge.
So, recommended a hot oil flush as well as an oil change.
Paul called the customer to explain what the technician had found and what was recommended.
I'm not kidding when the wife said, "It's a hybrid. Why does it need an oil change?"
Paul asked the couple to come back to the shop and he showed them where on the car the dipstick and the oil cap were.
Four years this couple had owned this car and never once had they brought it in for an oil change.
Thankfully this was their second car, so it wasn't driven often, so, it could have been a lot worse.
I'm not sure if it's the fault of the dealer not explaining to the couple what a hybrid vehicle is, or a language/cultural problem, but, it's 2026, you should know what hybrids are.
Couple brought in a 2021 Toyota Prius Hybrid in because the "Check Engine" light was on and the vehicle was making a noise while starting up.
Technician pulled it into the bay, opened the hood, did a fluid test; the dipstick came back almost bone dry. There was less than a quart of oil remaining and it was turning to sludge.
So, recommended a hot oil flush as well as an oil change.
Paul called the customer to explain what the technician had found and what was recommended.
I'm not kidding when the wife said, "It's a hybrid. Why does it need an oil change?"
Paul asked the couple to come back to the shop and he showed them where on the car the dipstick and the oil cap were.
Four years this couple had owned this car and never once had they brought it in for an oil change.
Thankfully this was their second car, so it wasn't driven often, so, it could have been a lot worse.
I'm not sure if it's the fault of the dealer not explaining to the couple what a hybrid vehicle is, or a language/cultural problem, but, it's 2026, you should know what hybrids are.
They'll be lucky if the main bearings aren't toast.
Alas, people only get a Darwin award if they either expire, or are otherwise reproductively neutralized.
And when you buy a car, you should read the goddamn owner's manual. Nobody does that anymore.
Given mine have got progressively more heavy in tech, I have at least. - Of course, I was also raised to check things on the car as a matter of course.