I work as an appliance repair technician, servicing household appliances such as refrigerators, dryers, and washing machines. Most of my work comes through home warranty companies, so the homeowner isn't paying me directly. My responsibility is to diagnose the problem and perform the necessary repairs.

Every so often, you encounter a customer who has convinced themselves that a particular part needs replacing, and no amount of professional explanation will persuade them otherwise. As a technician, I have a few options. I can simply refuse to replace a part that isn't defective and justify my decision to my supervisor, or I can replace the part the customer insists on having replaced without actually changing anything. I can bring in a component, make it look as though I've performed the replacement, and call it a day.

Sometimes, people just want to feel vindicated. They want confirmation that they were right all along, regardless of whether they actually were. And occasionally, it seems easier to give them that satisfaction than to spend an hour arguing with someone who has already made up their mind.

Sometimes, people just want to feel vindicated. They want confirmation that they were right all along, regardless of whether they actually were. And occasionally, it seems easier to give them that satisfaction than to spend an hour arguing with someone who has already made up their mind.

You'd go far in politics.

Or worse, they select it, but want some changes and end up blowing the budget, timeline, and good taste out of the water all at once.

That is how the actual talented people at Apple treated Steve Jobs. He was a fucking moron.

Studies have shown that more expensive placebos are genuinely more effective than cheaper placebos. Not in the sense of, “har har, it’s a placebo, 2x effectiveness of zero is still zero” but actual reported higher rates of improved health and diminished symptoms.

It works in a similar way with audiophiles. The sticker shock is part of the effectiveness for them.

100% this.

That's interesting, because you would think that even the newest, least experienced producer would know that you can change the tone of the bass just by adjusting where you play on the strings. So, presumably this is something he uses on "executive producers" who are just there for the credit.

https://youtu.be/s8wLP9vjaOg?t=39m55s

I have a feeling that's how his oncologist treated him, too. "Well, you could just eat a lot of fruit instead."

Don't most places use in-ears these days?

What does that mean?

The scenario will play out in one of two ways:

1. Client spots the duck. You remove the duck. Everybody is happy.
2. Client does not spot the duck. You snuck a duck into their bullshit, you sneaky little fuck. Everybody is happy.

I was working at a company, where many employees at the office whined about temperature of their rooms, so I finally decided to put every room a controller and tucked the cable away somewhere under the skirting board or something. The controller wasn’t working, but everyone was able to set it to their preferred temperature, and the complaints stopped.

Okay, thank you for that one.

It's not often that a post on the internet makes me laugh out loud like that.

How did you provide the necessary 24V power to these?

E: Oh nvm, you made this up

E2: you also did not run any cables under a skirting board or "something" because if this actually happened it was you who attached the wires.... because thermostats only come with bare terminals as the signaling wires and power wires are snaked through the walls and connected to the furnace or controller. If your story is to be believed, you went out and bought a bunch of thermostats, then went out and bought a bunch of random wires to connect to them. (This should also cover your anticipated lie that they were not digital).

E3: the notion that you would have an adjustable temperature setting, while the thermostat ALSO displays the present room temperature, and you just glossing past the idea that nobody's going to notice. Additionally, the idea that some busybody is going to allow them to sit there with nothing said is sheer madness. It's almost like you've never had a job in a real office.

I fucking cannot stand people like you. Stop making up BS because you're lonely.

Game developers used to be weeks or months ahead but only reveal pitiful, inch-at-a-time progress. As long as the "producer" believes progress is being made they're happy. No time to add a new feature, we have barely even made spec as it is (the project is complete you just don't know).

Yeah I was thinking the same thing hahahaha

As someone that has sent the literal exact same robot-vacuum-cleaner about 10 times for repair (because they just keep sending it back without doing anything): sometimes the customer is actually right.

I used to do a similar thing when I was in middle/high school. I do not consider myself to be a great writer, but when I was in school, I did very well for what my teachers expected at my grade level (I liked to read a lot). Most teachers I had wanted us to write essays or stories and then spend the next few classes fixing up our rough drafts into a final draft. I knew my first rough drafts were better than most other students' final drafts so I would purposely put in spelling and grammar issues and maybe spend a few sentences off topic. Those would be the things I fixed to create my final draft. Doing that gave me more time to focus on subjects I had a harder time with.

I'm amazed any of your clients actually let you repair anything. Field service is the norm in my (day job) industry and customers just do nothing but bitch and moan and whine and tantrum and threaten and obstruct because they think it's going to get them a new product delivered instead of a repair. "You mean now I need to wait for parts? That's unacceptable!" "I paid for a new product, not a repaired product!" "I paid a 'lot of money' for this [obvious convenience item] and I can't live without it, you need to get me a new one immediately or I'll charge back my credit card!" Etc., etc., et-fucking-cetera. If I took another drink every time I heard any of the above in one day, I'd be dead before quitting time.

Just playing devil's advocate, but if the story is old enough then they could've been rotary style, and they pulled a wire to sell the effect (I've done the same thing with fake surveillance cameras).

I already covered that bullshit possibility in my calling out

The customer is always right in matters of taste.

Is the full saying.

If a customer wants to buy an ugly sweater, for example, they should be able to do so.

Oh my god, dude. Every. Single. Day.

"You mean I have to wait a week?!"

Yes. It's a home warranty. Parts requests take longer to process. If you want it fixed quickly, you can pay me out of pocket, and I'll be back tomorrow.

"Why won't they just replace it? It was repaired once ten years ago!"

I have absolutely no influence over whether your home warranty company decides to replace your appliance. If I did, I'd have them all replaced.

"But they said you have to recommend it for replacement!"

I have no control over the decision-making process at your home warranty company. I can diagnose the problem, recommend the necessary repairs, and provide my professional assessment. What the company chooses to do with that information is entirely up to them.

These people don't seem to understand that they're paying into a multibillion-dollar industry for what amounts to a contractual gamble with some very significant limitations.

I have to spend an absurd amount of time explaining to customers that they're not necessarily being ripped off or scammed. They voluntarily signed a contract agreeing to a particular kind of service, with specific terms, exclusions, limitations, and a claims process that is often considerably less convenient than they imagined.

The home warranty industry isn't designed to provide you with the fastest, most convenient, or most comprehensive solution to your appliance problems. It's designed to provide a service within the financial and contractual limits established by the company.

You can argue about whether the contract is worth what you're paying for it, and that's fine. But you cannot sign up for a product without understanding what it actually provides and then act surprised when the company delivers precisely the kind of service its business model is built around.

And somehow, I'm the one who has to explain all of this while standing in your kitchen with a toolbox.

Sorry. Rant over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar_discography

My ex had an ancient high-mileage Mitsubishi Mirage that we paid $300 for. The catalytic converter had been removed so the CEL was permanently on. She would constantly complain about it being on and that I needed to fix her car. Thing is, there was nothing actually wrong with it. So one day I removed the bulb and told her that I changed the spark plugs. She never complained about the car again.

Exactly...you don't need to supply 24vdc if there's no display to power, just a dial that does nothing but satisfies the user.

Yeah! It's so loooooonng

I covered that possible lie in my expansive bullshit call out. You either did not read or you do not understand.

Go check it out, you might come to believe that I've installed maybe a hundred of these and actually know what I'm talking about.

In this line of thought a producer who knows what they want would probably ask for that thing specifically, not just for "a different sound".

What she would do is walk up to it, type a little, agree that it felt off, take a small flathead screwdriver, stick it through an opening in the side or back of the case, pretend to adjust something, she’d take a cloth, damp it with some of the light oil they used on all the intricate little mechanisms in old computer hardware, wipe the key caps with it. Then say “Okay, try that” and inevitably they were happy with it.

50% chance that this actually changed something, namely the smell of the device. the machine would have an unpleasant smell and people would complain about it without knowing what it is. she goes over it once and now it smells nice, and people are happy. doesn't need any screwdriver for that, that's just for show.

I heard in the film industry back before drones that directors would get the scripts to how they want them and then add in a shot from a helicopter. Then the execs whose job it was to cut unnecessary expenses from the film would obviously nix the shot and the director was left with their original vision intact.

The most powerful move is having nothing worth taking.

How old are you?

In the 80s and 90s, thermostats had physical dials and mechanical temperature metres that did not require power. They only had two terminals for sending a signal to the controller of the furnace.

This is one. They were everywhere until the mid to late 2000s.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/168792921855?_skw=vintage+thermostats&itmmeta=01M514T246XJDF5H4WFN95E4RC&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8LMoA3ATICNpdlejoNWn7EezK5ZxAKW7tSATJgJx%2F6H0mD4oKHO1pSLMuM11igxCTPC1IUSE6bMW%2F8SYPHbRWdMjO4hY8Mlc4gX1Bk0TN9KJLNzmKRf32UREURMJwMgwoHapUGrCtpVJNXQDg%2BxS%2Blvqt2JzwANzqAclKOChcGTvtVA%2FN7YP22xreS5NtMmfzEMzE6OQnzhRQgG9b%2FQll4Uezp5J%2BX7zTKprWaj%2Bk6MhdkuM2590Cz6zryT7ZdSA2XWtzJLbx1W5E7WVhd5LKb9jvo2txTWAQyEGA7d5Eg8mZSVmML3%2FVW%2FmpWxoZyvRMQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7Si6KSoaA

She wasn't cleaning it, she was applying a thin sheen of oil to the keycaps, to slightly alter their texture. That would make the act of touching and removing your fingers from them feel slightly different. Most of what it did was satisfy their need for attention.

while the thermostat ALSO displays the present room temperature, and you just glossing past the idea that nobody’s going to notice.

Thing is, that idea only pops up in your post. @Krudler@lemmy.world doesn't say anywhere in their post that people could see the current temperature, just that they stopped complaining once they had a control they could set to the temperature they wanted. That's how most thermostats worked back in the day. There was no "It's currently 62.5°F" display in action. If you felt hot, you set the thermostat to a lower temp. If you felt cold, you did the opposite.

How is it called when you make a comment, the artist pretends to do something, you are too hesitant to say thats still shit and proceed with okay thats fine?

There is no saying. I didn't say "always right". Notice how I said "sometimes right".

Customers are human beings. If I know I'm right (because I can see with my own eyes that the vacuum doesn't work), and you treat me like that because "whether the vacuum works or not is not a matter of taste" I'm just never going to do business with you again.

Means that's a you problem then, not the artist's problem.

20 years ago I used to work the audio video booth at an event center. With shocking regularity people would come up to me asking me if I could adjust the air conditioning, which I obviously had no control over. It got to be such a pain in the ass that I labeled one of the faders "A/C" so that when people would ask me if I could adjust the temperature I would very clearly move that where they could see it. A few people knew better, but the large majority reported it felt better or simply said nothing.

That’s ok. You can believe whatever you like. This happened over ten years ago. Shit, almost twenty years ago.
I have 43 years of experience in this field. If you don’t believe me, that’s ok for me, I can live with that. I hope you enjoy your life and have a nice day.

This is the thing. I have also made same with fake surveillance cameras too. I didn’t think there’s some so young person who didn’t know rotary style regulators.

You're full of shit, I did maintenance for a decade.

I don't know why people like you are so sad that you need to make shit up.

You obviously don't know anything, because you could have cooked up a much better story, I explained in full why you cannot be telling the truth.

Sure sure. Relax and take a deep breath, we all know you’re the only one knowing everything. You’re the chief, I can’t compete with your wisdom. Peace.