Friday, July 30, 2010

It's a chicken and egg thing - isn't it?

I have to admit - I can not express how frustrated I am at the population right now. Take today for example.

Three years ago I spent a shitload of money on a custom fireplace door. Like 1500 bucks. Now, that is a lot of money for a door. Yet, it has saved my house burning down a couple of times. Log rolls forward. The door stops it. Where those screens with the wire mesh - would have let the log roll right through.

At any rate.... the base of the door gets a ton of heat. This has caused some tempering. Along with this, the black coating is starting to flake off. It is a small imperfection. Something I don't actually think can be helped. I'm happy to pay to have it fixed. It's functional. Still - I spent a shitload of money for a nice door, and it makes it unsightly.

I walk into the place I bought it from today. I bring a picture of the door. But not a picture of the full door. Just the affected spot. I figured I would just show him on a floor model where the problem was happening.

The salesman hits me before I could look around. Because, it is summer. What else does he have to do? I show him the picture. Again, I am just trying to get a rough quote on how much it will cost to fix.

This is where he makes this big deal about how the door shouldn't be doing that. Because, it is made in America. Which made me think - well, it was made in America three years ago. It wasn't exactly our finest hour. Don't get me wrong. I love it here. Which is why it pisses me off we've turned into such pussies.

After we get done talking - I go to try and see if I can find their floor model. This is where he tells me they don't even sell doors anymore. They haven't for two years. They don't sell anything that "produces heat".

Meaning - if you have a real fireplace. They don't think you will ever be able to use it. So we've stopped selling anything that pertains to being able to use it as a heat source. No - I'm not shitting.

Why is this all so bothersome? Well, because the guy made a huge stink about these doors being made in America. Of course.

The problem is, the environmental regulations are so restrictive - I can't use my fireplace in the future. And you can't even make this shit in AMERICA!

It sucks the US is on the loosing side of every game right now, and we have a coach who thinks that is just A-okay. We used to be winners. And it just drives me nuts that everyone blames our problems on outsourcing jobs to other countries. Which universally had made life better in the US.

One of my first jobs was working at NEC in "quality control". And, I had to lie to get it. I was 16. The law said you had to be 18. I was from a welfare poor family. I would have lied any day of the week to get a job. You know what I had to do?

Make sure silicon chips passed the manufacturing phase. It was repetitive. Menial. At the time I hated it. I was under age. But, it served a purpose. I made it to the middle class.

It makes me crazy that people don't understand you can't hardly even make chips in the US anymore. It isn't George Bush Hitler's fault! It is the fault that the regulations are so harsh - you just can't even do it. No wonder jobs are going over seas. Duh!

Do you know what solar panels are made from? Silicon! Yet President Vagina can't understand why China is getting all of our green jobs making solar panels.

4 comments:

  1. I don't know if I should be more facinated by the fact that you paid so much for a fireplace door (we had a fireplace growing up...in Hawaii, it was an off the floor job with hinged doors, but they were made of that thin meshy metal. I used to put my feet up on it while the fire was burning. I think a log or two might have fell out), that you bought a product that was actually made in America, or that in a few years you will not be able to use your fireplace (seriously???).

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  2. It's what people seem to think.

    A couple of years ago when I was trying to get rid of the crap shack - I had a bunch of people tell me real fireplaces were going the way of the dinosaurs. Which I thought was complete bullshit. Both places have real fireplaces, outfitted so they can also run natural gas. Ie...if that turned out to be the case, I had both my options covered.

    Still, I never thought that would be the case. I thought an actual working one would make a difference. A lot of the chimneys in California are cracked. Or somehow they talk the owners into an insert.

    A fireplace store that doesn't sell anything but inserts sends a strong message. The guy basically said - they ban you from having a fire 24 days a year now. In a couple, they will just outright ban you.

    I'm thinking a whole new sector needs to find alternative work.

    I spent so much on the door because my aunt lost her house to a fire. Not a fireplace. Cigarette. But, you've been reading long enough. You may have noticed the fire phobia running through my earlier posts. And really - some of my later posts.

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  3. You say "President Vagina" like it's a bad thing. Isn't that what the right-thinking folk want the whole US to be like?

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  4. To be fair - I'm not sure it is just all "right-thinking" folk. I think a lot of middle aged women everywhere want to turn their men into girlfriends.

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