It’s frugal.
… It’s not. Yarn is expensive as hell, even more so if you want any type of durability or wearability or comfort.
It’s crazy – I have a really nice oversized jumper, and people who’ve known I knit have asked if I made it. Lol no, it would have cost like 10 times more. I bought it on sale (it’s machine made).
The same goes for many handcrafts. Have you seen the cost of one teeny skein of embroidery ribbon? And I always feel a bit sad when I see hand crocheted tablecloths or large cross stitch pieces at thrift shops for almost nothing. Someone spent hundreds of hours on that, and it’s being sold for the price of like 3 tiny skeins of floss.
If you don’t factor in the cost of my tools, I can build solid wood furniture cheaper than you can buy it. I’ve got a dining room cupboard and hutch in the works right now, made of walnut. I’ll get it done for about $1100 all up. The same piece of furniture from Vermont Wood Studios runs about ten grand.
A co worker asked my partner if she could knit her a sweater like the one she was wearing. She wore a gorgeous, fitted, bespoke sweater she made herself. She quoted her 1200 euro. Needless to say, she didnt get the commission.
I work in IT (Sysadmin). “Oh, you fix computers? Can you look at my laptop?”
I’ve had to be very direct with my family that I don’t fix computers (anymore, I used to do remote and hands on helldesk), I fix the deeper kind of stuff that keeps email working for an entire company, or makes sure new hires can log in to work stuff.
I’m an IT manager and today I had the director of HR bring me her new iphone asking if I can help her set it up. Um, no… first, that isn’t my job, and second, I have no idea how to setup an iphone. I assume it’s an easy process but I’ve never done it before and have more pressing matters to attend to instead of fiddling with her new phone.
Lol, been there. But my former CTO had one that I think takes the cake:
My (now former) CTO showed up to a C-suite/executive meeting shortly after he joined the company and they asked him to sort out the fucking A/V setup (read: projector, computer to put the slideshow on, clicker to advance the slides, hooking it all up, etc). In a hotel conference room that was “bring your own hardware”. With no warning.
And these chucklefucks expect perfection. We must have burned over a million on the executive conference room at our HQ. “The camera that automatically zooms into who is speaking isn’t fast enough at changing targets” type shit.
We’re a company of over 4000 employees. Every single C-suite/executive meeting before then they would book one of the senior members of our in-person internal tech support team for support for that shit, so they should have known better.
It wasn’t some joking hazing thing either. They legitimately just hadn’t fucking planned for how they were going to present their slideshow at this off site location and expected the CTO to just magic it together. Why they needed to do it offsite when they had a fancy ass overly expensive room built for conferences at the HQ? No fucking clue.
The things that come out at tech division happy hours are wild once the higher ups get a few drinks in them.
They legitimately just hadn’t fucking planned for how they were going to present their slideshow at this off site location and expected the CTO to just magic it together. Why they needed to do it offsite when they had a fancy ass overly expensive room built for conferences at the HQ? No fucking clue.
I work at a place with a banquet room, and consistently ask myself the same question. So many corporate meetings that show up with basically zero plan. I’ve had to tell clients “no” when they asked last minute if we could put up a projector and screen.
Sorry brotato, you should have mentioned the need for a projector during any of the six emails where I specifically asked if you needed a projector. The projector is already in use across the building; you said you didn’t need it six times, so we rented it to a different client instead. And even if it were available, that shit takes two people and fifteen minutes to put up. And I know you aren’t going to crawl around on the floor in your suit to help snap it together, so it’s just me here. And I’m not doing it by myself. So the answer is no, you can’t use our projector and screen at the last minute.
LMAO @ BROTATO!!!
The funny thing is, that people always assume that you can fix all kind of stuff just because you work in IT (or just know stuff about IT). In reality 90% of the time I have no clue what the fuck I’m doing and just pressing random buttons and reading the text next to the buttons hoping it fixes the problem.
“I’d be glad to, which UNIX do you use on it?” generally stops that conversation from progressing.
I wish. When I tell people I’ve been exclusively using Linux for more than 10 years they give me a blank look then repeat the question.
“What is a Linux?”
- QA tests software.
- QA reports issue with software.
- Developers review issue report.
- “Will Not Fix”, “Works As Designed”, “Cannot Reproduce”, “Works on my machine”
End Users: “This software is buggy, their QA must suck!”
As a developer I cherish Q/A and dread anytime they would start typing something into Teams.
“oh wow your photography is so nice what camera do you use?”
._. photography is 80% skill and 20% gear and yet, i never get asked “what technique did you use?”, it’s always about the camera i use, as if this entry level DSLR is framing and shooting on its own
What techniques do you use?
oh various ones! what i pick always depends on the lighting conditions, if the subject is stationary or moving, and the vibe i want for the photo.
i definitely prefer single thought out takes rather than rapid fire 20 photos with hope that one of them is the one (i don’t shoot sports often). And overall i really like framing things with the foreground to give a feeling of depth to the photo. In post processing i focus on making the photos look like i remember them to have been, coloured by memory and all that, rather than try to recreate realism 1:1. i’m being kinda vague but my photos are mostly on my PC and i use lemmy on mobile so can’t point to anything more specific, and tbf, a lot of my best takes are just patience and or luck
above all though, i like experimenting with how i shoot or edit :)
thanks for asking <3
I’m the opposite, lots of rapid fire photos, but I do photo a lot of animals. I don’t pose them either. I like candid shots of the pets doing there thing.
I got to sit through a photos and editing class as a para last year and I learned so much about it! I really wish film was easier to get developed because I have this beautiful 60 year old agfamatic that I adore using and now I actually know how to adjust for lighting and angle, different framing techniques, and everything, but I still can’t afford to develop the shots.
I took this photo with my iPhone 12 mini:
https://metapixl.com/p/Stoy/797570781570361213
It is a fantastic photo, I use it as my current lockscreen.
This photo was taken with my Lumix S5
https://metapixl.com/p/Stoy/795407386229307789
They are two very different photos, I hesitate to rank them in terms of how good they are.
A good camera gives the photographer more tools to get the photo they want, but you still need skills and experience to take good photos.
Damn. TIL I’m a bot and can’t view either link.
Ah, I am very sad to hear that, I hope you are a good bot like the T-800 in Terminator 2!
._. photography is 80% skill and 20% gear and yet, i never get asked “what technique did you use?”
How do you even answer that question? “Rule of thirds :)”? It’s not like you’re using a technique, it’s a mixture of many techniques. Do you just go into a Photography 101 lesson?
“What equipment do you use?” Has a simple, exact answer, which can open the door to more in depth conversation.
there’s a bit more to it than the rule of thirds
there’s always a leading style, technique, or idea behind the process that happens before you take the photo. and that process can be explained, to a degree
Yes, I know, that’s why I used it as an overly-reductive example. I’m saying you can’t just easily explain your technique. Even if you identify the leading style, a good photo is going to incorporate a number of principles and techniques. That’s why my alternative was launching into a Photography 101 lesson.
When someone asks you what equipment you use, they probably fall into one of two camps:
-They’re making smalltalk about your hobby, in which case again, that opens the door to a more in depth conversation if that’s the vibe. “I used X camera with Y lens, which works really well with this kind of framing at these settings.” You can even skip the equipment entirely and just focus on a particular effect and how you achieved it, explaining how it’s more to do with lens settings and composition than a specific camera.
-They’re interested in the hobby themselves, and looking for information that will inform what kind of equipment they will start using. A good photographer can make use of a disposable camera, but someone starting off needs a bit of guidance to find equipment that is good enough for serious work, but cheap enough for an entry level enthusiast.
People always assume I want to turn my hobby into a job. I love to bake - it helps me de-stress from my job. If I made it my job, I wouldn’t have something to help me de-stress anymore. I make enough money; I don’t need to extract the joy from everything in my life for the sake of making more money.
Hussle culture is damned annoying
I do not actually have keys to anything, nor am I allowed to wear headphones.
(Janitor)
Why no headphones? Seems like that would make the job more enjoyable.
…that’s why.
/s it’s a safety issue, kitchen workers aren’t allowed to use them either
The safety issue thing is bullshit. First of all, there isn’t any kind of sounds that would indicate any kind of danger other than the fire alarm (which also has lights and is loud enough that even noise cancellation doesn’t muffle it) where I work. Secondly, deaf people are allowed to do the job and they can’t hear anything ever.
It truly is all about “looking professional.” Why not make me clean toilets in a tuxedo, then?
I’m a web developer. People assume the following:
- I’m an expert with operating systems.
- I’m good with math.
- I eat junk food and drink energy drinks/soda.
- I’m a proponent and consumer of all new technologies.
- I like (insert) TV, Movie, or Anime.
Hey bro, can you hack my ex GFs Facebook?
Yeah, by social engineering. You would probably be better at that than myself though since you can get a girlfriend.
Wait, you’re saying you’re not a stereotype!? (kidding)
I’m knowledgeable about operating systems.
I’m good with math.
I eat junk food and drink energy drinks/soda.
I read about new techniques but am very wary of heavily marketed stuff.
I read a ton of Asian comics.People assume that I know how to do webpages, they don’t know what a web developer is. No, I don’t know l. Well barely but not really, I’m a data engineer goddammit.
I assume you wear programmer socks. DM pics?
I wear black GOLDTOE socks or leather sandals.
Hello? FBI? Yes, this post right here.
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That I spend all day coding, I spend most my day reading. Code usually but still
That’s so fucking true. If I’m honest its usually trying to figure out how the fuck something actually is supposed to work. Its either by searching stuff online or changing single lines of code until it finally works.
People are always amazed at how physically active embroidery is at an industrial scale. Everybody thinks it’s just sitting around with an oldschool hoop, but I’m up and down the length of an 8ft machine all day, embroidering the same design on 6 garments at once.
I think the most I ever did was 300 garments in an 8 hour workday, but I put 17k steps on my fitbit and was dead tired afterwards.
Edit:oh heck it was more steps than that
What do you use? Our shop has a Tajima T-MAR
We’re running with the Barudan BEKY, but they run .dst files too.
That I can make the band suck less. Sure, there’s something to be said about polishing a shit… But ultimately, it’s shit in>shit out. Your guitar doesn’t sound like ass because of the EQ; it sounds like ass because the guitarist had nine beers before he even walked on stage, and he can’t stay on beat to save his goddamned life.
Psychoacoustics is a fascinating subject. Just like placebo, people will fool themselves into thinking that something sounds good or bad, simply because they want it to. I always keep a DFA fader on my console, for when random people walk up and have suggestions. I make an adjustment to the DFA fader, they smile and nod to themselves, and then walk away. DFA means “Does Fuck All”. It’s literally a fader that isn’t doing anything at all. It’s not in the mix, it’s not in the monitors. It’s just a spare fader. But by adjusting the DFA, audience members will feel like I took them seriously, and they’ll placebo themselves into thinking that I took their advice.
To be clear, not all audience advice is bad advice. But for every “it’s too loud” complaint, you’ll inevitably get an equal and opposite “it’s too quiet”. There’s a reason music festivals have their audio console fenced off with a very wide perimeter. It’s specifically so drunken audience members can’t just saunter up and start yelling suggestions. That shit is distracting and 99% of the time is entirely unproductive.
There is one instance where I have heard of a literal Suck Button. Gonna copy and paste it here…
Not my story, but I like to read it again from time to time and get a good chuckle:
My band’s drummer, John, is also a sound guy; for several years before we hooked up musically, he had been doing sound for other bands I was in, as well as for touring acts I booked shows for. He’s very good at what he does, and has a pretty massive rig. Anyway, he’s the nicest guy in the world at band practice, at Burger King, or at a gig we’re playing, but when he’s running sound for other bands, he can be pretty crabby.
Very little patience for bands who start late or end late. Even less patience for bands who take an encore when they’re the second band playing out of five. Very little patience for singers who ask for more vocals in the monitor while cupping the microphone ball in both hands (feedback, anyone?) In general, just an altogether grouchy sound man.
For example, he ran sound once for this seven- or eight piece ska band. One of the trombone players said he needed two mics: one for his horn and one for his backup vocals. Normally at this venue (a 120-seater), John didn’t bother to mic horns at all. Rolling his eyes, John put up a Shure Beta 58 and some AKG condenser mic. “This Shure is for your vocals, and this AKG is for your horn, OK?” he said. “Don’t blow your horn into the vocal mic, because your horn is about 30db louder than your voice and I’m going to have everything mixed properly.” Horn player nods his head. During the second song of the set, apparently this trombonist was set to get a solo. Right before his solo starts, he grabs both mics and pushes them close together, so that the capsules are actually touching. He then blows this fortissimo opening note into BOTH mics. I was sitting at a table in back, by the sound board, at the time. John’s limiters caught most of it, and I STILL had ringing in my ears for two days. At the end of the song, John mutes both of the guy’s mics (and leaves them mute), and basically threatens to ream out the guy’s plumbing with his own horn if he ever pulls that shit again. John does this through his talkback mic, which is clearly audible over the monitors. The crowd bursts into laughter, and the horn player goes bright red in the face.
At any rate, for years I had heard John threaten bands with the “suck button.” Bands who were taking too long to set up, or whose members repeatedly refused to follow reasonable directions (please keep that vocal mic away from the monitors!), would be threatened. “Pull that shit again, and I’m gonna hit the suck button on you guys!” I took it to mean that he would intentionally make them sound bad, but he never followed through on the threat, so I took it as a vague general warning.
So anyway, a little while back he’s running sound on a four band show. The second band, a Matchbox 20/Train kind of band, has him running 20 minutes behind before they even play a note because their lead guitarist was late. Their allotted set time is 40 minutes, but their last song runs over and by the time it’s done, they’ve played for almost 45 minutes. John says quietly over the talkback mic, “Hey guys, you’re done.” The lead singer says loudly over the vocal mic “Sound man says we gotta get off the stage. We got one more song for you!” as they kick into another soupy jangle-rock tune. John shakes his head at me. Then, the most amazing thing happened. After their “encore,” this band kicks straight into ANOTHER song without announcing it, apparently in the hope that John wouldn’t notice it was a different song.
John leans over to me to be heard over the PA and asks, “Hey, wanna see the suck button?” “Sure,” I replied. I figured he was going to muck with the levels or just turn them off or something. Instead, he reaches to one of his racks and starts scrolling through patches on his trusty DigiTech unit. Sure enough, he gets to a patch titled SUCK BUTTON. He engages it, and all hell breaks loose onstage. The lead singer and the lead guitarist (who was singing backup), immediately start to sing WAY off key. They try to get back in tune, fail, trail off in mid-line, try again, and start glaring at each other. The guitarist is so distracted by this that he starts muffing the chord progression. If not for the drummer, I think the whole song would have derailed. For the entire four minute duration of the song, I was treated to this asshole band sounding like crap and getting madder and madder at each other. John explained the patch to me; basically it pitch shifts all tracks from the vocal submix up one step, BUT ONLY IN THE MONITORS. So the audience, out in front of the mains, was treated to the sound of two guys trying to get in tune, only to be utterly confused. If they got it sounding right in the monitors, they could tell that something was grossly wrong in the mains. And each of the singers thought it was the other guy who was singing out of tune. I just about died laughing.
That’s amazing. It’s kinda like those speakers that play your words back to you on a half second delay that make it hard to speak
When I worked in retail, I’d have customers ask me to raise or lower the temperature in the store I worked at. “Of course!” I’d say and then disappear into the back area and play on my phone for a couple of minutes. I’d come back out and ask if it was starting to feel better, to which they’d reply, “I feel it working already, thank you!”
At my home venue, I have no protection. If you fuck with me—particularly within the first twoish songs of a set—my usual response is to look them dead in the eye and say, “Where do you work? I’m going to come to your job and help you on Monday.” And that usually scares them off.
Sometimes, I feel bad about it and will find and apologize to that person later, explaining why I reacted like that.
My favorite is when it’s a local/college-age band and parents are around. Or spouses of older band members. “No, I can’t get her vocal any louder because she’s whispering six inches from the microphone and Jimi Hendrix up there is blasting his amp at 11.”
All this said, it’s a common misconception that “asshole” is the default mode of operation for a sound engineer. It’s just that the job is fucking stressful, and if you catch us at the height of that stress, we will react poorly. I’ve definitely come across a few grumps, but most folks are nice on average — kinda have to be so that people will want to work with you. Most of us just want to work with the team to make a good show happen.
To your original point, it’s 100% true that the better the artist, the better/easier the mix. Can only polish a turd so much before it crumbles.
My favorite is when it’s a local/college-age band and parents are around. Or spouses of older band members. “No, I can’t get her vocal any louder because she’s whispering six inches from the microphone and Jimi Hendrix up there is blasting his amp at 11.”
There’s a reason the lead singer’s girlfriend is the butt of so many jokes. And I have 100% had to use the Baffle of Shame for guitarists who won’t turn down. It’s just a doghouse made out of pink foam board and tape, that you can throw over the top of problem amps. Add a corner notch for cables to run in/out, and dust it in some black paint.
If it’s a tube amp, I can at least understand it; Tubes distort at higher volumes, and the distortion is part of the tone. And if you try to argue with a guitarist about their tone, you’ll lose every time. The nice once will smile and nod, then not make any changes when you ask them to turn down. The rude ones will make direct eye contact as they turn it up more.
But if it’s a solid state amp, putting a 2x4 block under it (or putting it on a spare guitar stand) to tip it towards their head usually works. The guitarist is used to having all of the sound blow right past their knees, so actually aiming it at their head makes a world of difference.
Good idea on just homebrewing a baffle!
I normally just ask them nicely to turn down, if they can do so without sacrificing tone, and otherwise encourage them to point their amp towards the curtains.
I’ve definitely seen some folks prop their amps to angle them toward their heads from time to time — I’ll start working that suggestion in for sure, since every little bit of db decrease will help in that small room.
I also want to get a set of ClearSonics or similar for cymbal wash. May not be able to use them all the time (stage real estate is at a premium), but they would be nice to have.
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As a teacher: I don’t get summers off.
As a waitress: Carrying food or drinks to the table is the least significant part of the job.
Both of those jobs are also significantly more difficult than most people realize.
I don’t know. I am certain I would be bad at either!
You don’t? I dated the teacher across the street and she partied all summer. Yes, they stop later and start sooner than when the kids do.
As a junior teacher, I taught summer school. The more senior teachers were doing continuing education. We all made lesson plans, prepared materials, and had mandatory professional development seminars.
Yeah the myth that teachers don’t work in the summer needs to die. My mom was a teacher and she worked just as much if not more during the summer, for the reasons you stated.
That management and leadership are smart, visionary, people without whom everything would fall apart.
It doesn’t matter what my line of work is. Management is mostly out of touch idiots everywhere.
“We need to redesign the web page to be more modern! Get me a big hero image and an image carousel!”
“Customers are complaining about how they can’t save their search settings. Maybe we should do something about that?”
“No that’s not a priority”
I swear I spend more time prioritising and decising when to release my fixes than actually making them
People praise me up for “saving the bees”. Honey bees don’t need saving. It’s the other bees that do, the hundreds of species of bumblebees, mining bees, solitary bees etc etc. Bees that are outcompeted in some areas due to the number of hobbyist beekeepers and commercial bee farms. I’m one of the baddies.
I have red-belted bumblebees living inside the wall of my house. We need to fix the broken light fixture they’re using to gain access, but I dun wanna kick them out, haha.
I’ve always been interested in the business side of beekeeping, do you rent out for pollination and is it worth doing?
We get free use of a spot next to an apple orchard, so I guess pollination is our “rent”, plus some honey. I don’t know what arrangement commercial beekeepers have - near us they move 60+ hives in when the oilseed rape (canola) is flowering, then move them again when it’s finished. A guy I was talking to said they reckon they can break even with 300 hives, because one person can deal with that many. More than that they have to employ someone else, and bang go the profits. Sounds like a nightmare. I struggle to cope with 7 hives!
I have a wildlife garden with lots of wild plants and insects and stuff. I thought I was helping the bees but I mean just helping some body make artisanal honey to sell to me at the craft fair?
No, you’re helping all the other pollinators too! Keep a corner of your garden nice and rough, with tumbled bricks or rocks, twigs, dead leaves etc to make a wee nesting spot for bumblebees.
Therapists are not “always analysing” you.
Seriously, you gotta pay me before I’ll spend the energy to do that
My ex girlfriend is a therapist, and she was CONSTANTLY “analyzing” me, even when I begged her to turn that shit off and just be my girlfriend.
Count Dracula doesn’t like in a castle because he’s a vampire.
He lives in a castle because he’s a count
I feel like even after paying therapists don’t do much
Sucks that you’ve not found them helpful.
Therapy can be great, a place to get stuff that’s hard to find in the day to day life.
But it’s not the only place to get that stuff. So I hope whatever it is you need, you find a place that works for you.
- unless they are autistic. Then they analyse every little twitch
User end hands on IT for the elderly.
that it’s hard. “Oh I could never do your job”
It’s literally a customer service job with tech paint. Reboot the device. Don’t yell at the decrepit person doing their best in a digital world. Collect check and praise.
The amount of times I’ve been called a genius for relogging into someone’s email is greater than 7.
Yeah. Real hard.
Lol, I was the computer genius in my office job because I knew how to change the paper size on the printer from Letter to A4. Soak up the praise!
It’s one of those things I’d probably have to Google because how many times do you do that, but yeah think most people just give up when they hit a technical problem and stop thinking.
Don’t yell at the decrepit person doing their best in a digital world.
I think this is the part some people might struggle with
Every time it gets difficult I imagine cleaning week old fry grease out of the fryer with a coat hanger because it was so clogged. I was making less then.
I love context. It helps so much.
Honestly it’s only bad when they come at it like they know more than you do. 1 out of 100 in my very lucky experience.
