My Sewing Machine Rant

[fredk]

22 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

. . . One of the most important jobs was the coordinator that assigned the calls to all the nurses. . . .

I did not envy those people their jobs, but they were VERY good at it! . . .

Unlike the co-ordinator my sister had when she was a home-visit carer. That co-ordinator never allowed time to get between the homes, eg, 08.00 to 08.30 at Mrs Smiths, 08.30 to 09.00 at Mr Jones et cetera but it was at least 10 minutes to get from one to the other. The co-ordinator even had her going to homes far and wide whilst other carers did visits within the area my sister had to pass through, going into the areas best served by those other carers. Remember those Venn diagrams at school? with overlapping circles? like that

[Spyros]

1 hour ago, Sheilajeanne said:

I did not envy those people their jobs, but they were VERY good at it! 

Yeah some of them are, others not so much... and when you find a good one they're really hard to replace, it takes a lot of experience combined with a mathematically organised brain.  But it also requires lateral thinking sometimes to step out of boundaries or make a business decision to solve a difficult logistical problem.  I don't think artificial intelligence will ever be able to replace some jobs like that, not in our lifetimes anyway.

[Sheilajeanne]

I agree Spyros!

[jrdunn]

7 hours ago, Spyros said:

Fred, guess how much things have changed since then!  (spoiler alert: not a lot).

I used to be in the waste industry until recently, working for a multi-billion company that has a massive fleet of garbage trucks that collect waste in many countries.  Big massive customers like the MacDonalds/Councils/Tescos of this world.  Now, a garbage truck is very much like a school bus, right? It starts from the depot and does the same route every day, same time, same stops, picking up the same rubbish bins.  Think of it as a loop on a map with dozens or even hundreds of pick up points along the way.  And every depot has multiple loops originating from it, because every depot has 50-100 trucks working every day.

So what happens when you have a new big customer with multiple new rubbish bins to be picked up in multiple locations?  How do they decide which loop they will assign them to? Some would be located directly on those loops, but some would be further out which means some routes would need to be stretched out a little, or a lot.  They also have to think about availability because pick up times have to align with the truck schedule, you can't pick up early in the morning a bin that the customer tells you they will be rolling out later in the afternoon.   And you have to think about the size of the bin because some trucks have a system that only picks up small size bins like your residential wheelie bins, other trucks only pick up medium, others only big skip bins, and so on.  And you have to think about the type of waste because you can't mix recyclables and general garbage in the same truck.  And you can't overload a route with too many pick ups because by law a driver can only drive so many hours a day, and a truck can only carry so much waste.  And you have to do all your calculations by day of the week, because bigger bins are not picked up every day, and you can't pick up on Mondays a bin that is only available on Tuesdays. And all that before you even start thinking about traffic, tolls and road works.  You have to find the most efficient way of doing those pick ups because trucks/drivers/fuel can get very expensive very quickly.   

So it is a bit complex, it's like solving a giant Sudoku. I can hear you saying "Thank God we have computers and all that intelligent software these days!"  Right?  Right?

Nope :D

What they do is just give the problem to a guy.  Usually a 60 year old guy with decades experience, usually a former driver himself.  And he locks himself up in a room for a week with a "do not disturb" sign outside and thinks about it.  Basically no computers are involved, just a printed map, red pen, pencil, eraser and a big cup of coffee.  That's it man, that's all they got in the year of our Lord 2022. 

I imagine that's not very different than how Xerxes's generals did it 2,500 years ago.

I really imagined something involving a map on the wall, a handful of darts and a blindfold.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by jrdunn
Double post

[Handstitched]

On 4/8/2022 at 8:20 PM, Handstitched said:

I'm still waiting for some sealer & hardware  from Queensland ( in the east of Oz )

Yey !! It arrived ...woo hoo !!  nothing to do with sewing machines I know  . I lodged a complaint in the ' lost or missing parcels page' of our ever "trusty postal service" ...I put the word " urgent" in the complaint...today it magically appears at my P/O . 

Amazing 

@Tequila any updates on your machine? 

HS

Edited April 12, 2022 by Handstitched

[Tequila]

@Handstitched no update from their end, no calls, no emails, nada, zip, nothing     From my end, well…I’m considering my next move, I’ve been patient but it’s been over a month. 

[Handstitched]

57 minutes ago, Tequila said:

I’m considering my next move

Try two words... ' legal action' , and see what response you get . Any free legal advice you can access ?   A sewing machine is not just a 'machine' , its  quite a substantial investment . 

HS

[Tequila]

9 minutes ago, Handstitched said:

Try two words... ' legal action' , and see what response you get . Any free legal advice you can access ?   A sewing machine is not just a 'machine' , its  quite a substantial investment . 

HS

Or just call the credit card company and dispute the purchase

[Handstitched]

2 minutes ago, Tequila said:

Or just call the credit card company and dispute the purchase

That too. 

You've been very patient .  I wish you well . 

[Tequila]

1 minute ago, Handstitched said:

That too. 

You've been very patient .  I wish you well . 

Thanks I’ll post as things progress. 

[Tequila]

UPDATE

Well I’ve got good news (at least to me ) yesterday the sewing machine was delivered.  I had called the vendor this week and explained that if I didn’t get the delivery by Thursday I felt that I would be forced to cancel the order.  The owner of company got involved, made some high level calls to the trucking company, he understood my position and kept me fully informed.  As I said in my previous post, I don’t blame the vendor for what happened, it was the trucking company’s fault.  So now I’ve got my new sewing machine unpacked and setup, all I’ve got to do now is figure out how to use it.  I won’t hesitate to buy from the vendor again, but in the future I’d pay a premium NOT to use that trucking company. 

[Handstitched]

18 minutes ago, Tequila said:

Well I’ve got good news (at least to me 

Thats great new for all of us     The relief  you're feeling right now must be huge. 

Perhaps lodging a formal complaint to the trucking company may be considered ?? 

Have lots of  fun playing with your new machine, you've deserved it . 

Happy for ya !!   

HS

[suzelle]

1 hour ago, Tequila said:

UPDATE

Well I’ve got good news (at least to me ) yesterday the sewing machine was delivered.  I had called the vendor this week and explained that if I didn’t get the delivery by Thursday I felt that I would be forced to cancel the order.  The owner of company got involved, made some high level calls to the trucking company, he understood my position and kept me fully informed.  As I said in my previous post, I don’t blame the vendor for what happened, it was the trucking company’s fault.  So now I’ve got my new sewing machine unpacked and setup, all I’ve got to do now is figure out how to use it.  I won’t hesitate to buy from the vendor again, but in the future I’d pay a premium NOT to use that trucking company. 

Tequila, Yay! Now a toast!!!! To many happy days sewing! Mine (Juki 1541S) arrived a few days ago, but I wanted to hold off with my announcement until you got your machine too. Appears you may have spent your day yesterday like I did, unboxing and setting up a machine. I'm doing same today, gonna run my machine!!! Best wishes to you!!!

[Spyros]

Yeah I knew you were getting close

Seems like nobody gets a sewing machine without jumping a few hoops LOL

Now on to the next necessary marathon: learn how to tune the damn thing.  At least with this we can actually help

[dikman]

Great news, Tequila, you must be feeling very relieved.

[PAMuzzle]

Glad to hear!!! Now on to practice, practice, practice…etc.