Pet Peeves II

I was just watching a show on the History Channel about mind control and one of the people being interviewed said "...through one way mirrors." Wouldn't that just be a plain old mirror? There's a few guys at work that frequently say similarly stupid things such as "unthaw" and "one way check valve." The first thing is mentioned during discussion about the air systems on a big truck. Drivers hardly ever drain the air tanks like they're supposed to, and that leads to the water in the air system freezing in the winter. One particular coworker will mention bringing a frozen truck into the shop to "unthaw" it. I kept my mouth shut for a long time, but when he uttered that ridiculous phrase one winter day I said "Well, that was an easy job. You're already done." He's not the brightest person in the world so it didn't sink in right away. I said "I think the word you're wanting to use is 'thaw', not 'unthaw'". "No, I need to unthaw the truck" he responded. So I asked "Why would you want to bother freezing a truck that is already frozen?" He still didn't get it so I gave up and he continues to sound like a moron.

This same genius, also in reference to air systems, uses "one way check valve" all the time. In a big truck the air tanks, for example, have check valves to prevent air from going the wrong way through the system. "One way check valve" is redundant, don't you think? I asked him one time "If a one way check valve only lets air travel in one direction, what would a two way check valve be?" I could see the gears slowly turning in his head and I answered for him, "A plain 'ol piece of pipe." As with the "unthaw" argument, this dope still didn't get it.

At my last job, the "bitch sheets" that drivers filled out every day made for some good laughs. They would write down such things as "left rear brake light doesn't work." Oh, as opposed to the left front brake light? I don't recall ever seeing brake lights on the front of a vehicle, so "left brake light" would have been more than enough information. Another similar bitch sheet proclaimed "Interior dome lamp burned out." Whew! That's good, because those exterior dome lights can be a bitch to replace. I'll go through the bitch sheets later. I saved a few of the good ones.