Weird News

[xoxoxoBruce]

Whoa Nellie, hold on now. You're telling me mister macho fucked her up because he couldn't get THIS off?

[Carruthers]

A commuter who launched a foul-mouthed tirade at a fellow passenger he bumped into on a crowded train faced him again just hours later – at a job interview.

The man told his future interviewer to “go f*** yourself” as they both got off a train at Monument station during rush hour on Monday morning.

Later that day, they were reunited but in a much more formal setting, with HR executive Matt Buckland interviewing the angry commuter he had met on the District line that morning.

"At Monument station, I stood to one side to let someone else off the train first and I think he thought I was just standing in his way,” Mr Buckland, head of recruitment for investment firm Forward Partners, told BuzzFeed.

"He pushed and I turned, I explained I was getting off too but he pushed past and then looked back and suggested I might like to f*** myself."

During the interview, Mr Buckland said that the job seeker did not recognise him, but a few questions about how his jouney to work had been that morning jolted his memory.

“I asked him how he got to the interview, how was his morning commute," he said. "We were on the train in the morning but the interview was at 5.30pm that evening.”

Mr Buckland explained that the man, who had applied for a web development role at his company, was not offered the job, adding that this was nothing to do with the incident that morning.

“It would be easy to hold something like this over someone in an interview, but for me interviews aren’t about that," he said.

"When you interview you are looking for a read of skills but also to know if that person is a real human being, it’s about that connection.

"By the end of the interview we laughed it off and were both happy.”

Daily Telegraph.

We used to have a reputation for good manners and treating other people with decency. Sadly it appears that it has gone the way of the Dodo.
London, being the densely populated place that it is, will always have more than its fair share of the thoroughly disagreeable, but even in provincial towns there's a sense that it wouldn't take much to unintentionally provoke verbal violence at the very least.
Friends who emigrated to Western Australia came back for a visit a few years ago. They hadn't been away for very long but were struck by how so many people were 'just below boiling point'.

[Gravdigr]

It wasn't me, I swear.

[glatt]

Skyscraper called "The Torch" in Dubai, and made out of flammable materials, catches fire and goes up like, well, a torch.

[Undertoad]

One starts to think that maybe building to codes with qualified inspectors is not such a terrible idea

[glatt]

Would libertarians say that the market will sort it out? Those responsible will just be put out of business because they obviously suck?

[Gravdigr]

I'm waiting to see how it's gonna be America's fault.

[Undertoad]

Well one libertarian answer is that quality standards do take hold in free markets; Underwriters' Laboratories is not a government agency, for example, and it's very effective.

But how does that hold in the case of a public building, where it can affect everyone: everyone in the building, everyone walking around the building, every other building in the vicinity, every building on the electrical grid, etc. All in a place where every laborer is temporary.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

<snip>
But how does that hold in the case of a public building, where it can affect everyone:...

My realtor was telling me about the time he owned and ran a small retail music store, selling guitars, etc...

He said an Electrical Inspector came in one day and asked to see if their electric guitars were UL certified.
They looked and could not find the UL seal on any of the guitars.
The Inspector then told him he could not plug the guitars into the store's outlets, even for demonstrations.
That is, it's not legal to attach non-UL approved devises to an approved system.

My realtor said he later asked another inspector what to do, and the 2nd inspector essentially said to just ignore the issue.

Beyond believing my realtor actually did own and run a retail music store, I'm not sure what to think.

[glatt]

I know an electrician and he says the UL label is basically a scam. The label doesn't mean an item is quality, just that the company has paid the significant fee to get the certification. He said that you just learn through experience and common sense what is quality and what is not.

That's an interesting story about the electric guitars.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I see the Stone Cutters have successfully squelched the truth. It was caused by some radical Christians in a hijacked plane.

[Undertoad]

UL isn't about quality, though, it's about safety.

"From my experience this lamp does not short out and electrocute you."

[xoxoxoBruce]

I was under the impression UL is saying the design is safe and the components on the blueprint are cool, not that an individual lamp is safe.

[Gravdigr]

They are underwriting/endorsing the safety of the design, as submitted to them by the manufacturer.

Underwriters' Laboratories

[xoxoxoBruce]

If the specs are detailed on the back of a check.