Autism and Employment (another PennSilverTaco thread)!

@ABA180

My dad bought a brand new Nissan Pathfinder SE in 1996. Only in the summer of 2023 was it was surpassed by my Tacoma for the longest amount of time anyone in my immediate family has owned a vehicle. The Pathfinder had seemingly every option available on the SE except the Bose stereo. It had the off-road package, which included fender flairs, beefed up suspension, and a limited-slip rear differential. It also had a sunroof and leather seats, plus heated front seats. It was possible to get a Pathfinder with the CD/cassette stereo but not the Bose system, but it was not possible to get the Bose speakers without the CD/cassette stereo. My dad’s Pathfinder had an AM/FM stereo with a single CD player. For many years, my dad thought it had the Bose stereo (it sounded that good), but he tracked down the window sticker in his files years later and I discovered that it did not. The factory radio started malfunctioning in 2003, and my dad replaced it with a $140 Sony XPlod head unit. The Sony was okay, but my dad didn’t like the small buttons, and replaced it with an Alpine head unit in 2005. The Alpine HU was still in the Pathfinder when we traded it for the Tacoma, and the speakers were never touched.

 

Those old HKs were badass, my friend had an aftermarket tape player in his old F150 long ago. Remind me what you feed that sub with..and I'm guessing you might include my stereo on the list of a little louder than you.

The old Alpines were hearty..I have one somewhere still I think, maybe a second one. I know I kept my old Pioneer that went a few years ago

 

The Kicker sub has a built-in amp, and the JBL component system is fed by a Rockford Fosgate amp...

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@Speedytech7
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

After thinking about it, I have realized that washing dishes at a nursing home may have surpassed detailing cars at Fred Beans as the job I hate the most! The nursing home certainly paid better, but it was much more monotonous. I still to this day question how it was legal for Fred Beans to pay detailers in the manner that it did (a flat rate per vehicle, dependent on the size of the vehicle, at $10 per hour at the time; I worked there from September 2018 to June 2019, and it has probably gone up since then), but that job was far more engaging and a lot less unpredictable. Amanda and I did not work directly for the nursing home, but rather for a company called Sodexo that was contracted to run the kitchen and serve residents. Probably 98% of my grievances are with the nursing home, and NOT Sodexo. The nursing home had too many rules, and it seemed like there were new rules every week. The most obnoxious one was the ban on earbuds, even in only one ear and even for kitchen employees. I could fully understand why those who worked directly with the residents weren't allowed earbuds, but I spent 99% of my time down in the kitchen. It was sensory overload for me, because even though I bought a waterproof clip-on bluetooth speaker that worked fine, most of the kitchen staff had larger bluetooth speakers and they all listened to different music at the same time...



The ban on earbuds took effect in either September or October, and that was the proverbial final straw; I started looking for a new job immediately. I couldn't find a permanent full-time job and took the seasonal position at UPS. I made a promise to both myself and my parents that I would have a permanent full-time job before the end of January 2025, and I started at Enterprise on the 27th, so I'd say that worked out!

Equally obnoxious was that the nursing staff was very snobby and generally didn't get along with us Sodexo people; I rarely had to deal with nursing home staff, but the RNs were entitled and rude. The maintenance and housekeeping crews were very cool in my opinion, as were a lot of the funeral home employees who came to pick up recently deceased residents. The nursing home was built in 2002, and I am pretty sure that most of the equipment (ovens, stoves, sinks, fridges, etc) were original to the building. A lot of shit was worn out or just totally nonfunctional, which made our jobs even harder. The dishwasher broke down quite often, and the garbage disposal in the sink I used was broken by the time I started working there because one of my predecessors had attempted to unjam it with a fork!



Working at that nursing home for five months paid for my truck's new transmission and kept me out of the poor house, but I found myself in a "fuck this shit" state of mind within my first week of employment. The only thing that kept me there that long was the fact that my supervisors and some of my coworkers were genuinely good, caring people and we looked out for each other.

 

Last Friday, this Altima came in with bizarre paint fade on the passenger mirror…

 

What the mirror should look like…

 

The Altima also had some damage to the front bumper…

 

I drove a Ford Expedition yesterday that had the factory Bang & Olufsen stereo, and it was definitely good, but it still lacked the oomph of what I’ve got in my truck…

 

@ABA180

I also drove a Mitsubishi Outlander yesterday that had a decent stereo…

 

This Wagoneer with Rhode Island plates has been in our fleet at least as long as I’ve worked here, and it has the bizarre defect with the front passenger window…

 

This Dodge Durango with Wisconsin plates is going to be needing a new right rear tires; I have no idea how it’s holding air!

 

Damn, W.A.S.P.!?!?!?!? One of my all time faves..was lucky to see them twice in recent years.

 

This last page definitely puts the Autism in the title

 

I had my iPhone just streaming random hard rock songs on the way home from seeing Amanda’s late mother a year ago, and this one came up; I crank it in my truck regularly now!

 

Dude, you have to take a deep dive into them. Trust me now and thank me later.

 

Yet another Ram 1500 from Canada…

 

@Bishop84
@Cpl. Punishment
@Junkhead

Is it normal for Canadian market vehicles to have the odometer in miles? Note how the speedometer has km/h in larger font…

 

@ABA180

This truck has the factory Alpine stereo, and it sounds great!

 

@ABA180

This has something to do with it…