Life's Small Wins

[JLv3.0]

We've got an outdoor speaker for the boat where you plug a lead in from your phone and after 5 years it was doing the 'tension has to be just right in the cable to work' thing that we all remember from Walkman days, then stopped working completely.

400 quid for a new speaker. Or a tenner for the replacement socket board from the dealer which I replaced in about 45 minutes and now it's 100% again.

Yours?

[dinny_g]

Several kitchen knives past their best after years of use.

Contemplated some replacements (~£200) but instead, paid £13 for a wet stone and they’re now as sharp as fvck again?

[Rich B]

When I bought this M3 it had a non-working Bluetooth parrot unit (for phones not toothbrushes).

The guy said he never got it working but I thought I’d have a look. The tiny plug to the actual unit was not quite seated properly, took about 30 seconds to fix! I didn’t even need any tools or take anything apart!

[JLv3.0]

Ok now that's what the fuck I'm talking about, to both the above!

[DaveE]

I walked face first, and at some speed into a floor to ceiling glass wall the other day.

I didn't hurt myself seriously, but it hurt like fook and really shook me up.

But it knocked a tooth back into line - so that's a win IMO.

[JLv3.0]

I PROPER lol'ed at that

[NotoriousREV]

If you remember back to when I bought that cheap Astra convertible when the Stagea was broken, it ran very badly and the owners had had a mechanic try to solve the issue but couldn't. After some poking about and some Googling, I decided the MAF had gone bad so bought a new one. When I came to take the old one off (which was a new one fitted by the aforementioned mechanic), I realised it had been fitted the wrong way round. Turned it round and it ran perfectly.

[JLv3.0]

Again from the 'other' place - got the Audi back from a suspension change - Google the cost of RS4 shocks! - and the headlights looked like Jack Elam from The Cannonball Run. VCDS couldn't fix or clear it. Many thousands of pounds for a new headlight mit motors etc.

Got under the car - they'd missed a bolt that connects the headlight aim sensor to the rear left control arm.

One bolt - which I had in 'stock' - sorted

[Barry]

My SKY box started cutting out, blue screens, getting worse lately until today when it was cutting out and needed restarting to work again.

Swapped the HDMI for a spare this afternoon and its been spot on since..

The cutting out is what forced me to call SKY last week and sort my billing and upgrade to Sky Q (for peanuts I might add), so not all bad :p

[JLv3.0]

But did any teeth get repositioned?

Had the same on my projector - cutting out, being moody etc. New hdmi cable sorted it.

#winning

[Richard]

Years back my car failed it’s MOT because the headlights weren’t making the correct light shape

Apparently they tried different bulbs in case it was a quick fix, but they couldn’t get it to shine correctly. The only fix - new headlight cluster for £xxx

I declined their kind offer, and thought I’d have a little look myself before I handed over the £xxx plus fitting, plus VAT

Turns out, the bulb wasn’t quite poked far enough into cluster. It cost me £0 to fix

[V8Granite]

I fitted the wrong bolt into the ML tailgate hinge after drilling a broken one out.

I kept meaning to get new ones from Merc but never managed to do it.

After driving 200 miles to Bristol in the Landry, I parked at Sainsbury’s for a pooh and a bottle of juice. On the way to store I notice a bolt on the ground, yep, exactly the right size and a Torx head.

It’s still sat in the Landry mind you but that doesn’t happen every day.

Dave!

[dinny_g]

Love the unnecessary detail Dave...

[Broccers]

Are these all about money? Found a bank card the other day and handed it in to a local shop. Picked up some litter and put it in a bin. Everyday wins?

Or just being smug.

[Simon]

I was gonna post about something like this.

My exhaustive weekend work on the car over the past couple of months is not something I want to repeat. However. There is something I'm finding really satisfying about going through every weekend and fixing or improving something in my life that'll make the following week a little better. The car is an easy one. Ditto the car radio etc (see my entry in fleet running reports).

It's a bit therapeutic to make an improvement to your life every weekend. Last week I took delivery of some replacement drill bits to make up one of my many tool sets as complete again (some were broken). Little things, but that's an improvement right there.

[Mito Man]

Are these all about money? Found a bank card the other day and handed it in to a local shop. Picked up some litter and put it in a bin. Everyday wins?

Or just being smug.

About 10 days ago I saw a car broken down by the side of a remote road, a woman and her dog waiting for recovery. The dog was obviously thirsty and I always have a few bottles of water in my car so gave her some.
Last week I paid for a meal out with my folks, only noticed when walking back to the car that the bill was less than expected (the receipt only had a total and not a breakdown). Figured out that they forgot to charge £45 for the wine, but hey I'm not going to lose sleep over it, just put it down to good karma for the above.

[Simon]

Are these all about money? Found a bank card the other day and handed it in to a local shop. Picked up some litter and put it in a bin. Everyday wins?

Or just being smug.

About 10 days ago I saw a car broken down by the side of a remote road, a woman and her dog waiting for recovery. The dog was obviously thirsty and I always have a few bottles of water in my car so gave her some.
Last week I paid for a meal out with my folks, only noticed when walking back to the car that the bill was less than expected (the receipt only had a total and not a breakdown). Figured out that they forgot to charge £45 for the wine, but hey I'm not going to lose sleep over it, just put it down to good karma for the above.

I've sometimes recently been charged less than I should've in cafes and restaurants - I've pointed out that it was wrong and they were very grateful. Because these are small family run places and it wouldn't be right to profit from their mistake, 'good karma' or not...

[Rich B]

I was behind an old chap in Wickes the other day who’d returned to the shop (as in several days later) because he was charged for only one item in a bundle of 6 instead of the whole bundle. I can’t remember what it was but it was a decent sum of money. The girl at the til was totally dumbfounded!

Totally agree with the small business one though, I’ve been given the wrong change (£10 note back instead of £5 note etc) a few times over the years in places like little sandwich shops and I always point it out.

[JLv3.0]

Totally agree with that. On the flipside, if you are gifted something by mistake from a big corporation, and you try your best to return only to be faced with "computer says no" - it's yours

Mate of mine got an email recently - Dear Simon [ his name is Noel ] - your full DeWalt Power Tool Collection will be delivered to you today, please confirm your address.

This is a grand's worth of kit so he replied to the email - bounced.
Went online - no good (as it never came from him, I guess how could it be?).
Phoned them, got stuck in Press 1 for frustration-induced heart attack hell for an hour.
Finally got through to someone who could only process a return if he gave them information only the actual buyer could have known - blocked.
Asked if he could bring it to the store - refunds only possible with original credit card sir. I don't want a refund, it's not mine. OK make sure original buyer is present. I don't know who he is. OK sir bye.

He gave up, and kept it. Not ideal, and hopefully the original buyer was taken care of, but he tried.

[JLv3.0]

Are these all about money? Found a bank card the other day and handed it in to a local shop. Picked up some litter and put it in a bin. Everyday wins?

Or just being smug.

Whatever makes you happy to share. Does anything make you happy?

The subject of the thread is not complex - don't overthink it.