New tires! Who doesn’t like getting a new set of tires? It gives you that same rejuvinated feeling that you get when you, say, get a fresh haircut or a new inguinal hernia support belt. I just got a new set of tires for my Citroën 2CV in anticipation of our 1rd Autopian Members Only Track Day, which you should absolutely come to, if at all possible. Reschedule that surgery! Skip that funeral/wedding/b’nai mitzvah/coronation and head over and join us for some track-time fun!
Anyway, I’ve needed to get some new tires for the 2CV regardless, since the ones on the car may pre-date the birth of my teenage son and are pretty dry-rotted. There’s no way they’d be allowed on a track, and probably shouldn’t be allowed on normal public roads, either. So, I finally got a new set of tires, and the 2CV is somewhat unique among classic cars in that there seems to be an overwhelming consensus about what tires to get: Michelin X tires.
There’s a reason for this, one that has some historical import to the greater automotive world as a whole, and I’ll get into that in a moment. But first, let’s look at how bad my old tires were:
Oy, yeah, those aren’t great. They look like they’re made of iguana skin. The date code says they were from late May, 2009, which means these tires are old enough to drive themselves now, given proper training. Because these skinny-ass tires are sort of hard to find now, I kept the old ones, for some hypothetical emergency/civilization collapse, but I hope I never need to actually use these again.
Okay, let’s take a moment to talk about why these tires are the only ones to get for a 2CV and why they’re such a big deal. The reason has to do with the fact that Michelin actually owned Citroën at the time of the 2CV’s development. Michelin took a controlling interest in Citroën in 1934, after the company put itself in financial jeopardy developing the wildly-advanced Traction Avant. The 2CV project started as the TPV (Toute Petite Voiture) project in 1936, and the Michelin X – the first mass-produced radial tire – was being developed at the same time.
In fact, the 2CV’s suspension design was co-developed with these new radial tires, and that particular tire design should be considered an integral part of the 2CV suspension. The qualities of a radial tire compared to the then-common bias-ply tires all factor into the 2CV’s suspension setup, relying on radial tires’ more flexible sidewalls, less rolling resistance, better heat dissipation, and so on.
As a result, the 2CV became the first car to be equipped with radial tires as standard when it was officially released in 1948/1949, and within a couple of decades, this would be come the overall standard for the entire automotive industry, continuing to this day. If the 2CV can be said to have a technical influence on the greater automotive world, this is how.
This is why 2CV people are so into Michelin X tires: they were designed specifically for the 2CV. So, that’s what I got, because I’m not here to make trouble. Well, not that kind of trouble.
The specific size of tire the 2CV uses is hilariously archaic compared to modern tires, 125R15, making for something that looks more like a motorcycle tire or a large O-ring than a normal tire. A stack of four of the tires I ordered was about two modern tires tall.
Taking a car like an old Citroën to a tire shop is a bit different of an experience than taking a modern, mainstream car, mostly because no one really knows exactly how to interact with it. When they asked for my keys so the service people could drive it into the bay, I told them that if they’d like, I’m happy to drive it in, since it’s all a bit weird. They assured me their techs would have no problem.
That was not the case.
I wanted to get some video of a baffled tech trying to figure out how to start, let alone drive the thing, but they snuck out to the car too quickly for me, and realized that this was not something they were equipped for before even getting in. I saw the tech standing by the car, looking somewhat befuddled, and went over to the car. He was happy to let me drive it in, as nothing is really where you think it should be in a 2CV. I’m sure he’d have been fine once I explained it, but the man has work to do, so he just handed me back the keys.
Fine by me!
Once in the bay I was happy to see that they took care to figure out where to best position the floor jacks, and it was fun to see it free of wheels, giving me a decent idea of what it’d look like if it was a hover-car:
I think it works as a hover-car! The skirted rear fenders definitely help with that.
Look at those snazzy new shoes! I’m excited to try them out on the track later this month; really feel those skinny bagels grip the road and flex their sidewalls or whatever they’re going to do.
Anyway, new tires. See, sometimes I make rational decisions! To celebrate, here’s a picture of my cat Neptune calculating if he can grab a piece of sushi from between my chopsticks:
Oh, and that’s an outdoor carpet on a deck. My indoor floors are not that filthy, I promise.
And you got them balanced as well?
Most regular tire shops don’t have equipment for handling the French steel rims with no center hole.
Thats a great cat right there!
What? No Fuckstones?
https://www.theautopian.com/holy-crap-you-can-buy-motorcycle-tires-called-fckstones/
Did the tire shop have an adapter to balance those?? There isn’t even a hole in the middle of the wheel, right?
I don’t think it goes fast enough for the balance to matter.
My cousin still has my old 2CV and he uses 145R15s on it.
So it has the “Sport Package”?
Yep.
He’s had that car 30 years now, and has driven it through the Sahara, so I assume anything he does with it is the right thing.
He’s so much cooler than me.
2CVs are the definition of cool, IMHO. Though I would imagine that’s a pretty hot ride in the Sahara – I am a far too delicate flower for such shenanigans.
You’re not going to do a Burt Munro job on the tires, are you? “I’m making racing tires!”
I’m afraid to ask, but how does one end up with an Argentinian license plate?
It’s possible if you leave the US and go there, but I understand that’s a stretch for most Americans unless they are in the Military. 😉
I love Neptune, I want Neptune! 🙂
Yes, more cat pics. And rename the site to The Catopian.
“Who doesn’t like getting a new set of tires? “
Someone who doesn’t want to spend the money?
“But first, let’s look at how bad my old tires were:”
If they hold air, don’t worry… they’re fiiiiiine…
“The specific size of tire the 2CV uses is hilariously archaic compared to modern tires, 125R15, making for something that looks more like a motorcycle tire or a large O-ring than a normal tire.”
I think one of my previous cars had that tire size… for the spare tire!
Checking… ah yes… the 2006 PT Cruiser I had came with a spare tire that had the size T125/70D15.
Interestingly that D speed rating should mean it’s only rated for 65km/h. But I recall seeing a label that said not to exceed 80km/h.
Still not sure why you kept the old ones, they will be more dry rotted at any point in the future and will be useless for emergency use. Not to mention you will need to get them mounted which will probably be when the tire fails and explodes as you try to inflate them.
A reputable (or even quasi-reputable) tire shop won’t mount tires that old anyway, as I’ve learned the hard way, so Jason will be looking at mounting them himself during the upcoming tirepocalypse. I recommend getting the necessary irons in advance.
He could get some more old tires, paint them white and go as Bibendum for Halloween.
Too cheap to pay for the disposal?
Pretty sure they charge for that no matter what. They call it the disposal fee for the new tires. It doesn’t matter that you can’t drop off old tires for disposal without paying.
“I kept the old ones, for some hypothetical emergency/civilization collapse”
Or chewmaxxing
HELL YES
This has, sadly, becoming more and more common with just a manual transmission.
Usually it ends up having the baffled younger tech return to find the “old” tech to drive it in – or a suggestion that I drive my own car into their shop.
If you want to be a jerk you can tell the tech to “go find a grown-up”!
As much as my old grumpy self would smile at this, it’s not worth aggravating the kid who’s going to actually do work on your car – much like at a restaurant to trust them not to spit in your burger for being a jerk.
I have never actually said it out loud, but when I had to take my car into the dealer for a recall, the panic in the eyes of the teenage lot porter when he saw the clutch pedal made him look like a toddler.
I can’t help but smile in those situations.
It’s when they have the look of “I got this” and you see your car bunnyhop.
BTDT when I got tires on my 128i. Kid had no idea how to drive a stick, and being pandemic-time there was no older tech in the shop.
Brandon and I first argued over how you were getting the 2CV to Lime Rock – he thought you would drive it since you long-distance drove the Yugo and I thought you would trailer it…
Now we’re arguing about how you would trailer it. I think this is a job for the Marshal and he thinks you’re getting a press vehicle. We haven’t bet any money yet, which is good because I saw that your truck broke down recently, but hey, I think Marshal is just waiting for a long-distance opportunity to prove itself.
And I thought I had a hard time with tires for the CRX and i3
My tyre shop refused to believe the wildly staggered tyres front and back on my Europa were for the same car.
Getting a matching set of 195/45R17 and 235/40R18s was a pain. Much easier that finding the OE spec 175/55R17 front though.
Is it common in the states for tire shops to just put your car up on multiple floor jacks, especially without stands?
Even in the sketchiest back-woods shop I could find, they’ve always put my vehicles on a hoist.
It does seem to be common in some areas. I’ve seen it way too many times to count when I’ve visited So Cal over the decades but haven’t seen it done in my area. I’d certainly not take any of my vehicles to one of those places for tires.
Like, I’ve seen them chuck a car on jack stands in front of a shop when they were out of space (small 1 or 2 bay shops). But I’ve seen scores of pics and vids out of the US where cars are just up on 4 hydraulic jacks with no stands.
I haven’t seen 4 jacks, 3 is what I’ve seen and certainly no jack stands.
Same here. The tire shop I patronize uses Harbor Freight floor jacks exclusively, which I find a bit keister-clenching to watch when applied to my namesake vehicle.
Yikes! A Sprinter on HF jacks. I understand the kiester-clenching.
They probably used 4 jacks because they weren’t dealt any kings or queens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_GSIw0X0w
They should’ve called the King of Queens, then.
That joke was ace.
I’m used to seeing either 2-column drive-on hoists or paired single-column hoists with two pivoting arms each used almost exclusively, aside from when every bay is full and they want to do a quick tire fix. Except when I brought my old car to an quickie oil change shop, and it would be no hoist, just a pit.
I’ve seen two with no jackstands fairly often (one side at a time). When all bays full or – as in this case – working with something unusual (or overly large like tall van or RV) that might not fit on the lift. Never seen 4 jacks at once.
It’s a thing. Especially with crusty cars that are suspect for getting on the lift.
The one time my car got the four jack treatment it was also a Tire Rack recommended installer.
In Las Vegas, there are two categories of tire shops:
a] Big chain stores, like Discount tire or Pep Boys plus big box stores like Walmart and Costco. They all use hoists because the lawyers say so and they don’t like liability. Most of them won’t do anything besides installing the stock size tires.
b] the exclusively Latino-owned and operated independent stores. They’re open 24 hours and have stacks of sketchy used tires, in case you’re broke and get a flat at 3am. They’re happy to do whatever you want in terms of mounting any tire you bring them. Oversized or undersized? They don’t care. You want to put tires on wheels that are too wide or narrow? They’ll make it work. Cash only, no receipt. They charge a lot less than the chains. And their isn’t a hoist in sight.
The shops in (b) are truly some of the most useful things about living on the east side of town. My favorite is Llantera Tio Pepe at Eastern & 95 that just goes by the name ‘Tires’ online.
The other great thing about them is that so many of them have taco trucks outside so you can have the best tacos of your life while you wait.
We should hold The Autopian Vegas meetup there!
OMG. I pulled up this tire shop on Google Maps and it’s exactly as you and Eggsalad described. Only says “Tires” on the map. On Street View you can see a sign saying “OPEN 24 Hrs.” And on the corner of the lot is a taco trailer. On another corner of the lot is an SUV with the trunk open with coolers in the back. I assume they’re selling tamales.
I always thought they used the car’s compressor to lift the subject wheel.
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7asO_d_mP7o
No compressor on a 2CV.
I mean, I have a shop literally 2 doors down from my house that operates the same as B, they just use hoists.
Although this feels like it’s more common in places that don’t see winter
Only at the sketchiest tire shops. The least they could do is place jack stands under the car. This reeks of laziness, not caring about safety and a general lack of professionalism.
This is why I find whatever way possible to just bring the tires/wheels in separate from the car. I luckily have more than one functional car so I can lift one up, pull the wheels, then take them in the other car. When I only had one functional car I found ways to have a second set of tires/wheels to swap on (normally the snow tires for the car). I just have had too much trouble with tire places refusing to mount tires on wheels that was not to the OE spec of the car or, not knowing how to drive manual, etc, or even worse, over torquing the absolute HELL out of the wheels when they put them back on. I have done everything in my power to have the tools and knowledge for just about any repair/modification I need to do, but I have not been able to save up enough for a good tire mounting machine (needs to be able to handle low profile, wide tires) so I am stuck going to someone for this one task.
What’s interesting here is that this was happening at a reputable, nationwide chain shop. I have seen them do that at my local location in California, too. That particular chain will do a proper plug-patch repair on your tire for FREE (assuming that it’s not internally damaged or worn out), regardless of where you bought the tire. They have patched 3 or 4 tires on my company cars over the years, and they won’t let me pay them!
Quite common at the cheaper shops. Some even just do it in a the parking lot.
Can’t say I have seen one do multiple jacks though, in my experience they just change one tire at a time.
Not an issue for me – I don’t trust tire shop monkeys to torque lug bolts properly, so I rarely take them the car anymore, usually just the wheels. Though I will also say as one who had tire machines in his garage for a few years thanks to a mechanic buddy between shops – the pittance they charge to mount and balance tires is worth every penny. Hard dirty work, especially on modern cars with monster flywheels and low-profile tires.
Good work. Hopefully they didn’t over-inflate the tires. I think these are supposed to be at something very low like 22 psi. I bought a tire gauge that maxed out at 40 psi so that I could get an accurate reading for stuff like this.
Yeah, 20 up front, 26 rears. I told them specifically that!
In my experience, “I told them to put x pounds” rarely yields the desired result. But with this car, maybe they listened.
They may have listened but given my own experiences with unusual cars with unusual specifications I’d check the pressures myself anyway.
I had the same experience. They had inflated to 30 pounds because they couldn’t conceptualize that the tires (and rubber bands in the seats) were key parts of the suspension. Huge improvement as soon as I dropped to spec pressure.
My wife and I retrieved a Mini Cooper from Arizona (to SE Texas) after her ex-husband (who she had bought the car for) passed away. The ride was abusive. I couldn’t believe how harshly it rode. After getting it there, I did my monthly checks of tire pressures on our vehicles and was astounded to see dead ex-dude had them pumped up to 55 psi. Some 20 psi above recommended. It rode somewhat better after releasing some Arizona air out of them.
Neptune is clearly trying to use the Force to free your sushi from the grip of your chopsticks.
Jason’s Force is stronger: “This is not the spicy tuna roll you’re looking for.”
Neptune: “I will watch you eat that since I can foresee the future and the regret you will soon experience.”
What’s going on with license plates in North Carolina? The truck has had “Farm Use” plates for years and the 2CV is sporting plates from Argentina.
My title arrived for the Prius yesterday, so I need to go get it registered. My Miata plates expire this month, so that would be a nice annual hit of almost $500 every June to renew plates on the 2 cars. Do you think I could get buy on Farm Use plates for a few months before registering the car; to spread out the future pain a bit?
I’ll be getting real plates on it very soon! NC is thankfully generous about timelines for that. It’s a wonderful state.
Having freshly moved to NC with 5 vehicles to register (including the car trailer), I found it rather expensive to register. But we expected that with the property tax here.
What caught me by surprise was the VIN inspection. Never was asked for one of them before and the 1977 K5 was a real concern for me since I don’t know how many different vehicles made up the entirety of the vehicle. It’s older than me, so I can’t possibly know the whole history, and the frame looks way newer than the body! Fortunately, the Erwin DMV passed me through with minimal issues once I got it there… still had me sweating bullets!
There’s currently a RHD Defender 90 sitting in the lot of my office building in Cary, NC wearing Scotland plates. My Ram 50 sports California plates. It’s never been to Cali as far as I know and they’re not even real plates anyway.
If it’s a Scottish Landie, it might need regular top-ups of Buckfast to keep it happy.
…let’s all just be cool here…
Since your observations about lax enforcement in NC are largely accurate, the solution to your problem becomes clear. Whichever car you drive less, let the registration get a month or two out of date. When you do renew it you’ll pay some extra fines, but the new registration will expire 12 months from the date of renewal, not the original expiration date. So your cars will no longer have their cycles synced up.
Note: This advice is in jest and I do not actually recommend doing this.
I can only imagine what was going through your head during the interval between “no, we got this” and “yeah can you drive it in?”
I find when at a shop these days, I’m increasingly taken up on my offer to just move it myself vs “sorry but can you hang on while we get someone who can drive a manual?”
When I dropped my car for new tires I mentioned it was a manual just to be on the safe side and the guy seemed offended that I would even bring it up.
Then I watched a young kid go out to grab it, stare in befuddlement for a bit, then ask an older coworker to pull it in.
It was always entertaining to take my ’83 F150, equipped with a 3-on-the-tree, into shops. There was a good chance the tech would get in the cab and suddenly just start staring blankly at a lever on the column and three pedals below. It was mind-bending for individuals who’d never seen such a thing before.
Wow besides a fun litteration “3 on the tree Ford 83″…
I didn’t know there were any column shifted manual trans. cars/light trucks sold in the US new in the 1980s and I grew up mostly in the 80s as a car nut and I drove manual cars as my daily from 16 – 40 (yrs old)
When they first hit the market, the 7th generation F150s were delightfully anachronistic. The chassis, body, and interior were all completely modernized. Everything attached to them was entirely from the 1960s and 70s. The most modern thing on them was the solid-state ignition — which was still really a 1970s design.
True modernization of the F-series started midway through that generation’s lifecycle, with the introduction of the diesel in the F250 and F350, and throttle-body fuel injection on the 5.0 V8 (adopted from Ford’s cars using that engine.)
It’s probably part of what helped the F150 grab so much market share. While the trucks looked new and advanced in 1980, there was really absolutely nothing on them that was unfamiliar or required new training for shops to service. Everything mechanical worked and went together the same way it had virtually for decades. There were zero surprises to owners and shops. For a vehicle expected to just do work, day in and day out, it cemented the F150 right where Ford’s marketing department wanted it — a pinnacle of durability and reliability with a modern wrapper. You could make a point that it was really was just a 1960s/70s pickup in fancy dress; nothing groundbreaking at all about it. But truck buyers then were conservative and focused on value, reliability, and ease of (often self-) service. The “new” 1980 F150s met those needs perfectly. They really didn’t break any new ground, but they excelled at being cromulent. Sometimes that’s the best thing to do.
Wow thank you for the detailed reply! Sounds like a vehicle, if I could justify its need, that I would love to own.
Built with ease of repair logically speaking should be one of the top design considerations for all durable products.
That’s kind of why the upcoming Slate truck is getting so much attention. Simplicity is attractive to many potential buyers.
It’s why I prefer to keep older, used trucks for doing Truck Things. They’ll either always run or can be fixed quickly and easily to get back to running. That means the more modern cars in the household fleet are fine to be more complicated and fussy — without being so stress-inducing if they do need more attention. The truck is always there for transportation and parts runs.
I completely agree on Both points!
My nephew is in the early stages of his career as a mechanic, and was hot to drive my Boxster when he was visiting, so my daughter taught him to drive a stick on her Mazda 3 (which he picked up shockingly fast) and was good enough by his next visit that he could handle the Boxster. His first car was a beater Nissan Z of some type with a stick, and he just bought a Mustang GT with a manual (and apparently got a great deal as none of the other interested buyers could drive it). So, not all of the young mechanics out there are clueless on a proper transmission.
I was at a friend’s office a while back when a delivery guy pulled up in an older Accord. He left it running and came into the lobby. I was looking out the window and saw someone hopping in his car. I called out the the delivery guy that someone was stealing his car. He just shrugged and said they won’t be able to get in the trunk where the parcels are since the remote release was broken. I was a bit confused until I saw the would be thief get out and walk away. I asked the delivery driver if it was a MT and he confirmed. I also asked if the thief had even released the handbrake. We went out and looked and he hadn’t.
Having never driven a 2CV if I were the tire tech. handed the keys I too would be curious how the heck to drive ‘that thing’ when I saw it. Given it is basically the French VW Beattle aka French people’s car designed almost a century ago I cant think of any car that sold in the millions that was more basic in the sense of made of as few actual parts as a 2CV with maybe the exception of the Ford Model T.
Design wise + being French (and Citroen nonless who delightfully and famously liked tondo things their own way) I would expect the controls to be rather unique to experience.
Owner willing to give a brief overview, I’d also want to experience driving it, even if it was simply the walking pace shuffle from thr lot to the garage bay
Spicy tuna roll? Anyhow, glad to see the new tires; those old ones are positively scary. Looking forward to meeting you and seeing the 2CV in person.
North Carolina. The gas station sushi options are limited.
Another reason to love the great 2CV.
There can’t be too many options in 125R15. Ninety seconds of intensive research revealed there’s a Firestone option, but not much else.
I think I’ve seen sidehacks with more meat on their rims (I’m told sidecar pilots prefer bias-ply for some reason.)
Vredestein makes one but the Michelins do a better job of fitting the character of the car:
https://www.vintagetyres.com/vredestein-quatrac-classic-125sr15-69s
Interesting license plate tidbit:
I see that this 2CV is sporting Argentina tags, and up until now, I didn’t know that the numbers on those tags was embossed, rather than stamped from behind with raised numerals.
After the plate is stamped with a unique #, the paint is applied to the raised areas to provide contrast. Nearly all stamped license plates have the numbers painted after the number is applied. This Argentina tag has the background painted black and the white embossed numerals remain white.
This is interesting as Vermont (where I lived for 35 years) is the only other state that produces plates this way – numerals are embossed into the white blank and then the green paint is applied to the background – leaving behind white numerals.
…maybe only interesting to me. 😉
And as you probably know, the green they used on that center section in the mid ’00s fades like crazy.
While I was never a victim of the Great Fade of 2003, I certainly witnessed the devastation it wrought across the verdant hills of the state.
That is interesting. Thanks!
You must tell us about the license plate bars you frequent.
License plate donut shops.
This is an interesting tidbit, but If I’m understanding correctly I think your terminology is off.
Embossing is how “typical” plates are made, where the letters are raised above the background.
What you’re describing is actually called “debossing.”
Right. The easy way to remember is that “em-“ means roughly “causing to be,” and embossing is creating a raised boss. No relation to Springsteen, or that so-called superior who gives you grief all day.
Now I’ve learned something else today. Thanks!
I’m fairly certain the only reason I know this is it came up in a comment section discussion here on the Integra and its “embossed” (actually debossed) badge on the front bumper.
It’s amazing what you can learn in prison.
A man has a lot of time to just think…
For the second track day, I’ll need to see it equipped with 315 Hoosiers. Shouldn’t be that difficult. I hear you’re handy with a chainsaw.
Why do so many articles have a 0 instead of an O (“…suspension design was c0-developed…”)? I MUST KNOW!
It’s a secret code I send to my handlers in low-Earth orbit. Also, I fixed it.
Missed my 0pp0rtunity to call this 0ne 0ut…
Ha, just boring old typos? I kept seeing it in Bishop and Torch articles and thought: definitely their secret article-indexing trick or something!
I can’t even imagine how hard you are to handle from orbit.
It has to do with his typical overreach. Which is why his articles are so awesome!
0verreach
Some demented designer hundreds of years ago decided to put them right next to each other on a standard keyboard layout.
See also: “pwned”
You probably know, but the QWERTY layout was designed to prevent the metal bars in a typewriter from clumping together with frequently used letter combinations during rapid typing. There’s always the Dvorak keyboard, but God help you re-training your brain/muscle memory on the different layout.
With my hunt and peck method, I wouldn’t have to do much retraining.
To quote Mitch Hedberg, “If I had nine of my fingers missing I wouldn’t type any slower.”
One of my favorite pranks when somebody leaves their desk with their computer unlocked is to remap their keyboard. They get so confused.
That’s diabolical.In college a friend’s phone language was set to Hebrew. That was disastrous.
I usually just replace their desktop image with a racy picture of Prince or Burt Reynolds.
At one job, a guy (we’ll call him Biz) ran a mouse through the shared cubicle wall and plugged it into the back of the next guy’s (Mr. X) computer. So at odd times throughout the day, the Mr. X would see random cursor moves taking place, like it was being remote controlled.
He called IT, who scanned for security things, but found nothing. IT replaced his mouse. Problem persisted! IT then replaced his mouse pad, which was hilarious. Problem still happening! Most of us knew what was going on, and somebody was going to break down soon anyway, so Biz and I set up a scenario.
So I went to Mr. X and told him that I was sorry, but I’ve been controlling his computer with my mind. “What?” “Look, I’ll show you. Mouse up!” <mouse moves down>. “Sometimes my control isn’t that good. Mouse left!” <mouse moves right>. “Biz you dope, you’re holding the mouse upside down!” Laughter ensues.
It was actually good-natured, and a friendly place to work. Mr. X had been very standalone and withdrawn, and after this he was part of the group and happier. And friggin’ IT never noticed that there was extra cable coming out of the wall and into a USB port when they had replaced his mouse.
“Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
Had a tech working for me in a telecom tech center who kept forgetting to log out before going home. Had a talk each time. After the 3rd time, since I worked late (24 hr site), I sent myself an internal email from his account telling me just what he thought of me. Responded to him with my disappointment and we should talk.
Next day the absolute horror this guy had coming to talk was all I needed to make my point. Told him immediately to his relief, we laughed and there were several “you SOB,” but never happened again.
At another job, we took a screenshot of someone’s desktop with all their icons on it, then took all the icons away temporarily to a hidden folder, then changed their desktop wallpaper to their desktop with the icons.
We fixed it before he called IT because he was double-clicking and none of his icons worked!
I did that one once, and he did call IT. They caught on almost immediately.
The one time IT actually knew what was going on…
A funny thing with this guy was that he even did some diagnostics, “see, if I make a new desktop icon it works fine, but my regular ones don’t work>”
Back in the days of corded desk phones we would just take the cord off the handset. You’d get someone repeatedly trying to answer a call and not even notice the missing cord. There was one guy we would do it to every few weeks. He would have forgotten by then.
I had a coworker go on a tear with unlocked PCs. He set it so that all of the graphics and pics in the browsers with Hoff naked with a kitten
Nah that’s a myth, it’s real easy to jam a typewriter with qwerty too
It was designed for telegraph operators
It’s funny, as poor a typist as I am I hardly ever break out into the numerals row – didn’t even occur to me as I am so smart, S-M-R-T!
It would confuse the Highway Patrol dispatcher if they tried to run a plate such as 0O00OO0O…
About that…
https://xkcd.com/1105/