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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 20, 2015 20:49:02 GMT -6
I am about 7 weeks into living in Texas and there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't run into something that makes me go "WTF"? I'm thinking of collecting these stories and maybe writing a book, tentatively titled, "Texas WTF?". Then I thought it might be easier if I just wrote them here and you guys could laugh and wretch right along with me.
This will be a recurring theme in this thread, no doubt, but the service ethic here absolutely sucks. Not the work ethic of people, per se, but the process through which service gets done. Here are a few examples...
I wanted some trees cut down. I had three guys give me bids. I gave the business to one of them. I asked him when he could start. He said he would get back to me. It was nearly three weeks before he texted me and said "we are going to start your job tomorrow". The workers did a good job, but the lack of communication was not something I was used to. But oh brother, I was just getting started with my Texas education.
We have propane here, not nat gas, so I needed someone to tear open my gas dryer and replace the natural gas connection inside the dryer with the propane connection. I can handle a lot of handyman type stuff, but I don't fuck with gas contraptions other than simple hookups. I really don't want my house to go boom in the night. I don't usually do electricity either beyond simple wiring stuff.
But I digress. I got a handyman referral from my realtor, called the guy and he said "sure I can do that". Great. When? "Don't know, I'll call you back." Yep, more than two weeks went by and my wife is bitching holy hell cause we don't have a working dryer. I call him repeatedly. No response. Then, one morning, he shows up at my door ready to fix my dryer. He did the job. So far, the dryer is working fine, so I guess he did it right.
I told him I had some other handyman jobs. He said "great, I can do anything," he said. I said for him to call me when he could come over again. That was nearly a month ago.
First day we were here, my wife called a locksmith to change the locks on our house. Guy says sure I can do that. More than two weeks went by with my wife calling every day or two. She called somebody else. They said they could do it but didn't know when. The first guy then shows up a few days later but doesn't have his tools with him.
Are all these people so busy they can't schedule themselves or their customers? Or do each of them live day to day and don't know what they are going to do until they wake up each day and decide how much they feel like working that day?
First week I was here, I bought a Deere tractor. The guy from the Deere dealership delivers it to me, but forgets the key. Nice looking tractor I have that I can't use. Great start to a beautiful friendship. The dealership is 40 miles away. He takes off to go back to the dealership to get the key. He comes back ten minutes later and says he realized the key was in his pocket. I want what he was having that day.
The tractor was improperly wired at the factory and it stopped working the first day. In fact, it stopped working while the guy was still here. He jerry rigged the wiring to work so I could get some grass cut. He said they would come back the next week to pick up the tractor and fix it right. Three weeks later they returned.
Which reminds me, by the way, that "nothing runs like a Deere". Except when it doesn't.
Texas. WTF?
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Texas WTF?
Aug 20, 2015 21:02:04 GMT -6
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Aug 20, 2015 21:02:04 GMT -6
This thread is gonna be great.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 20, 2015 21:32:45 GMT -6
My wife and I volunteered at a food kitchen for the poor a few Saturdays ago. The one thing that struck me about the people who came into the place was how obviously poor they were. Most didn't have cars. They walked in. A few that had cars had really really bad cars that were old, falling apart and might not even be safe to drive. I asked a few of them if they had jobs or were looking for work. They all said they had no job but were always looking. Jobs are hard to find when you have little skills, aren't very presentable to a potential employer, and don't have reliable transportation to get to work. (Public transportation is pretty much non-existent outside the city proper and this is a small somewhat rural town outside the city). But that wasn't what stood out the most. Seems like every adult had a cell phone and several had nice iphone 5s and 6s. So they can't afford to buy food for themselves or their kids (lots of kids were there with their parents(, but they can afford to spend whatever money they do have on expensive cell phones and the service plans that go with them?
Texas. WTF?
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Post by Danny Busch on Aug 20, 2015 22:05:12 GMT -6
That shit is not unique to tx. I have worked with some people here that make me shake my head. Constantly blowing people off and then just showing up one day when they feel like it. I like my I's dotted and t's crossed. I swear I have had to ask guys before...."so are you planning in calling the homeowner or just randomly showing up at their door"? They were planning on just showing up.
Kay's guys say" were on time or you don't pay a dime"
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Post by Positivity KS on Aug 20, 2015 22:39:38 GMT -6
That shit is not unique to tx. I have worked with some people here that make me shake my head. Constantly blowing people off and then just showing up one day when they feel like it. I like my I's dotted and t's crossed. I swear I have had to ask guys before...."so are you planning in calling the homeowner or just randomly showing up at their door"? They were planning on just showing up. Kay's guys say" were on time or you don't pay a dime" Steve Holland would be appalled by all of this.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 21, 2015 6:23:18 GMT -6
And then there is the exact opposite....Time Warner Cable. A few weeks before we moved in, I had scheduled the cable guy to come and they set a time ...."Wednesday", the first full day we would be in the house. Every day between the day it was scheduled and the day of service, I got a call from Time Warner. The first few days, the calls were people "confirming my order". Then, for like ten straight days, I got automated calls "confirming my appointment time". Then, after the guy came, I got personal calls three straight days asking me to rate their service. I finally told the person "you get a freaking zero because your daily calls are annoying as hell. Don't call me again. " That seemed to work. I haven't gotten any more calls asking me to rate the cable guy/service.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 21, 2015 7:37:42 GMT -6
I went into a bank to open a checking account and get a safe deposit box. "Sir, you will need proof of your address and your Social Security card". I told the young lady I had that, but I didn't have my card with me but knew my number. Her response: "You KNOW your social security number? " She seemed genuinely amazed, but not convinced, I actually knew my SS number. "Yes, maa'm, I have been using that number for 45 years, so yeah, I know it. She didn't believe me. "Most people don't know their number or they are wrong. We will need to see the card". I told her thank you and left and went to another bank. I felt dumber for just walking in there. Now I will also probably feel dumb every time I drive by that place. Later, after setting up accounts with a bank that apparently believed me when I gave them my SS #, I was thinking, why do they do that? Are people here that stupid they don't know their Social Security number? Do they have a problem with illegals? Do I --a 60 year old balding white guy who speaks English -- look like an illegal? I guess it's just their "policy", just as it is with the grocery store clerks who ask to see my ID when I buy alcohol. But companies with that kind of policy aren't my kind of company. Next choice please...
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 21, 2015 7:48:12 GMT -6
I went into the water company right after the house closing to get my water turned on. I knew this was going to be an adventure because it was the only utility that required an in-person visit and wouldn't set up an account over the phone. I needed to produce the "DEED" that I actually owned the home. I had to show the DEED to get water service. Amazing. Apparently, Texas has a big problem of people ordering water for houses they don't live in. Or something. Since there is only one water provider, I didn't have a "next choice please". But I had a feeling something was not right with Aqua Water.
And sure enough, at the end of July, I found out even more about this wonderful water cooperative. I got my first water bill for the first three weeks of service. Besides the usual water people use, I have about 75 sprinklers in the yard that I run every three nights and have had to add about two inches of water a week to the pool. So I was prepared for a hefty water bill. The bill came and it was $15. No shit. $15 for three weeks of water during the hottest part of the year. So there is a long-term drought here, but apparently there is no incentive to cut back because the cost is so freaking low. This is the first time I've ever been in a "water cooperative". Apparently it means that there is no profit, it's just a collective of people who share in the actual cost of water. And because they had a lot of rain in May, there is plenty of water. No profit I guess means $15 a month for water for heavy users. Works for me, but something must be wrong with the meter or the reader or something. I'm preparing myself for the $2k "makeup" bill that I'm sure is coming somewhere in the future.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 21, 2015 13:13:22 GMT -6
There are all kinds of insects, rodents, animals and pests we have here that you don't have in the upper Midwest. Among the worst -- cutter ants. These little bastages have wings and bite you like a MFer. There are simple rules -- never walk out into the fields or open areas (other than well-maintained yards) without wearing long pants and boots. I have, on occasion, walked through my land with shorts on. Very bad idea. Getting stung by flying cutter ants (who don't stray too far from their mounds) is not fun. I was just out in the yard with a guy who is grinding stumps for me today. We have a few colonies of cutter ants. Time for the heavy artillery to kill those bastages before I start planting stuff. They can defoliate a citrus tree or a garden in a day.
Getting my Carl Spackler gear together to go to war tomorrow with the Cutter Ants. Pith Helmet. Check. Blue jeans and cowboy boots. CHeck. Long sleeved shirt. Check. Deep woods off to spray over every inch of my body. Check. The most hard core insect killer Home Depot sells. I'll check that box off tomorrow.
Coast vs. Cutter Ants. Something will die. Hopefully lots of them.
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Texas WTF?
Aug 21, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -6
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Post by Hawg Ass on Aug 21, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -6
Seems like maybe you should have stayed in the great state of Illinois.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 21, 2015 14:05:43 GMT -6
Ha. Hawg there are issues everywhere. The net is still way positive. Cutter ants ain't nothing to contend with, but Chicago north shore bitches, traffic and high costs of living drag you down even more in an entirely different way.
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Texas WTF?
Aug 21, 2015 14:13:28 GMT -6
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Post by Hawg Ass on Aug 21, 2015 14:13:28 GMT -6
Ha. Hawg there are issues everywhere. The net is still way positive. Cutter ants ain't nothing to contend with, but Chicago north shore bitches, traffic and high costs of living drag you down even more in an entirely different way. You ain't lying fella!
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Post by Positivity KS on Aug 21, 2015 14:19:35 GMT -6
Cutter ants sound like they'd be bad in the playoffs.
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Texas WTF?
Aug 21, 2015 14:29:47 GMT -6
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Aug 21, 2015 14:29:47 GMT -6
Cutter ants sound like they'd be bad in the playoffs. He's didn't say Cutler ants.
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Texas WTF?
Aug 21, 2015 15:00:10 GMT -6
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Post by Hawg Ass on Aug 21, 2015 15:00:10 GMT -6
Ha. Hawg there are issues everywhere. The net is still way positive. Cutter ants ain't nothing to contend with, but Chicago north shore bitches, traffic and high costs of living drag you down even more in an entirely different way. You ain't lying fella!
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All Drop In
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Post by All Drop In on Aug 21, 2015 18:28:22 GMT -6
That shit is not unique to tx. I have worked with some people here that make me shake my head. Constantly blowing people off and then just showing up one day when they feel like it. I like my I's dotted and t's crossed. I swear I have had to ask guys before...."so are you planning in calling the homeowner or just randomly showing up at their door"? They were planning on just showing up. Kay's guys say" were on time or you don't pay a dime" I'm with Kesha on the contractor note. When I left the corporate world to flip houses, lack of professionalism was rampant until I had a crew. Even some of the referrals.
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Post by All Drop In on Aug 21, 2015 18:32:51 GMT -6
And then there is the exact opposite....Time Warner Cable. A few weeks before we moved in, I had scheduled the cable guy to come and they set a time ...."Wednesday", the first full day we would be in the house. Every day between the day it was scheduled and the day of service, I got a call from Time Warner. The first few days, the calls were people "confirming my order". Then, for like ten straight days, I got automated calls "confirming my appointment time". Then, after the guy came, I got personal calls three straight days asking me to rate their service. I finally told the person "you get a freaking zero because your daily calls are annoying as hell. Don't call me again. " That seemed to work. I haven't gotten any more calls asking me to rate the cable guy/service. The reliance on surveys among HR and customer service middle managers is out of control. It's easier to have a meeting, to talk about the meeting everyone had about the previous meeting. Mostly because it's gutless people with an inability to train or hire properly. Instead, we need to put it in the hands of the consumer. Tell us what we're doing wrong. We're going to bother you in a passive aggressive fashion. Robocalls to insist you set aside ten minutes to tell us if we didn't do our job.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 25, 2015 5:30:31 GMT -6
I know the suckage that is Radio Shack is not unique to Texas, but I was reminded recently why this company is racing Sears and KMart to extinction. I needed some wires and stuff, so I go in there, pick out exactly what I needed and go to the counter. "Sorry Sir, I cannot check you out," said the obese, tattooed goth-like mass of uncertain gender behind the counter, as he//she/it looked up from some kind of video game. "Why not?". "Because the manager is out and only he can operate the cash register. "When will he be back". "Don't know", it said, now showing some annoyance as I was distracting it from whatever important game it was playing.
So the doors were open, but the store might as well have been closed. And retailers lament that people buy so much stuff online. I had to laugh though as I then noticed a few people who seemed to be waiting for the manager to return, so they could pay for their stuff. Now they must have exciting lives! "What did you do today?" "I went to Radio Shack all afternoon."
That would have been special I'm sure, but I passed. Went to Best Buy, bought the same stuff for maybe $10 more and put Radio Shack on the Dead to me list.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 25, 2015 8:25:12 GMT -6
Those of you who have lived in the South know about Southern hospitality. I know this is a broad brush generalization but people behind the counter are generally nicer, or sound nicer anyway, than Yankees. Maybe it's the syrupy drawl or the sweet nothings they call customers. In Texas, women have advanced the graciousness and friendliness in ways I haven't seen much elsewhere. Sweeter, nicer and more fun-loving.
For example, in Chicago you might get a waitress asking "you ready to order". Last night, our waitress asked "Findin something you like sweetheart?"). Little things sure, but Southern hospitality has a way of putting a smile on your face. And that's never a bad thing.
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Aug 25, 2015 8:59:42 GMT -6
Agreed Coast.
Every time I go to Oxford I never have a bad experience.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Aug 25, 2015 9:10:46 GMT -6
Oxford? Nice.
That's one place I have never been, but want to get to. (Along with College Station, Fayetteville and Baton Rouge). All the SEC fans know how to tailgate, but champagne and candelabras are an Oxford tradition, if I'm not mistaken. Now that's partying with Southern gentility. Nothing like Saturdays in the SEC. Won't be long now. And in Oxford, one can chase Faulkner's ghosts. So it has that going for it. Which is nice.
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Post by All Drop In on Aug 25, 2015 9:21:58 GMT -6
I used to travel the American South for business purposes quite often. I was at a training session, and I was in the men's bathroom on a break. I take a piss and wash my hands. The fine gentleman looks over at me and says "That's what cracks me up about you Yankees. You wash your hands after you piss. I know my dick is clean. We wash our hands first!"
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Aug 25, 2015 9:25:32 GMT -6
Oxford? Nice. That's one place I have never been, but want to get to. (Along with College Station, Fayetteville and Baton Rouge). All the SEC fans know how to tailgate, but champagne and candelabras are an Oxford tradition, if I'm not mistaken. Now that's partying with Southern gentility. Nothing like Saturdays in the SEC. Won't be long now. And in Oxford, one can chase Faulkner's ghosts. So it has that going for it. Which is nice. A couple of friends through work are from Oxford and went to Ole Miss. I've been down for a few games with them and I'd be hard pressed to think of a better time I had.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Sept 4, 2015 15:43:25 GMT -6
Finally got my car registered and my drivers license today. You knew that wouldn't be seamless or high tech. Had to get the car licensed first though I still don't understand why. Then I had to drive across town to get my license. A few notes: Both places REQUIRED my social security card. I had not used my actual card in maybe 40 years (I don't think any employer has ever asked to see the card) but now I've been asked for it three times in a month in Texas. And this is the fun one -- the wait in a very small office was over an hour. There were maybe ten people in line. One person on staff. Gotta love low cost Texas. Taxpayers pay less but we all pay in time lost for inefficient and antiquated government processes. The other fun one is no driver license photos with glasses. I have worn glasses since I was 9. I don't think I have ever had any photo taken since then where I wasn't wearing glasses. Welcome to Texas. I had to take off my glasses for the drivers license photo. No glasses allowed. So now I have a drivers license picture that doesn't look like me. So if you ever see the TSA agents at an airport asking people to take off their glasses, now you know why. They must be from Texas and their license doesn't look like them. And of course they are low tech...I got a piece of paper that is supposed to "tide me over" until the real license arrives in about 3 weeks. You think the Illinois Secretary of State is a hassle or inefficient government? You don't know hassle or inefficient. Cheap taxes good. Bad government services bad. Guess you get what you pay for.
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Sept 4, 2015 15:52:31 GMT -6
Texas, WTF?
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Post by Coast2Coast on Sept 4, 2015 17:14:59 GMT -6
We have "Water Wars" here. Here it is in a nutshell: Private companies have gone to poor ranchers/landowners and bought their land. They then have sunk water wells down thousands of feet into the aquifers. Then they went to state government and got the state to pay for pipelines because building pipelines means JOBS. So for the price of some cheap land, companies are now extracting millions of gallons of water from the aquifer, depleting our long-term water supplies, shipping the water for very low cost on virtually free pipelines and then selling the water hundreds of miles away to San Antonio and areas west of SA that don't have healthy aquifers. Steal our water under our land, get the government to provide free pipelines in the name of JOBS, ship the water away and sell it to others. This is libertarian government at its worst. Don't get in anybody's way or throw up any government interference that might prevent someone from stealing resources from others. In fact, help the thieves pull it off. Welcome to Amureka Texas. Where profits always trump people. Next time somebody tells you the wonderful philosophy that is Libertarianism, go ahead and puke. The facts in reality are much different than the allure of the philosophy.
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Texas WTF?
Sept 6, 2015 13:17:22 GMT -6
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Sept 6, 2015 13:17:22 GMT -6
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Texas WTF?
Sept 6, 2015 15:06:57 GMT -6
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Post by Coast2Coast on Sept 6, 2015 15:06:57 GMT -6
That should be the last football play those kids participate in. Did they do that entirely on their own? Doubtful. Coach goes too if he instigated it.
One thing that is interesting here is that newspaper articles tell where the officials are from. That doesn't help in tamping down anti-ref sentiment.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Sept 8, 2015 12:42:35 GMT -6
Update: The ref in question is white, and he ALLEGEDLY uttered racial slurs toward the Hispanic and African American players on the John Jay team, and ejected a few other players from the team earlier in the game. Who knows what is true at this point. Doesn't really matter, the kids are done no matter what. And if the ref really did say those things, he's probably done too. (Expect denials to that though from him and the other refs). A separate issue, but tangentially related in terms of how Texans disrespect referees -- The media throws fuel on the fire by noting the ref was from Austin, which is in the same general area as Marble Falls and a long way from San Antonio. Why does where the ref is from matter to the point it is published in the newspaper? The implication is that apparently to the media and fans in Texas, where refs are from does matter. It usually gets reported in a very disrespectful way to the refs. For example, one game story from a different game included this: "The refs from Fort Worth who accompanied the visiting team to the game did no favors to the home team from Austin."
How does that kind of reporting support good sportsmanship?
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Texas WTF?
Sept 16, 2015 9:56:08 GMT -6
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Post by Terry's Peeps on Sept 16, 2015 9:56:08 GMT -6
Texas High School Has Muslim Teenager Arrested for Building a Clock Gabrielle Bluestone Filed to: SAVE OUR SCHOOLS 9/16/15 9:20am Texas High School Has Muslim Teenager Arrested for Building a Clock A Muslim teenager who built a clock for a class project won a prize he really didn’t want: a nontransferable invitation to experience a Texas juvenile detention center, handcuffs and all. Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Irving MacArthur High student, seems to be a pretty smart kid who “makes his own radios and repairs his own go-kart,” according to the Dallas Morning News. But his latest invention—a clock housed in a pencil case—got him dragged out of school in handcuffs. According to the New York Times, the clock—which he hoped would impress his teachers—“had a digital display, built into a metal case with a circuit board.” But when he showed his English teacher, she called authorities and had him arrested. Responding officers say Mohamed repeatedly explained the device was a clock and although a police spokesperson says the department “had no reason to think it was dangerous,” they’re still suspicious, for reasons they’re having trouble articulating. But officers still did not believe Ahmed was giving them the whole story. “We have no information that he claimed it was a bomb,” Mr. McLellan said. “He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no broader explanation. “It could reasonably be mistaken as a device if left in a bathroom or under a car. The concern was, what was this thing built for? Do we take him into custody?” Now the department is doubling down on their mistake, telling the Dallas Morning News they’re debating charging Mohamed with making a hoax bomb—not just because he’s Muslim and they’ve seen an action movie or two, but probably for some other reason they’re holding back from the press due to the sensitive nature of an ongoing investigation, or whatever. “They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said. “I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.” “[The cop] said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’” In the meantime, Mohamed has been suspended from school for three days, though Mohamed’s principal admits in a letter sent home to parents, that “the item did not pose a threat to your child’s safety.”
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