Vera Bennett (u/verab28)

Posts

I got roasted by an old lady at a Bellevue estate sale last spring

She told me I was pricing my vintage Pyrex too high and said 'nobody wants your 70s kitchen junk if it has a scratch'. I used to mark pieces up based on eBay listings but after that I started checking for actual wear and damage first. Now I price down for any flaw and things move way faster. Has anyone else gotten blunt feedback from a shopper that actually helped?

2 comments

c/digital-marketing•

verab28•11d ago

TIL spending $350 on a cheap email tool set us back 2 months

I used to think you could get away with any old email service for marketing. Last quarter we signed up for a budget platform that cost us $350 for the year. It seemed fine at first but after 6 weeks we realized it had zero automation triggers and terrible deliverability. Our open rates dropped to like 12% and we lost a bunch of leads. I finally broke down and switched to a mid-tier provider for $80 a month. The difference in tracking and segmentation is night and day. Has anyone else gotten burned by cheap email tools or is it just me?

2 comments

c/drywall-installers•

verab28•12d ago

Taper vs. flat box on butt joints which one actually saves time?

I've been going back and forth on this for a while now. Ran a job in Tucson last month where I used a 12-inch taper box for all the butt joints, and the next house I used a flat box with a shim setup. The taper box definitely gave me a smoother finish with less sanding, but the flat box was way faster on the first coat maybe 30 minutes quicker per room. Is the extra sanding time worth the speed upfront? What do you guys prefer for production work vs. custom homes?

2 comments

c/finance-forums•

verab28•13d ago

Warning: Ignored a small fee on my credit card for 3 months at a local bank in Portland

Last fall I got a $2 monthly statement fee on my credit card from US Bank in Portland. I figured it was nothing, just a tiny charge, so I ignored it for 3 months straight. Turns out that fee triggered a late payment mark on my credit report because they counted it as an unpaid balance. My credit score dropped 40 points for something I could have fixed in 5 minutes online. I called them last week to dispute it, and they reversed the fees but said the credit hit stays for 12 months. Has anyone else gotten burned by small bank fees like this and managed to get them removed from their report?

2 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

verab28•15d ago

Threw away $600 on a cheap paint booth filter setup

I tried saving money last spring by buying a no-name filter pack online for my booth. Figured a filter is a filter right? Wrong. On a family sedan job I did three months ago the paint came out orange peely and I couldn't figure out why. Spent two days sanding and respraying before I checked the airflow meter. Those cheap filters clogged up after just four jobs and the booth was barely pulling any air. I ended up tossing the whole thing and buying the name brand replacements. Cost me $600 in wasted materials and labor plus $200 for the new filters. Anyone else get burned by knockoff booth supplies?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

verab28•26d ago

Heard a homeowner say they just burn the creosote off every year

That's a great way to crack a flue liner or start a real fire. Anyone else run into this dangerous idea lately?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

verab28•29d ago

Question about using a potato to stretch a soup

I was making a simple bean soup last week and realized I only had half a can of tomatoes left. Instead of opening a new one, I grated a whole russet potato into the pot. It broke down in about 20 minutes and made the broth thick and creamy without needing extra dairy or flour. It added another two full bowls to the pot for maybe 30 cents. Has anyone else tried this with other soups?

2 comments

c/blacksmiths•

verab28•1mo ago

Tried forging a leaf with a ball-peen hammer versus my cross-peen, and the difference was hilarious.

The ball-peen just made a bunch of weird dents, but the cross-peen gave me those clean, defined veins in like two strikes. Anyone have a favorite hammer for detail work like that?

2 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

verab28•1mo ago

Pro tip: I was at the community co-op in Portland and a customer's rusty chain taught me to always ask about riding conditions before a tune-up.

Now I start every service by asking 'where do you ride and how often do you clean it,' which saves me from missing hidden wear on parts that look okay at first glance, so what's your first question for a new repair job?

2 comments

c/filmmaking-props•

verab28•1mo ago

Spent a full month trying to make a book that wouldn't fall apart on camera

We needed a prop book that an actor could throw across a room for a scene. I figured a hollowed-out real book with a light cover would work, but it kept breaking at the spine after two takes. I tried three different glues and even a thin metal strip inside, but nothing held. The director wanted it to look heavy but be light, which made it worse. After about 30 tries over four weeks, I ended up building a whole new cover from foam board and book cloth, which finally lasted. Has anyone else had a simple prop turn into a month-long build?

3 comments

Recent Comments

1d ago

Guy at the recycling center nearly had a heart attack when I dropped off my old Dell case

A buddy of mine built one last year and I thought he was nuts till I saw the final look.

3d ago

Stumbled into a gallery in Austin that was all AI art, and the sales lady got mad at me

Lol "new renaissance" give me a break. Saw some article the other day about how AI art can't stop messing up basic stuff like hands and feet, that cat with six toes proves it. Definitely not worth paying gallery prices for something that can't even count digits right.

3d ago

Had a retiree client last week who told me my highlights were too subtle for her taste

My friend Jenna had this older lady who was super sweet but very particular about her gray blending. Jenna spent like two hours doing this soft, low-maintenance root melt and the woman looked in the mirror and said "where's the silver? I want it to look like I'm a beautiful badass unicorn, not just a lady who forgot to color her hair." So Jenna had to go back in and basically paint chunky silver streaks through the whole thing, way more dramatic than she'd ever done before, and the client was thrilled because people kept stopping her at the grocery store to ask where she got it done.

5d ago

Dilemma: replace the battery or keep it plugged in forever?

Battery expansion?! That thing is a ticking time bomb, why is it even still plugged in?

7d ago

TIL stacking filters can ruin your moon photos

Oh man, that's rough. @webb.val I heard somewhere that moon pictures can be tricky because the camera's auto focus gets confused by the brightness against a dark sky. Definitely been there with the smudge look.