What is up with L&M in Bedford??

It’s not a new thing, at all, it’s always been the case there, but rude… condescending… superior… for a bunch of people who’ve got music degrees and yet you never see anywhere outside the store, they sure think they’ve got it going on.

I usually have a tech do bass guitar setups for me. It’s just one of those things I prefer to not have to do, and Doug (now retired) always did such a great job. Anyway, in I trot with an American Fender in need of a new set of strings and a set up. The strings were bought elsewhere because L&M’s selection of bass strings is basically three brands and if you don’t like them, you can go to hell. The bass was also bought elsewhere because their in-store bass selection and used instrument prices typically suck, and good luck finding a five string P bass. The guy at the counter makes an issue of checking the serial number to see whether it was bought there or not, sees it was not, looks down his nose at the computer and in a snotty tone tells me he sees it was not bought at L&M so no performance warranty to cover the setup. Like I could have told you that if you’d just asked. I asked if it’s possible to buy a performance warranty, and again in a snotty superior tone he tells me no, impossible, those are only available if an instrument was bought at L&M. I mean - it’s an unmodified recent year American Fender, what a great revenue and customer retention scheme it would be if they did offer that kind of program.

That’s not the first time I got this kind of attitude about instruments not bought at L&M - I have 8 American Fenders currently, and have owned as many as 13-14 good quality reputable instruments at one time in the past, including a great EBMM - six of the current eight were bought used, elsewhere - FB marketplace, Talkbass, or Reverb. I browse Gear Hunter regularly and rarely do I see anything there that is of interest and not priced ludicrously. One of my current 8 however was bought there, and the other L&M purchase was actually bought new, also online because the local stores never ever stocked that model. Anyway, I’ve brought several of these in for setups at previous times and have consistently received the same kind of snobbery.

I overheard one of their sales people telling a mom who was buying a bass for her son that the Mexican Fenders weren’t very good and that the American Fenders were the only ones worth buying. They of course didn’t have any American Fender Basses in the store at that time, so she of course had to leave and go elsewhere.

I’ve had the live sound guys poo poo our band’s choice of Chinese-made, Amazon-purchased KZ IEMs because they weren’t Shure. No, they’re a third the price and have five drivers and sound great, that’s why they’re not Shures.

I can’t remember many other specific examples, but some of the guys there have been particularly bad with this over the years. The short skinny guy with straight hair and glasses stands out, but I haven’t seen him in a while, I presume he found something else to do with his music degree.

I never run into this kind of attitude at the Halifax or Dartmouth stores, just Bedford, and it’s been consistent at Bedford going back to when they were Musicstop. Same staff, though some have left over the years, and tbf some were not bad at all, quite good. But the guy I dealt with the other day is new, and it’s that same old attitude.

Anyone else?

Tomorrow, Halifax Regional Council will consider a staff report that could fundamentally change the vision, quality, and delivery of the Regional Centre All Ages and Abilities (AAA) Bicycle Network. Below is the contents of an email we sent today to HRM Councillors and the Mayor outlining our concerns regarding this report.

I was on our Waterfront for 'Nocturne: Art at Night'.

Can we take a moment to applaud how awesome our downtown and waterfront has become? A cool Fall evening with people milling about, soft lights, and amazing eateries.

I'll describe it as world class.

The weekend is over. Leeeeeet's get ready to grumbllllllllllle!

A weekly mega-thread for whatever is grinding your gears, local or non-local annoyances, complaints about the weather/local politicians/fast food nightmares/that guy who cut you off on the way to work, dumb stuff your neighbour did, etc.

This is a rules relaxed space, but we will still be monitoring for personal attacks, doxxing, and stuff that doesn't fit the theme of the thread.

Hello everyone. As the title says im currently looking for a therapist. Ive had lne for a few years and they are lovely but im unsure if they are what I need.

Im looking for someone a little more forward in the approach. I have some hard things I wanna talk about and struggle to bring up, as I felt like in my sessions I was more just. Talking randomly. And sometimes not even going anywhere.

Any recommendations?

tl;dr version:

• Some candy (chocolate, xyitol) can be toxic, so clean up the wrappers and such
• Avoid candles as pets might knock them over
• Shut your pet in a room so they doesn't escape when trick-or-treaters come visiting
• May be better to use a festive colllar instead of a costume to avoid stress
• May be better to leave your pet at home while trick-or-treating as kids running around and decorations might stress them out

This is a bit of a vent and also curious if anyone else has thoughts.

I went to the trunk-or-treat event yesterday at the fire station. We got there right when it started at 3 and it was insanely busy. A super long line had formed and we asked around if it was just for the fire truck (which it seemed to lead to) or if it was for the whole event, and was told it was to enter the event.

I waited in line with my very eager but patient 2 year old for nearly an hour. Suddenly, when we were almost at the fire truck, the entire line of people behind us just decided they didn't need to wait and left the line and headed straight for the cars! I have a feeling what happened was that someone told them the line was just for the truck?

At that point we just said fuck it and let my kid go through the fire truck and headed home. We were just there at a really bad time, if we'd been further ahead in the line we would have gotten in, if we'd been further back we could have just joined the crowd that decided they didn't need to wait, instead we waited our turn and just as we were getting close everyone else decided they didn't need to wait anymore.

I'm really glad it was well attended, I know it's no one's fault, it was just a frustrating experience. Does anyone know what happened?

So why can't we see more vet prices without calling?
 
This is the part I find frustrating.
 
Obviously veterinary care isn't one-size-fits-all. A senior dog with health problems isn't going to have the same surgical needs or costs as a healthy one-year-old dog.
 
Required costs + recommended costs + optional costs.
 
Then we can actually compare.
 
And I'd love to see more crowdsourced transparency around this.
 
If you've recently had a pet spayed/neutered or received routine veterinary care in HRM, consider sharing your itemized bill or estimate in the comments with the clinic, date, animal type/weight, and what was included. Obviously remove your name, address, account number and any other personal information first.
 
Individual bills aren't the same thing as official price lists, but enough real-world examples could give Halifax pet owners a much better idea of what things actually cost and what questions to ask.
 
More price transparency helps everyone make informed decisions about veterinary care.

I’ve been craving 돼지국밥 (dweji gukbap) and I am wondering if there are any restaurants that might have it. I’ll be in Halifax next week for halcon.

Otherwise, what are your Asian restaurant recommendations? :)

Shared from FB but entirely true. Although wages is not the only thing CUPE may strike over, it’s interesting to have this perspective:

“While support staff are out there walking the picket line to earn their 350 dollars in strike pay, let's be entirely clear about the math behind this strike.

First, let's acknowledge that while they are glad to have strike pay, it comes from CUPE—which is exactly what some their hard-earned dues help pay for. Meanwhile, the government is actively saving money while students are unfairly locked out of their education.

Let’s do a quick math lesson:

With 5,500 employees picketing earning 350 dollars a week, CUPE pays out 1,925,000 dollars per week. In a three-week strike, that is nearly 5.8 million dollars out of union strike funds.

Now, imagine what the employer is saving. It is significantly more than 2 million dollars a week.

When support staff finally go back to work, any tiny increase the government offers won't actually cost them anything new. Their full salaries were already budgeted for this fiscal year. The "extra" money they offer them will just be a small fraction of the millions they pocketed while they were unpaid on the picket line. If the employer save 10 to 20 million dollars on their lost wages, and it only costs them 7 million dollars to cover a small raise, they walk away with a massive surplus.

You never truly make back what you lose on strike. The government pockets their salaries, uses a fraction of those savings to offer them a pittance, and call it a deal. This math isn't fair to them, and it certainly isn't fair to the students caught in the middle.”

First time the rider was one coming off the sidewalk into the crosswalk at Quinpool & Robie with a whole-light-cycle-stale 'do not cross' sign who didn't understand that there was a leading green for cars that were accelerating into a left turn. Was wearing a helmet, but it was after dark and they were in dark clothes and clearly did not understand the traffic pattern, hence risking running the pedestrian red light (that didn't govern them in the first place).

Second time was two riders on the Gottigen sidewalk, no helmets, going at top speed in front of the mouth of the parking lot exit at the Staples. It's easy to look for pedestrians here, but you have to stick the nose of a car out onto the sidewalk to see the oncoming sidewalk from left of that location, which nearly sent these kids flying over the hood.

I implore the city to start actually enforcing e-scooter bans on the sidewalks - that would have prevented both of these close calls. If not, somebody's kid is going to get killed, because they clearly have zero understanding of the laws governing the traffic they are driving in.

Looking for proper british-style fish & chips. Photo is what I had in Whitby once.

I’ve tried Bluenose, Durty Nellys, Gahan, Moxie’s, Willmans, Old Triangle, Murphy’s, Salt & Ash, Stubborn Goat, and Shores Landing. The closest I’ve found is The Pint, but they’re still just missing something.

Is there anywhere close which has a flaky, crispy batter with thick chips, instead of the spongey batter they usually use.

Thanks!

Does anyone know of anywhere or anyone that offers vintage lighter repair?

Are there any good co-working spaces available in downtown? I feel like the library tends to get filled up or noisy, and l can only buy so many coffees at cafes.