Drew Jones (u/drew_jones31)

Posts

How I stopped my boss from replacing our team with ChatGPT for now

I work in customer support for a small parts supplier out of Dayton. Last month my boss started feeding our trouble tickets into ChatGPT to see if it could respond faster than us. At first I freaked out, but then I noticed the AI kept mixing up part numbers like 3050 and 3051 - those are totally different pieces. So I built a simple lookup table in Excel that checks the part number before any answer goes out, and attached it to our ticketing system. Now the AI still drafts replies but a human has to verify the part number match. Boss saw error rates drop from 15% to under 3% and backed off the full automation plan for now. Has anyone else found a simple data validation trick to keep your job safe?

3 comments

c/digital-nomad-life•

drew_jones31•3d ago

I finally stopped believing the coworking space hype after 6 months in Chiang Mai

For the longest time I bought into the idea that you absolutely need a dedicated coworking space to be productive as a digital nomad. Then I spent a month working from a quiet cafe near the Old City, just a 30 baht iced coffee and my noise-cancelling headphones, and got more done than any month at a desk rental. People act like you'll fail without structured workspace but half those spots are just loud Instagram shoot setups anyway. What's your setup for getting work done on the road, cafe or dedicated desk?

3 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

drew_jones31•4d ago

I used to think expensive beans were a waste until I tried a single origin Ethiopian

For probably 5 years I bought the same $8 bag of medium roast from the grocery store. Figured fancy beans were just a way to charge more. Then a buddy brought over some beans from a roaster down on 5th street and made me try them side by side. The difference was nuts, way smoother and actually had flavor notes I could taste. Anyone else have a moment where cheap coffee suddenly didn't cut it anymore?

3 comments

c/diy-off-grid-living•

drew_jones31•6d ago

Overheard a guy at the hardware store say his water collection tank cracked after a freeze

He was telling the clerk he used cheap food grade barrels but didn't wrap them in insulation or bury them deep enough. I've been planning a rain barrel system for my cabin in Vermont and now I'm thinking I need to double check my setup before winter hits anyone here dealt with this specific issue?

3 comments

c/blast-from-the-past•

drew_jones31•8d ago

Got told my game saves were a mess by a buddy who used to work at Blockbuster

He pointed out that I had 14 separate save files for Final Fantasy VII spread across three memory cards with no labels, so I spent last weekend organizing them by date and deleting the pointless ones. Has anyone else had an old-school gaming habit that someone just out of nowhere called you out on?

3 comments

c/Amarillo-home-repairs-and-diy•

drew_jones31•11d ago

The day I stopped using a crescent wrench for everything

I used to be that guy who thought one crescent wrench could fix any plumbing job under the sink. For about two years I just tightened and loosened every nut with that thing, even if it meant rounding off the edges a bit. Then last spring I had a pipe burst under my kitchen sink in Amarillo and I couldn't get the fitting off without slipping. My neighbor came over, took one look at my wrench set, and handed me a proper pipe wrench. He said, 'You're fighting the metal, not working with it.' That one change saved me an hour and a call to a plumber. Now I keep a set of basin wrenches and channel locks in my garage. Anybody else have a tool they stubbornly refused to swap out for way too long?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

drew_jones31•14d ago

Unpopular opinion: Japanese stab binding is overrated for most projects

I used to do it for every journal I made, but after 30 books I realized the spine limits how flat it lays. Switched to coptic binding about 2 years ago and never looked back. Anyone else ditch a technique they thought was the gold standard?

3 comments

c/business-marketing•

drew_jones31•16d ago

Compared influencer collabs vs. direct mail for our Nashville launch

Spent $3k on an Instagram influencer with 50k followers and got 12 leads. Dropped $500 on handwritten postcards to local businesses and closed 3 contracts in two weeks. Anyone else find the old school stuff just works better?

4 comments

c/crane-operators•

drew_jones31•17d ago

Question about site prep I saw at a job in Houston

I was working a job last month at a refinery in Houston. The site crew spent two full days just leveling and compacting the ground before we even got our crane on site. They used a laser level and kept checking every 10 feet across a 200 foot pad. First time I saw that much prep for a 150 ton mobile crane setup. Usually I roll up and they just eyeball it with gravel. Does anyone else deal with this much site prep or am I just used to sloppy jobs?

3 comments

c/digital-marketing-chat•

drew_jones31•1mo ago

Shoutout to the guy who convinced me to drop Google Shopping

I was all in on Google Shopping ads for my little vinyl decal shop. Running them for about 8 months, spending $500 a month minimum. A dude named Mark who runs a t-shirt store in Portland told me I was throwing money away. He said my products were too niche and cheap for Shopping to work right. I switched that budget over to Etsy ads and targeted Pinterest pins instead. My sales shot up from maybe 5 a week to 15 or 20 within a month. Turns out people searching for funny cat decals don't click Shopping results much. Has anyone else had better luck with alternative channels over Google?

3 comments

Posts

How I stopped my boss from replacing our team with ChatGPT for now

I finally stopped believing the coworking space hype after 6 months in Chiang Mai

I used to think expensive beans were a waste until I tried a single origin Ethiopian

Overheard a guy at the hardware store say his water collection tank cracked after a freeze

Got told my game saves were a mess by a buddy who used to work at Blockbuster

The day I stopped using a crescent wrench for everything

Unpopular opinion: Japanese stab binding is overrated for most projects

Compared influencer collabs vs. direct mail for our Nashville launch

Question about site prep I saw at a job in Houston

Shoutout to the guy who convinced me to drop Google Shopping

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