User0125

I over heard a situation while I was with a group of acquaintances. I'm going to keep this generalized as not to narrow it down....but the details are there w/out naming specifics.

The situation deals with a government agency/entity (ie tax payer funded). The person involved is the a department supervisor/manager/head.

There was some work that could not be completed by the department "in house" due to either lack of equipment, lack of experience, so forth so on. It was decided by the department supervisor and his/her boss/supervisor (higher ups) it should be "bid out".

Three companies submitted bids- two having had prior experience dealing with what the job was about; the third company never had, but did 'similar' things. The two experienced companies had higher bids then the third inexperienced company.

Now.....

1- the inexperienced company had the lowest, it was selected by the department supervisor and authorized by his/her immediate boss (higher up)

2- the inexperienced company, once starting the job, realized and error was made. Stated the job would would cost $1000 more then their bid. (Was authorized by the dept. supervisor and his/her immediate boss to go OVER the bid).

3- the above mentioned 'authorization' made the inexperienced company's bid $500 or so HIGHER then one of the experienced company's original bid.

4- it has been "said" that the work done by the lowest original bid (inexperienced company) did not 'solve' the issue for the project

5- the company that received the bid (inexperienced one) is owned by the son/daughter of the department supervisor who put the bid out.

6- it is 'suspected' that the department supervisor has part ownership of the company who was selected to do the work....

Okay folks, your comments/observations/opinions.....

I'm in a slight dilemma. Hope the details will cover it.

I work for a school and I'm attracted to a newly hired teacher. We are NOT in the same building/department. But..... before I was hired, I was asked by a previous teacher to be part of a community committee & have been on the committee for a long time. This new teacher is in the department that this committee deals with, so I get to interact with her 4 or 5 times a school year. Plus, I'm friends with the other teacher in the department (go visit there when time allows).

She's fresh out of college, her first job (at a public high school)- she went to college right out of HS, finished in 4 years (to give an idea of her age). Also, she was engaged (I'm assuming during college), but broke it off, don't know details. She's mentioned her ex-fiance. Age wise, I'm over 10 years older then her. We get a long....

Any how, I'm clueless if there is anything there or interest- that's just me. She's way younger then me, that's one issue that's bothering me. Also, I'm afraid of making HER feel uncomfortable if I ask her out and she says no. I don't have any plans of leaving this committee (as I work for the district that I graduated from in years ago). But I don't want to put her in an awkward position if I ask, she says no and I still "hang around".... Do I have a valid concern here? Or am I just making it harder on myself.....

Thanks to all who reply.

Well, the old R12 systems are getting rare and old. My system has a leak and I'm dreading having to replace parts and upgrade to the newer refrigerant.

Any how, the question is, has anyone used a sealer in their system. There's some stuff on Ebay that is suppose to work on the rubber AND metal leaks.

I'm wondering if anyone has used sealant in their AC systems (be it R12 or R134....). I'm thinking of getting some, just to see if it would work..... What's the downside of using it..... if I ever want to convert over to the newer refrigerant... I'm feeling "what do I have to loose...."

Thanks.