Earning releases on Thursday and this's what happened. Hair cut of 11+%. The report slightly missed the expectation in terms of profit and revenue, but the real damage was done by weak forecast on mobile segment. This kinda confirmed the reason of our VP's departure. Reorganization is imminent. I guess there's not much hope on this year bonus or increment.

And my car battery died again. Good thing is it's still under warranty so I went ahead to get a replacement in Walmart. Put the battery back in but the car still didn't crank. Suspecting that there might be issue with the car's alternator, i had it checked by mechanics. It turned out to be faulty battery again. I brought it back to Walmart the next day. At first the sales person was reluctant to change so I asked for a battery test. The test came out fine with normal testing, i.e. by just measuring with voltmeter.

1st test result on the left. Load test result on the right.

I insisted to have the battery tested under load. I talked nicely though. Obviously the guy wasn't happy for that request so his attitude wasn't too friendly. The second test came back after 2 hours, showing that the current measured was way below the rating. He, with a softer attitude, agreed to change one for me

Lesson learnt:

1) Tried to keep your cool when dealing issue. An impatient someone could easily get into heated argument with that salesperson. Pissing off each other does no good to the situation. I would end up not getting a replacement, and that salesperson would probably think that he's right should the same situation arises from another customer in the future. Given a situation/argument that's against you, most people will try to find reasons to defend themselves, or simply reluctant to view it from another perspectives. I am not saying it's bad to insist on your stand, unless you are like 100% damn sure, there's always a possibility you might have overlooked something. Say if the salesperson was adamant about the first test result, he would never admit that there's indeed faulty battery in his inventory, to which is bad for the business. If every little things in daily life can be talked out in nicely and dealt with calmly, it makes life so much less stressful for everyone.

2) I think i have dealt with enough bad battery (both from my car and motorcycle) that i know how to ascertain a faulty battery and fix the whole thing, from jump starting the car, to measuring the output from the car's alternator. Fellow EE engineers, ever wonder how you can source 660 Amps from a 12v battery? I have to revisit my rusty EE knowledge on "battery" for that. Internal resistance, anyone?

Having a dead battery is frustrating, but learning something useful out of it can be pretty beneficial. It's like an annoying problem set in school that makes you think and learn. Looking at the bright side, I shouldn't really feel bad for all the technical issue faced at work. Shall the same attitude applied in handling your rocky relationship, if there's one?

3) Don't buy car battery from walmart:)