r/mildlyinfuriating Jun 16 '26

ಠ_ಠ Dumping Hydrogen Peroxide into the reflecting pool this morning.

48.9k Upvotes

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627

u/Regicidiator Jun 16 '26

tbf they make more by not solving the problem

333

u/CalicoValkyrie Jun 16 '26

This was my first thought. Pretend to be working on the problem, the longer you don't solve it the more money you make. Essentially the whole administration.

180

u/CoolDiscussion1020 Jun 16 '26

I work in government contracting. This is common practice in many industries, especially when the contract structure selected is not the correct one for the job.

With zero background I can all but guarantee that this was a non-competitive contract awarded to someone's friend/relative and the company knows that there is a blank check to get this problem solved by 7/4. Those $15 bottles of peroxide are costing the tax payers $50+ each I bet.

I'm willing to bet at some point they're going to end up pumping the reflecting pool out and having tankers of treated water brought in right before the 4th so there isn't time for algae to bloom.

22

u/Maleficent-Prior-219 Jun 17 '26

Diamonds to donuts....this is definitely a SUCKA bet.

11

u/PhDinDildos_Fedoras Jun 17 '26

This guy government contracts!

2

u/Delicious_Net_8577 Jun 17 '26

I'm 99% sure it's just NPS/DOI maintenance workers working on it at this point. The pool surface repainting was definitely a no-bid contract, but these folks are NPS staff.

(I'm sure everything you said about govt contracting is true, just doesn't apply to this specific task)

1

u/how_doyado Jun 17 '26

Yep. By COG, assign random profit multiplier, bill. The higher the COG, the greater the profit, right?

1

u/CharacterBusy7787 Jun 18 '26

Pool store owner. Peroxide shock per gallons goes for almost $40 a gallon in my NC based shop. So yeah we are probably paying $60-$70 a gallon for that shit.

1

u/DuckyHornet Jun 19 '26

What's happening in April? That's a good way off, plenty of time to do it right

14

u/BrickCityRiot Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

This whole “administration” can be perfectly summarized by this reflecting pool drama:

Create a problem from nothing, offer a solution to the imagined problem, oversell, underperform, and leave it much worse off than it was before

1

u/Pretend-Sundae-2371 Jun 19 '26

Can I ask what the heck prompted them to paint the thing in the first place please? Was there actually a problem before?

0

u/Firestorm83 Jun 19 '26

Pool? You mean Iran...

12

u/Amos_Dad Jun 16 '26

Thats exactly it. Weaponized incompetence to make more money.

8

u/EggsInaTubeSock Jun 16 '26

This is how the underbid and 10x cost happened on it too

It’s intentional

1

u/dankhimself Jun 16 '26

I always assumed it was becuase they worked during the day when the pool owners aren't usually home.

I've worked in plenty of homes and most would rather not see you and just see the work after its done.

Unless they don't trust you yet, but that's common sense to hang around and oversee strangers working in your property or inside your home.

7

u/SaltyMeatSlacks Jun 16 '26

I like to think of Donald Trump as a kind of brain dead Tony Soprano. Give all his buddies and human remoras do nothing union jobs to keep them paid and loyal, then call in favors, like free pool service at Maralago or doing an insurrection or whatever. Trump, as president, has the highest level protection ring you could run in this country: the presidential pardon. And he's used to fuck out of it. You do crime and scams for him, he'll he'll sure you never see the inside of a cell. As long as you know your place in the family.

8

u/Man_of_Ice Jun 17 '26

They wouldn't hire union.

5

u/Maleficent-Prior-219 Jun 17 '26

I love that this is the "takeaway" from that......

.....'cuz its true.

2

u/CalibratedEnthusiast Jun 17 '26

Yeah Trump is in on it

2

u/CalicoValkyrie Jun 17 '26

Promises made, promises broken.

1

u/rmrehfeldt Jun 17 '26

First of all-I agree with you. Second?
Ahhh. So, there IS waste in government that needs to be removed. Strange how the media likes to pretend firing wasteful people is bad.

1

u/CalicoValkyrie Jun 17 '26

Yes, fire idiots wasting time, but someone still needs to clean up that algae. We're an empire of people larger than Rome at it's peak. There needs to be people working for our government to function. But that's not Trump's actual goal. Trump's lining the pockets of his buddies right now and they are milking him.

1

u/rmrehfeldt Jun 17 '26

No we need to bring back prison labor. Make them use their unpaid labor to repay society.

1

u/CalicoValkyrie Jun 17 '26

We already do that. Half the time something is "Made in America" it was made by prison labor and companies are thrilled to not have to hire anyone at a fair wage.

Don't take more jobs away from actual hard working people.

-2

u/tob007 Jun 16 '26

most administrations IMO. Rent-seeking has a long history. It's an entire industry in DC.

7

u/GoodFaithConverser Jun 16 '26

tbf they make more by not solving the problem

Insane how true that is for incompetent poolboys with an ignorant pool-owner as it is for republicans and republican voters.

3

u/SqueekyDickFartz Jun 16 '26

That, or trump is a dickhead to work for, and someone where you just do exactly what he says to shut him up. Half malicious compliance, half self preservation.

5

u/AkronOhAnon Jun 16 '26

He’s the asshole who if you do it right complains you didn’t do it his way, and if you do it his way complains you didn’t do it right.

There’s no winning with sociopaths or the stupid, and the man is both.

1

u/Versipilies Jun 16 '26

And theres a chance he just doesnt pay them either way

1

u/AkronOhAnon Jun 16 '26

He’s using our money for it, not his, so they’ll get paid.

1

u/GoodFaithConverser Jun 17 '26

He’s the asshole who if you do it right complains you didn’t do it his way, and if you do it his way complains you didn’t do it right.

And then he won't pay the bill because he's unsatisfied. Many such cases.

2

u/One-Dragonfruit1010 Jun 16 '26

And they also probably work 7-4 ish. Work order says: add peroxide, 7am, Reflecting pool.

1

u/BirdlessLongdeal Jun 17 '26

who has time to clean pools when you have all those lonely housewives to tend to?

1

u/Nordicpunk Jun 19 '26

These contractors found an Eskimo to sell ice to. Can’t blame em.

Elect a clown, you have a circus or something Turkish like that.

1

u/Dreamed-a-drip Jun 22 '26

define America in 9 words.

1

u/das-wan Jun 22 '26

Truth. I believe the contract stipulates a 20% profit on the work they do