I recently bought a plastic tarp from one of the local Big Box junk
stores... I'm re-doing the roof shelter on a pair of chain link dog
kennels...

  So the space I wanted to shade and shelter is 12' x 8'...and it is quite
windy around here.   I measured carefully and exactly, planning to use the
doubled-edges and perimeter grommets of the tarp to help keep it mounted to
some 2 x 4 'rafters'...   I finished the framing and unfold the tarp, brand
new out of the package, the tarp that was branded " !2' x 8' "  only to
see, in a few seconds, that the tarp is NOT actually 12 x 8'....it is
actually 11'6" x 7'6".....then I see on the label in the package, way down
on the last line, in small print..."not actual finished size".....

   My father called people who engaged in these kinds of sleazy business
practices "Chislers"....The world seems to accept this type of behavior
with the simple shrugging off of the basic principal of honesty..."It's
just Business" seems to be totally acceptable as an excuse to screw over
everyone else....I really hate that phrase.

   So if you go buy a plastic tarp, make certain you aren't getting screwed
out of a couple of inches all around...I guess the DOW chemical company, or
whoever makes those tarps, figured that by cheating everyone who buys all
those they would make a few million more $, world-wide, by lying about the
size....

   Chislers....My Dad hated them...and so do I..