Left handed screwdrivers

Then there was winter air for snow tires
Six or twelve volt battery water
Left handed torque wrench...

How did you break in new workers in your shop?

 

Light bulb oil for fluorescent bulbs

 

Worked at a landscape nursery in high school, boss ask one day if anyone had ran a backhoe, one boy said yes. He went out and the boss had a shovel and a wheelbarrow sitting there for him.

 

When I was in the Navy (aviation) we would send the new guy for a 5 gallon bucket of prop wash, and since we were electronic techs we would send them on a goose hunt for an A.S.H. Receiver (an ash tray) or a part that had part number ID 10 T. Idiot

 

Left handed pipe wrench.
A bottle of level bubbles.
A left twist rope...when a right twist just wont get the jog done.

 

This reminds me of when I was in boot camp. One of the drill sgt's asked "Does anyone have a drivers license and is willing to drive?" A few guys raised their hands, including me. I got picked. He then said "Okay Private, grab that mop over there and drive that sum bitch around the barracks floor until it's spotless."

I never raised my hand again for the remainder of my enlistment.

 

Since all our vehicle keys are universal at my work, when a rookie would be at lunch we would take all his gear out of the vehicle, roll the window down, and throw broken safety glass on his seat like someone smashed the window to steal his stuff. If we liked him, we'd only let it go on for a few minutes after he discovered it. Other cocky guys, well... alot longer, including making them report it to a supervisor.

 

Get me a bucket with a star drill, a hammer, the Hilti, and a henway.

 

“Kick starting” a consaw…







24” blade

 

You never asked a guy to get you "50ft of flight line" from the maintenance hangar?

 

Sure did. Thanks for reminding me. Also sent a new guy into maintenance control to get the keys to aircraft 106. We told him each Tomcat had its own set of keys.

 

They used to send new guys around the shop asking for the "long weight".

 

Send them for the metric fitzall (adjustable wrench)

 

Worked in a factory as an electrician and sent a green helper around the plant looking for fallopian tubes for the overhead lights.

 

What's a henway?

















About five lbs.

 

This is some cold sh*t man... just cold...

But... once worked with some twins out of India - very very smart, real pretty, computer analysts we all were....
Convinced them that Ground Hog Day was real, and the movie was a true story -
Almost had them join me on a snipe-hunting-expedition but they were afraid of the woods -

I'm retired now but they are slinging-code for major companies now - damn they were sweethearts and if I was
half as good as they were I'd have been twice as good as I really was.

 

Call the auto parts stores looking for a thermostat for a 64 Corvair…..

Usually you’ll get the “I don’t have one in stock” response

Which is when you ask if they’ll order you one.

Also brass magnets, can’t believe how many have wandered around looking for one

 

hey go get the chain stretcher out of the tool cabinet

 

This one is for the sheet metal workers and HVAC guys:

Had a young guy on the crew we were always messing with. A few months on the job someone asked him to go get the duct stretcher. "Yeah, yeah" he says "right next to the sky hook and the bucket of air. Fuck off"

A duct stretcher is a real thing though it sounds as made up as all the other BS things we try to get apprentices to grab.

We all had a good laugh about that one.

 

Back in my fire fighting days, we'd play "Stump the Chump" with the rookies. Asking for the water hammer would usually stump them.