Missing tool of the day rant

[bobcatdan]

I noticed today my 18" USA Blue Point adjustable and 24" Rigid pipe wrench are gone. I keep my big wrenches on a lower shelf of my main workbench at work. I'm the only one in the shop so I really don't think they were stolen. Couldn't tell you the last time I used the pipe wrench. The 18" adjustable I normally use with my 24" adjustable, but that is right were it belongs. Just pisses me off when stuff goes missing. Rant over, hows your Friday.

 

[soulstryke]

10wr vise grips grew legs for me today. They have always been in my pouch and i cannot remember the last time i used them but they have vanished.

 

[mech-tech]

I worked in a shop that you could leave everything where you were working and no one would steal it...only problem was the truck driver would clean up when he was bored and put things where HE thought it belonged. I hate going on a scavenger hunt for my own stuff

 

[saturnman]

I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who thinks anything daddy is doing, she can help! a scavenger hunt is easy until you have 3 acres to search......

 

[crewchief888]

I noticed today my 18" USA Blue Point adjustable and 24" Rigid pipe wrench are gone. I keep my big wrenches on a lower shelf of my main workbench at work. I'm the only one in the shop so I really don't think they were stolen. Couldn't tell you the last time I used the pipe wrench. The 18" adjustable I normally use with my 24" adjustable, but that is right were it belongs. Just pisses me off when stuff goes missing. Rant over, hows your Friday.

blame the sales dept...

 

[jd_1138]

I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who thinks anything daddy is doing, she can help! a scavenger hunt is easy until you have 3 acres to search......

My nieces love to get out their nanna's tools and "fix" their dolls with them. Their nanna retired from a factory, so she has a Waterloo box filled with Williams wrenches and Stanley screwdrivers.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

blame the sales dept...

x2



....and the sales department made my Friday a mess by switching priorities on me -- just finished setting up for a job when told a different one was what I needed to finish first - parts coming in overnight (hot warranty job I had put back out in the yard due to no parts)....then the MFR's parts room flunkies sent me a hydraulic adapter in place of the 12volt coil I should have gotten for a solenoid assy......stopping the completion of the hot job .....when no one was available to answer that phone call, I e-mailed a photo of the part in the plastic bag with the right part number written on it next to the solenoid valve to everyone in the "food chain" and had a call back in 3 minutes..the coil will be here Monday.....No, I ain't working Saturday, I have plans and their shipping screw up isn't worth changing them since the customer won't be open to get it back, anyway.

 

[Ronando]

Had to move last month for a new job. Set my cell phone down, turned around, and it was gone. I kept saying, "It should be RIGHT HERE!! RIGHT WHERE I'M POINTING, BY MY DESK!" Was pissed that the day before the move I had to lose it. Went to Verizon store, bought a used iPhone (I use a Motorola Razr) got home, found it the next morning when my alarm went off.

It grew legs and crawled INTO and UNDER an open ream of printer paper that was still in the plastic, but cut open. And I lifted the damn thing 5 times looking for the phone, I just didn't look UNDERNEATH the ream when I lifted it up. Gave the phone to my wife, now all is good.

 

[garboui]

Had to move last month for a new job. Set my cell phone down, turned around, and it was gone. I kept saying, "It should be RIGHT HERE!! RIGHT WHERE I'M POINTING, BY MY DESK!" Was pissed that the day before the move I had to lose it. Went to Verizon store, bought a used iPhone (I use a Motorola Razr) got home, found it the next morning when my alarm went off.

It grew legs and crawled INTO and UNDER an open ream of printer paper that was still in the plastic, but cut open. And I lifted the damn thing 5 times looking for the phone, I just didn't look UNDERNEATH the ream when I lifted it up. Gave the phone to my wife, now all is good.

When im in the lab, this is a bi-hourly routine for me. Heck, even by myself in my own garage.

 

[bobcatdan]

I have sinking suspicion I borrowed at least one of them to the guys next door. One of my customers bought the building next door. They had the building gutted and are remodeling it now. They borrow water and electric all the time. I seem to recall them asking for a big wrench, but I can't remember.

 

[KinzeMech]

What eats at me the worst is the compulsion to look for it *right now* as though it's on the verge of escaping and time actually makes the difference. 9 times out of 10 they always show back up on their own.

 

[BK13]

My four year old was helping me put the bumper back on my CJ, and somehow, every Gearwrench in the set was pulled off the rack, and every impact socket was piled in a pyramid. Only took me 15 minutes to find all the wrenches.

 

[jkwilson]

Had a summer job 30 years ago helping flush a sprinkler system in a huge warehouse. Got near a wall where the hoist wouldn't work so I climbed a ladder to get to the last head. Turned to lay my wrench on the header of the wall, and there was a dust and bird **** covered old pipe wrench laying there. I figure somewhere around 80 years ago, some guy was saying "What happened to my pipe wrench?".

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I hate missing tools - even the little stuff drives me nuts -- I wandered the shop yesterday for 10 minutes looking for a couple small items - #2 phillips and a LED flashlight - racking my brain trying to think who had borrowed them...I could not think of any of the sales department projects going on ('cause they really ARE the ones who take my tools most often - but they usually do tell me). Then it hit me -- I realized the stuff was last used on little diagnostic job - tracing through an electric controller circuit for a hydraulic system -- the day before...which I stopped to take a phone call and forgot the tools and it had all been sitting out in the yard on the machine - at least it didn't rain and the stuff wasn't lost......

 

[Hal]

I wanted my hydraulic bottle jack the other day, so I could jack up something and get the jackstand out from under it. I knew I would need it right there, so I had put it in the body of the truck I was working on. Nobody is going way out in that lot to steal that jack, when they could get a good floor jack or handyman right inside the door.

I finally remembered that I had used it to slide my lathe over a little to tighten the drive belt, sure enough there it was, lying down with one end against the wall, and the other against the skid that the lathe sits on. I was in a hurry when I used it, and left it there until "later".

 

[lilscorpion]

I've bought maybe a dozen tape measures and I have 2. I'll find one at some point and get all excited. Open the drawer to put it away and I still only have 2.

As far as I know I'm the only one in the garage.

 

[eddie1278]

My engine bay swallowed a 10mm craftsman wrench the other day can't find it anywhere. I have a 1997 tahoe and it fell down in the front end near the headlight. And it's odd I also lost an 18mm wrench that I was looking for the same day I lost the 10mm

Its only Craftsman but still it's my money and I hate losing tools, my tools are my children

 

[A_Pmech]

Safety glasses, tape measures and sharpie markers.

I buy them by the case and I can never find one when I need it.

 

[jakemac]

What I hate is chasing down a tool that I KNOW that I have. It's never where I need it to be.

If I'm in the shop, its out in the garage. Or in my truck. Or in the house. Or over at my grandfather's house in his garage. Or out in his shop. Or at the house in Maine. Or down at the camps. Or...............

 

[furbis]

I really like the bluepoint small led magnetic light, I had to change the hyd lines going to the ****** cooler on one of my freightliners and could not find my light anywhere after that, of course I for got I had used it under that truck and was pissed at myself for loosing it until I serviced the truck a couple weeks later and there it was still stuck to the side of the ****** it probably rode 5,000 miles or more.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mech-tech]

Or you walk into the shop after going on a road call, see a brand new craftsman prybar next to a mechanic, say "I got one just like that" and he says "yeah, it's yours"

 

[KinzeMech]

Why is that a big deal?

 

[fxgmech]

"I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who thinks anything daddy is doing, she can help! a scavenger hunt is easy until you have 3 acres to search......"
I'd give my LH teste to be back in that situation. Don't get too mad, haha. At least somebody's trying to help.

 

[The Ratchet Man]

I accuse myself of stealing from myself on a regular basis....usually I'm right..

 

[bobcatdan]

Why is that a big deal?

To the rest of world, it is not. To me, the tool hoarder, I'm pissed they are missing and wanted to vent. Is this a stupid pointless thread? Yes, yes it is.

 

[comedyman809]

i just found a tool that was missing for a bit!!

 

[comedyman809]

a few years back, i noticed one of my facom screwdrivers went missing, and no one saw it, so, eventually, i accepted that it was gone, and everytime i went into the screwdriver drawer, i saw that empty slot, and always frowned.

2 years later, im working on a glue press, and the operator is making his adjustment for the setup, i notice the top of the handle to be red/black and like a ball.

i wait for him to place it down, and sure enough, my screwdriver. so i question him as to where he got it, he said home depot, i knew right away he was lying, then he said the manage gave it to him, ****, caught in the lie(machine operators dont spend money on fancy tools), i take my screwdriver back, still in good shape, i gave him a look, snarl a bit, give him a little attitude, and the situation ends with screwdriver back in my possession.

 

[devoncoolman]

Had the same thing happen to me a while back. Last shop i was at i worked on all the flat beds and wreckers. Anyway. We had a whole fleet and multiple drivers. If those guys got in a jam at night time sometimes they would borrow tools. No biggie usually they made it back. But i was missing my short 1/2 craftsman breaker bar for a good 6 months. Pissed me off mainly because it was my grandfathers and i never use it so i know i didnt loose it. Well long story short im working on the cab of one of the flat beds and i see a craftsman breaker behind the seat. So i check it out knowing mines been mia for a while. Lo and behold there it is with my last name etched into it. So i just take the socket off leave that and put it back in my box. You know the tow manager had the balls to come confront me about stealing the breaker bar out of the truck. Are u fing kidding me. Needless to say i flipped $hit and he ran away with his tail between his legs. And i warned him if i find another one of my tools in those trucks theres gonna be a big problem.

 

[comedyman809]

i hate thieves. go buy your own tools.

 

[toolslinger]

Went to secure a load in the truck Thursday... Look for crates of straps... Gone... The truck was alone for about 5 minutes Weds in a dock area. My partner was driving that day, so it happened on his watch, but I don't really blame him... $500 later our new straps are on their way... I really hate thieves...

 

[Charles (in GA)]

What eats at me the worst is the compulsion to look for it *right now* as though it's on the verge of escaping and time actually makes the difference. 9 times out of 10 they always show back up on their own.

My problem also. I just cannot let it be. Earlier this week I reached for a short, 6 ft extension cord I keep in the shop. It wasn't where it should be and I began looking in circles, no luck. There were a half dozen other cords I could have grabbed, but I was obsessed with finding that one. My friend/co-worker was working on the roof of his camper in my shop and finally asked what I was looking for. I told him and he remembered seeing me use it to plug in the laptop on top of the parts washer (direct line of sight location to the wi-fi in the house). Suddenly I remembered, when I unplugged the laptop (two days earlier), the missing cord had dropped behind the parts washer and I had not retrieved it.

Charles

 

[enginenine]

I'm missing a 19mm deep well impact. I misplaced it somewhere more than a month ago and had to go buy another one because it gets used a lot on imports.

 

[HeelSpur]

I have a vacuum cleaner that I use on furnaces grow feet.
I don't lock anything up so I guess I should expect things to walk off,
but a vacuum.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Still looking for my Snap-n-Seal combo stripper/crimper.

 

[James_B]

I put a little bright orange belt clip with 10 screwdriver bits down on the floor of my garage. When I went to pick it up again, it was gone. It was over a decade later that I found it again while cleaning out the garage before I put the house on the market.

On the day that I lost it, the neighbour's teen aged kid was over "helping me". It appears that when I put it down, he picked it up and found a clever place to put it so it wouldn't get lost.

 

[the gypsy]

I lose things most often when I clean up and place_______(insert tool name or important piece of equipment here) somewhere I think is more appropriate for the tool or somewhere I think I will find it more readily.

I also try to put tools, which are required to do a certain job, together so that if I need to pick up and go I will find them all in one spot.

Unfortunately it doesn't always work out that way.

 

[platypus20]

I lose 10 mm shallow 1/4" drive sockets, what seems to be almost daily, usually after a complete shop clean up, I'll find most of them, but some are still missing.

 

[jfcasey]

I lose 10 mm shallow 1/4" drive sockets, what seems to be almost daily, usually after a complete shop clean up, I'll find most of them, but some are still missing.

I'm with you on that one, i need to start buying them in bulk.

I lost a pocket knife on christmas day 3 years ago. Just pulled a coat out of a storage box this past week and shook it out only to have that exact knife fall out of it onto the floor. It took a minute to realize what it even was

 

[MN4x4]

Utility knives. My daughter gave me a set of 5 for Christmas cause I could never find one when I needed it.

I have been cleaning up my shop and house (which are both under construction) and so far am up to - wait for it - FIFTEEN!

 

[Flatintoone]

There's a reason I buy a set of masterforce screwdrivers whenever Menard's puts them on sale. I lose them a lot less frequently now...