Really stupid moves

[Zelatore]

Ratty early 70's 240Z with a bodged together 280 motor and 5 speed ******. The shifter didn't quite line up with the stock opening, so I just had a rag wrapped around it. Driving down the highway, the rag sucked out and I instinctively reached down to catch it...and buzzed my fingers on the spinning driveshaft U-joint. That was an eye opener.


Late 80's Ford van with column shift. Driving along around 50 mph on a country road and a bee came in the open window. I jerked my right hand up to swat it away, and caught my cuff on the shifter slamming it all the way into reverse (park?...I don't recall) Locked the rear tires completely for a second until I could yank the thing back into drive. Amazingly, the old C6 survived just fine.

 

[c6matt]

While "fixing" a screen door and installing new screen trim, I wisely decided to use my new pneumatic brad nailer to fasten the trim instead of an oldfashioned tack hammer....long story short, I used brads too long and nailed the screen door to my new workbench. I managed to pry it off and had to clench about two hundred thousand nails on the back of the door...a little rattle can green paint job hid the mistake...kinda. I chuckle everytime I see that door and all those nails. g

I used brads that were too long in my new brad nailer and nailed a screen door I was repairing, to my workbench...my wife 5/8ths (my better half) is still laughing. I had to clench all the brads over after prying it off the bench with a crow bar.

in the nature of the thread title, this made me lol..posts were 3 months apart..

 

[c6matt]

So my older brother (15) and I (13) were playing with oxy acetylene torches. We would fill a 2 liter bottle with the gas, and stick it over the end of a benzomatic propane torch, and light it off. the bottle would turn into a rocket that would fly 30' into the air, great fun. we are hanging out with friends later that night (11-12 pm) and telling them about it, and they want to see it. We ride our bikes back to my parents house and get out the torches.
We want to give them a good show, and must of added more gas than before. We gather around as my brother lights it off. It goes up about 2 foot in a brilliant blaze of orange, and then there is a flash and a huge boom. Then with our ears ringing, I notice it is snowing, but its july. The bottle was completely blown apart and ith little pieces of plastic were falling from the sky. we booked it out of there, not sure if my parents ever heard this story, or of they heard the explosion in the driveway. We were super lucky to not be injured..

 

[Pete D.]

Did some laundry the other day and after taking the clothes out of the washing machine there lay my cell phone.

 

[skyking]

Called my wife a **** once. I was young and terribly stupid. It has never and will never happen again.
On my deathbed , she will probably remind me of it.

 

[wrench409]

The boss made an oxy/acet bomb using a heavy sofa bag, 100 ft of phone wire, a tail light socket with a broken bulb inside and used a 9 volt battery to set it off in the parking lot next to where we worked.

The mushroom cloud was neat.

The police however were pissed.

Have you ever tried to keep a straight face while being questioned?

 

[Farmall 1066]

Had to go pick up a horse last night. Worked all day, drove 2 hours one way to get it. Got home, unloaded horse, unhooked trailer, and jumped in the back seat of my crew cab!
Done that more than once, when I'm really tired!

 

[ChevyEFI]

Did some laundry the other day and after taking the clothes out of the washing machine there lay my cell phone.

Went swimming with mine. The screen is nearly dried out; phone works fine. Slight microphone problems yet. I really like the phone and it's only from March.

Have you ever tried to keep a straight face while being questioned?

or while reading your post.

 

[softailgarage]

I do stupid **** on a daily basis, but 2 times stand out, by far the stupidest things I've ever done.
1. 1979, first job out of high school, building water treatment systems. I was cutting and threading black pipe for plumbing on a special order. If your familiar with threading machines, you know there's a threading adapter thats "locked" onto a shaft. To unlock, loosen with a pipe wrench. Well, I tried and tried and just could not loosen that *****, so I grabbed a 3' pipe wrench, put the adapter in a bench vise and (this is where the "stupid" comes into play)planted my feet in a firm stance DIRECTLY IN FRONT of the vise, arms extended STRAIGHT out in front of me. Using all of my 240lbs pulling towards me...it loosened, pipe wrench smacking me square in the forehead, knocking me on my ***. It was like the cartoons, except instead of stars, it was one big star. Got sent to the clinic for x-rays, by the time I got there it was the size of a baseball. Concussion, 2 days off. *******.

2. First Harley, '71 sportster, riding on the 55 freeway Orange County, doin about 80mph when suddenly the front cylinder spark plug wire pops off. Instinctively, I reach down and grabbed it, ZAP, as I pull away, the wire flies up and ZAP right in the nuts. Now I'm literally standing up on the bike trying to get it pulled to the side of the road without getting killed. Son of a *****, what a *******!

 

[Chukster]

I'm 55 years old. Let me count the ways...

About 19 years ago I wanted to put a set of casters on my Delta table saw. Simple, eh? Eased it over on the left side, attached the right side casters per instructions (Yes, I read instructions a little more often at this age). Went quite well, I thought. Smooth moving, everything's great so far, stood it up, went around to the right side, grabbed the fence rail extensions and started to lower the cabinet onto the right side so I could put the left side (the locking casters....) on. Except: me forgetted about ALL of the forces involved. As soon as the CG came out past those free-wheeling casters, all hell broke loose, the whole mess accelerated to the floor, (I think there was gremlin pulling the base away from me, too) and one of the extensions aimed itself straight at my big toe. I swear, it was a conscious act on the part of that extension. Wife & 2 small kids burst out of the kitchen to see what was up in the garage. Saw had settled on the floor by then and I was sitting on the steps; "Dropped the table saw on my toe." Trip to the doc-in-a-box, where the nice lady doctor drilled thru the nail to relieve the pressure of the blood pooling underneath, gave me a walking boot & some crutches & sent me home with some almost decent painkillers.

BUT!!!!! In spite of the surprise & pain, I didn't utter a single swear word in front of my small kids. Good Dad!!

4 days later I had to drive 2 hours after work, to meet a man for a job interview. Talk about nervous, telling him I work OK alone at remote radio tower sites & such. Did get the job!

 

[Rsharp66]

We had recently moved into a loft condo, all one big concrete room. Work shop separated from bedroom by rolling clothes racks with all wife's clothes hanging there.

Rebuilding Harley air assist front forks by sealing,pressurizing and then let sit overnight. Wake up Sunday and see small seepage si I figure "no problem, drain and try again". Alen wrench to drain plug a ****! The evacuating air emptys all oil from both forks out the drain hole. The wall behind me had a perfect outline of an idiot bending over with a wrench.

Look to left to see full row of dresses all with light coating of oil...

 

[911mike]

We have one of those large plastic trash carts with wheels on it. It's pretty heavy duty type. We also have a LONG driveway so on trash day I hook the trash cart up to the trailer hitch on my truck and haul it down to the street. I've done this at least 500 times.

Well one morning it was snowing pretty good and we already had 3-4 inches on the ground and it was trash day. I hooked up the cart and off I went. When I got to the street I kind of forgot to stop and unhook the cart! So off to work I go heading down the street (45 mph road) and about a half mile down the road I pass a school bus stop and all the kids are pointing at me. I'm thinking WTF???? So I keep driving for about another half mile and come up to a red light. I hit my brakes and hear a CLUNK and then then the liitle light in my head went off!!!! I forgot to take off the trash cart, LO


So now I have to turn around and drive pass the school bus stop AGAIN and there all laughing and pointing AGAIN. I made it home and unhooked the cart but those plastic
wheels were never the same. Thankfully the snow and slush helped cool and lub the plastic wheels.

I didn't tell anyone about this for 5 years. I still laugh just thinking about it.

 

[noslocars]

I have plenty but 2 I can think of right now.
1. Changing oil on an s-10 pickup I had. Drained the oil, removed the filter, installed the plug. The neighbor came over and wanted to BS. He was always over talking so I decided to fill up the oil while he talked. Finally got him to leave and I hopped in to fire it up and look for leaks. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi no oil pressure so I shut it off. Sitting there thinking what the heck. Get out and look under the truck and see the exxon valdez under the truck. In the process of getting sidetracked I never put the filter on. Had to go to the auto parts store and buy more oil and some floor dry.

2. I just bought my first house and was installing my new garage door opener. I got it almost installed and found out that I needed longer screws for the drive motor to the ceiling. I temporarily installed it with some short screws I had. Told the wife to remind me I needed to buy some longer screws when I was at Home Depot. Fast forward 2 years later, I was working out of town and came home for the weekend. I went to open the garage door and heard a horrible crash. I looked out and saw the garage door opener laying on top of my wife's car. It was then that I remembered I was going to change out those screws. I was lucky that it happened when I was home for the weekend or my wife would of really been mad. The car had a little ding to remind me that I was a *****. The opener worked even after it's fall from the roof.

 

[Ohmthis]

I was changing my brakes on my truck several years ago. Our driveway was really steep. I finish, and drop it off the jack stands and clean up my tools. Get a call from my wife to meet her for a date. I go get a quick shower jump in the truck, fire it up, put it in reverse and then OHHH S$*# no brakes. I had forgotten to pump them back up. I went flying out the drive pulled it to the left and finally stopped it about 3' from my neighbors house. I triple check the brakes now!!!!!

 

[crewchief888]

2. First Harley, '71 sportster, riding on the 55 freeway Orange County, doin about 80mph when suddenly the front cylinder spark plug wire pops off. Instinctively, I reach down and grabbed it, ZAP, as I pull away, the wire flies up and ZAP right in the nuts. Now I'm literally standing up on the bike trying to get it pulled to the side of the road without getting killed. Son of a *****, what a *******!

i woulda paid $5 to see that

on a side note, i was on my way to work one morning on my '80 sporty.
it was about 25* that morning in central forida, and i was freezing my *** off, i could barely pull the clutch in.
i pulled up to a light at a major intersection, pulled off my gloves, and put my hands down next to the rear jug to thaw my fingers out.
you guessed it, rear plug wire bit me, i started cussing, as i stood up, my gloves fell to the ground,
i'm twitching like a :tard:
and of course the light turns green

 

[elm_street]

We had recently moved into a loft condo, all one big concrete room. Work shop separated from bedroom by rolling clothes racks with all wife's clothes hanging there.

I think that you could have maybe stopped the story right there.

 

[skippy24]

My best was being young, stupid, And drunk when a friend bet me $10 that I could not burn a one dollar bill that was pressed against my hand. I have the $10 and no feeling on the to of my right hand. The other one that happened recently was when I rented a big tiller to prep my back yard for sod. I was pulli g it backwards, got distracted momentarily, and ran over my foot with the tiller. I was wearing steel toe boots so no damage but that scared the poop out of me and I had to take a break and have a drink or two.

 

[ZRX1040]

Never roll under the truck on a creeper with a 16" ponytail when no one else is home....

 

[crewchief888]

Never roll under the truck on a creeper with a 16" ponytail when no one else is home....

ouch

been there, done that

i didnt use a creeper for years.....

 

[Mattlt]

The boss made an oxy/acet bomb using a heavy sofa bag, 100 ft of phone wire, a tail light socket with a broken bulb inside and used a 9 volt battery to set it off in the parking lot next to where we worked.

I've got a neighbor that makes O/A bombs using regular sized balloons and I can feel the ground shake a half mile away. I can't imagine what this one sounded like!

One of my favorite dumb-*** stories happened the day I proposed to my wife. We were leaving to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family. (Figured I had to propose in front of witnesses so she couldn't say no!) Anyway, packed up the truck, backed out of the garage, and CRUNCH! Left the topper door open, and it proceeded to gut hung up on the garage door. I must have been pre-occupied... Still get reminded of it from time to time.

 

[kev2015]

Hey just wondering what you have found to be the best process, product for repainting metal cabinets, Thanks!

 

[kelpaso1]

^^^^ Well that fits in nicely with the title of this thread

 

[WVBrady]

Firstly, I would like to say that I read all of these responses, not to laugh at them, but to learn from them so that I wouldn't make the same mistakes.

I did have one mishap last year that went along with the idea that I am more likely to make a mistake when I am tired. I was replacing some of the rollers in my overhead garage door and realized that the ones that hadn't gone bad were still not in very good shape, so I decided to replace the last, bottom one. I couldn't see very well down there and had forgotten that the bottom bracket also held the anchor for the cable that connects to the spring that lifts the door. Just as I took out the bolt and levered off the bracket, it shot past my face with nearly the speed of sound. I had on my polycarbonate glasses, which are not really safety glasses, but still pretty tough. I thought that the bracket had missed me completely until I found two little nicks in the lens. Scary.

 

[Zuiu]

Earlier today I was trying to build some Edsel shelves from Home Depot (they are garbage, don't buy them). I'm trying to pry a metal join off a metal mounting beam by shoving screwdrivers into eyelets on one end of the metal beam, and the join on the other side. I'm holding onto one screw driver with my hands, while pulling on the other screw driver with my legs, realizing that when this thing finally gives, the metal beam is going to go straight into my chest.

So I gave up, and now I'm returning the pile of junk. So two stupid moves, I bought the thing, then I almost harpooned myself with it.