DAE see people mixing up true position and concentricity on drawings all the time?

In my experience, I've caught three different junior drafters in the last month calling for concentricity on a simple bore when true position with a diameter symbol is the correct, and way simpler, callout for the machinist to actually work with.

Had to choose between a full weld or a patch on a 3/4 inch steam line at the old mill in Gary.

The foreman wanted a quick patch, but I insisted on cutting out the whole 8-foot section and doing a full replacement. It took us two extra days and cost about $1200 more in materials, but the inspection passed with zero notes. Who else has fought for the right fix over the easy one?

Why does nobody talk about the cheap thermal paste in those off-brand power bricks?

I had a customer's laptop charger from a 2021 Dell model fail completely last Tuesday because the paste inside had dried into dust, which I only found after cracking open the brick itself with a T5 screwdriver, so has anyone else found a good replacement paste for these tiny components?

Update: My string line was off for a whole 20-foot wall because my pins were bent.

The client's inspector pointed it out and I had to tear down the top three courses. Anyone else had a pin fail on them like that?

My smart fridge tried to order 12 gallons of milk after a power flicker in Denver

I was at home during a quick storm last week when the lights blinked off and on for a second. When the power came back, my fridge's AI grocery list feature reset and decided we needed a huge milk supply. Has anyone else had a kitchen gadget go a bit crazy after a simple power hiccup?

Got burned by a cheap voltage tester that gave a false reading

I bought a $15 non-contact voltage tester from a discount store for a quick job. It said a line was dead, but when I went to work on it, I got a nasty shock. Turned out the tester was faulty and missed about 40 volts still on the line. I had to redo the whole connection and lost nearly two hours of billable time, which is about $200 for me. Some guys say a basic tester is fine for quick checks, but others swear you should only use a trusted brand and always double-check with a meter. What's your go-to method to make sure a circuit is really dead before you touch it?

Tbh, my cat's sudden litter box avoidance took 8 months to fix

Honestly, my cat Mittens started peeing on the rug in my apartment in Phoenix and I tried everything new litter, vet checks, more boxes. Ngl, it turned out she hated the automatic litter robot we bought last spring, the noise scared her. Has anyone else's cat freaked out over a specific type of litter box?

I used to take any client who emailed, now I ask for a $500 deposit first.

After a client in Tampa ghosted me on a $2k project last year, I got stuck doing all the work with no pay. I started asking for half up front before I even open a design file. Do you think that scares off good clients or just filters out the bad ones?

I saw a guy at the grocery store in Phoenix buy a 5 pound bag of frozen fries for his air fryer. He said 'fresh potatoes are a waste of time'. Is he right?

Started wiping with mineral spirits during staining prep, blotchy spots vanished lmao