Overheard a lead mechanic say something that made me rethink my tool cart setup

I was changing a fuel control unit on a 737 last Tuesday and this old timer walked by my cart. He pointed at my top drawer full of cheap Amazon wrenches and said 'son, every time you grab that, you're losing 10 minutes of your life'. I laughed it off at first but then I timed myself getting a proper snap-on wrench from the bottom drawer versus the cheap ones. He was right, the cheap ones slipped and I had to go back. Now I'm slowly swapping out my go-to tools and keeping the good stuff on top. Anyone else reorganize after a senior guy called you out?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarab2418d ago

Had a buddy strip a bolt on his truck with a discount wrench, spent all Sunday drilling it out.

hayden_butler2718d ago

That old timer wasn't just talking about time. He was talking about the hidden cost of frustration. Cheap tools screw with your head and make you second-guess yourself on the next job too.

the_jamie18d ago

Cheap tools screw with your head" - man, that hit close to home. I bought a budget screwdriver set once thinking I was being smart, and ended up stripping half the screws in my living room before I realized I was the problem. Stripped three more trying to fix the first one. I felt like a total clown standing there with a tool that was basically a butter knife pretending to be a Phillips head. Now I'm paranoid every time I pick up a cheap tool, like it's going to bite me somehow. So yeah, that hidden cost is real - it's called my dignity.