max388•4d ago

I used to think I had to match every socket screw size exactly until my old boss yelled at me

Back when I was still learning pest control, I wasted so much time swapping out drill bits for each screw hole on a job. I figured you had to use the exact size or the screw would strip out. One afternoon on a crawlspace repair in Orlando, my boss saw me fumbling with three different bits and just snapped, "Use the middle one for everything, it works." I tried it and the screws held just fine. That one comment probably saved me 20 minutes per job going forward. Have any of you had a similar moment where you were overthinking a simple task?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_roberts223d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy Mike was helping me paint my garage and spent like 10 minutes measuring and remeasuring the angle on a corner brush cut. He kept adjusting it thinking he'd mess up the trim if it wasn't perfect. His wife came out, grabbed the brush, made one quick cut, and said "it's paint, it'll cover it." He still gets teased about it every time we paint something together.

the_ray4d ago

You ever watch a buddy spend 15 minutes trying to line up a socket wrench with a bolt on his truck, switching sockets each time? My friend Dave was replacing a brake caliper and kept swapping between 10mm and 12mm sockets, getting all frustrated because neither felt perfect. His brother walked over, grabbed the middle one from the set, and it clicked right on. Dave still brings it up years later, saying he'd been overthinking basic car stuff for way too long.