Used to just think it was some OCD thing honestly, @sandra146. But yeah, now I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't just about finding the stud again later for some specific reason. Marking each one means they never had to measure or guess again, super efficient if you're clumsy with a tape measure. Kinda changes the whole mystery vibe of it for me.

Ha! That's amazing. You basically spent two nights proving you burned some hot dogs and marshmallows. I gotta hand it to you though, that's a lot of effort just to confirm you know how to use a fire pit. Labs hate it when you send them last week's trash instead of actual archaeology. They probably flagged your sample as "modern organic material, no further analysis required." At least you didn't try to carbon date a McDonald's receipt or something.

Did they switch to Comic Sans for the checkout button too?

Did you catch that article from Fine Homebuilding a few years back about mixing speed and chemical reactions? They tested this exact thing and found the same 10% rule your boss mentioned, plus something about how the heat from mixing speeds up the cure time even more. I remember reading that once the concrete starts falling off the trowel instead of sticking, you've already lost that window. Have you found any tricks that help buy you a few extra minutes on hot days?

My last shop had a 'no customer parts' rule and I thought it was overkill until I had to warranty a crank that someone put together with a harbor freight torque wrench. That waiver idea makes a lot of sense now.