Rant: I spent 4 years leveling pads with the wrong side of my transit

Been running a Grove RT for a while now, mostly doing bridge jobs around Columbus. My old foreman always had me set up the same way, pull the grade rod up to the crosshair, adjust the outriggers until the bubble sat perfect. Did that for 4 years without thinking twice. Last Thursday we had this tight fit next to a old railroad overpass, and the site engineer comes over, squats down, and goes 'you know you got that scope turned around, right?' I was just staring at him. He flips the thing around and shows me the actual scale face on the other side. My numbers were reading about 2 inches off the whole time. Two inches! We'd been setting leveling pads on this bridge deck that was already pitched for drainage, so it never bit us, but still. How many of yall have a habit you picked up from somebody early on that you never double checked? What tipped you off, or are you still flying blind like I was?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.brooke24d agoTop Commenter

Same deal with screwing in a lightbulb. Everyone learns to turn it one way from their mom or dad and never thinks about it again. My buddy swore he was tightening his blade on his saw for years until someone pointed out he had it backwards the whole time. We just pick stuff up and run with it without questioning if the person who showed us actually knew what they were doing. Makes you wonder how many other little things in life are off by two inches and we just never notice because nothing bad happens.

tyler_bell24d ago

Off by two inches and we just never notice" really hits, @carr.brooke. Every time I swap a drill bit now I stop and double-check the chuck is actually spinning the right way, because I had the same thing happen with a circular saw blade. The trick is to just spin it by hand once before you power it up, takes two seconds and saves you from that "wait, why is this vibrating" moment.