Did you have to re-lube the ring after the ash pulled the grit out, or did it stay smooth on its own? Curious how long that fix actually holds up on a lens that gets used.

That Portland baker isn't wrong about humidity, but he left out the part where it hits both scales. I ran a cheap digital next to a 40 year old Ohaus for a month and logged every batch, and the digital drifted maybe 2 grams on a rainy week while the balance beam was dead on but took me 45 seconds per weigh and I kept rushing the final pour. The real win wasn't drift, it was speed and repeatability. When you weigh 8 ingredients fast, you stop fooling yourself about how close you got. My bread got better because I stopped guessing, not because the scale was magic. The beam still sits on the shelf for when I want to feel like a real baker.

Kind of hard to believe the math works out that clean, honestly. A $9/hr drop is around $1,500 a month before taxes, so going up $200 means the old job was eating like $1,700 in hidden stuff. Parking and uniforms at a warehouse usually run maybe $50 to $100 a month, not hundreds. And health coverage is a real cost but most warehouse gigs do offer something, even if it's bad. Not saying you're lying, just that those numbers don't add up for most people reading this.