Got burned by a cheap bottom bracket tool and it cost me $60

I tried to save a few bucks and bought a no-name bottom bracket tool off Amazon for like $12. The thing stripped out on the second use and I ended up ROUNDING off the splines on my Shimano crank arm. Had to buy a new crank arm for $50 and then shell out $30 more for the Park Tool version. I could have just bought the right tool from the start and saved myself the headache. Anyone else had a cheap tool ruin a part on you?

Our book club spent 3 hours arguing about whether the dog dies in the first chapter

We were reading this literary fiction novel and right on page 3 there's a dog that gets hit by a car. Half the group said it was a metaphor for the main character's lost innocence. The other half said it was just a plot device to make the reader sad. I was in the camp that it was actually a flashback and the dog lived. We had to pull out our phones and check the author's website to get the answer. Turns out the author left it vague on purpose, which made everyone even more annoyed. Has anyone else had a book club debate get derailed by a single animal death scene?

My throw line got stuck in a red oak yesterday...

Was setting up for a removal in a backyard in Portland and my throw bag wrapped around a branch about 50 feet up. Tugged a bit too hard and the line jammed in a tight crotch, had to climb up and free it with a pole pruner. Anyone else had this happen with new paracord that still has that stiff coating on it?

Spent 3 days tracking down a weird smell in my treatment room before I found a forgotten cotton ball behind my facial machine.

It was a damp one from a hydrafacial I did almost 2 weeks ago and it had started molding, has anyone else found something gross hiding in an obvious spot?

Just hit 500 sheets hung this month and my body is telling me about it

I was tracking my numbers for a job in Wichita and realized I put up 517 sheets of 5/8" firecode since the 1st. That's way more than my usual 350 or so, and my right shoulder has been barking for the last week straight. The extra 150 sheets came from a rush commercial buildout where we had a two week deadline instead of the normal four. Has anyone else pushed past their usual count and regretted it physically?

Spotted a weird fix on a Garmin G1000 at Scottsdale Airport last Tuesday

I was down at KSDL helping a buddy with an annual when I noticed one of the King Airs had a cracked display bezel taped up with foil tape. Turns out the pilot ran out of spares and just wanted to keep the stray light out. Anyone else run into field hacks that actually hold up better than the OEM parts?

Stripped oil pan threads keep coming through the shop

Seen three cars this month alone come in with oil leaks from overtightened drain plugs. People crank them down with a breaker bar and wonder why they strip out. Anyone else just upsizing to a Fumoto valve on these instead of chasing threads?

My old way of tracking sales was a mess of sticky notes

For years, I wrote down every sale on a sticky note and stuck it to my desk. Last month, I finally switched to a simple Google Sheet. I set it up in one afternoon and now I can see my daily numbers at a glance. It showed me that Tuesdays are actually my best day, which I never knew before. I wish I had done this way sooner. What simple tool made a big difference in your business?

Hot take: I found out my local library spends more on ebook licenses than physical books, and I think that's a problem.

Spent $75 on a detailed background check service

I needed to verify some info for a project and figured a paid service would be thorough. It basically just repackaged the free first page of Google results. Has anyone found a background check that actually digs deeper without costing a fortune?