I have to say even after a couple decades in the business I still find new ways to do something dumb. I was working on a jobsite over the weekend and got a 4 foot drill bit stuck in a hole. After I had the wire tied on of course. I gave the wire a yank and the drill came flying out to crack me butt end first right on the chin. A little higher or a little lower and I might not be typing this message. It hit hard enough to ring my bell and stagger me slightly. I was on a ladder at the time. Fortunately, I maintained my balance, just barely. I guess my misspent youth helped with that some. LOL.
Ain't it amazing all the interesting ways we can find to hurt ourselves?
If were ever to write a book about installing alarms it would be called, 'Blood, Sweat and Tools' - Because I generally leave a little of each behind on every job...
A long time ago I was pre-wiring a house and stopped to talk with an electrician. For some reason I was spinning the chuck of a 1/2 Milwaukee with the trigger. Next thing I know it caught in my shirt and rolled up and smacked me in the chin! Just my pride was hurt...
Well, I guess I can't miss the chance to tell my famous story.
Picture this. It's the middle of the winter on a Friday. Working on a house under construction. There's a blizzard predicted to start during the day b ut I show up alone on the job early in the morning and start predrilling. N o other contractors show up so I have the whole house to myself. Figure it' ll go quick and I can get home before it gets too bad. Starts blowin and sn owin just as I get there but I start working anyway. I park the van around the back of the house just because it was easier to get my tools inside thr ough the rear sliding glass door. I have a 1/2 horse power Makita drill ( n ot a right angle, just regular handle) So, I set up the generator and I'm w orking along for at least a couple/few hours, all alone, fast as I can. usi ng a one inch auger bit. Welllll. the bit gets stuck, spins the handle of t he drill and wraps the cord around my hand with the cord pressed against th e trigger. My hand is twisted so that I'm pinned up against he wall. I've t ied a knot between the cord of the drill and the extension cord so I can't pull the plug. I'm there for about 10/15 minutes, my hand twisted and feeli ng like it was going to ... or had already been broken and the drill is sta rting to heat up because I can't release the trigger. I'd just filled the 3 gallon tank of the generator.
The fact that I made one mistake setting up, got me out of the predicament. I "always" tie the extension cord to the generator so it doesn't pull out. When the situation reached a critical point, I figured I was just going to have to cut the electrical cord and hope I didn't get electrocuted, I tried pulling on the extension cord going to the generator, thinking that maybe I could get it to stall if I pulled it up the side of the foundation, ..... . the plug that I forgot to tie, pulled out of the generator.
I started packing up (with one hand) immediately.
But .... fate wasn't done with me yet. I looked out the front of the house down the entry road for the first time since I started and there were snow drifts all over the place. I get the van loaded and go to drive out from a round the back of the house and there were snow drifts at least up to the w indshield on either side of the house with no other way out. So ..... I did what any other totally pissed off at himself asshole would do ..... I back ed up to the edge of the property line and probably hit the snow drift doin g 40. Fortunately it was all powder and I just kept right on acceleration t ill I got to the paved part of the road.
My hand wasn't broken but it sure was sore and took a long time before it w as back to normal. I bit the bullet and bought a right angle drill. Before that, I could never figure out why everyone used a right angle drill (WITH A F%*@ TRIGGER GUARD!)
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