[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Expensive Mistakes (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/11/2014 4:50:31 PM EDT
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Now that I'm no longer pissed, only sad, I can talk about my Sunday afternoon and evening.
I just rented a condo with an attached garage. I have been trying to get the garage cleaned up so that I can pull the car in there. But there's still quite a few boxes that need opened and put away, and shelved that need put up. That brings me to Sunday afternoon. I was putting shelves up, using the usual method of stud finder, pre-drill, screw, repeat. Around 4:30 I was about to finish up, but wanted to put up the last 2 shelves. So I climb the ladder, find the mark that my trusty stud finder has located as being studly and start drilling. After I'm through the dry wall, I notice a weird soft feeling. Not really like a stud, but I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Then comes the blazing hot geyser shooting 20 feet across my garage that even Old Faithful would have been proud of. This is followed closely by the giant reactionary "Oh Shit!". Yep, I struck water. So now all my shit is getting soaked and I'm running around trying to find our shutoff valve. Finally I find it, right under the geyser, of course, and start shutting it off, but it's one of those stupid keys like for a gas valve and I have to keep fiddling with it to get it to turn. So now, one pair of dry underwear later, I'm standing there with a closed shutoff valve and the same geyser I started with.  . This is about the time when my neighbor happens by and realized I hit my neighbors water line, not mine. So he runs over there and shuts it off while I grab a bucket and hold it up to the blow hole to try to stop it from ruining my shit.
After a while we get the wall opened up and wouldn't you know it, some cheap fuck of a builder has put plastic water supply line from my neighbors garage, touching the back of my drywall. Well, now I go to try to fix it and wouldn't you know it, none of the pex fittings are working. At this point I figured I'm just gonna have to call a plumber and take it up the ass, because nothing is working and I've got the water to a neighbors condo shut off. Plumber comes out, takes one look and says "shit, do you know what this is? It's Kitec". Turns out the cheap fuck of a builder was even fucking cheaper than just a normal cheap fuck because he used some kind of recalled piping that is prone to bursting. There's a class action settlement of the tune of $125M. It should all be replaced. No wonder the pex fittings didn't work. So now here I sit, $386 poorer and completely regretting trying to put that last shelf up.
TL;DR I hit my neighbors water line with a drill, and it turned out to be some really shitty proprietary piping that cost me a fortune to repair. Let's hear your expensive mistake stories to make me feel better. |
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That would have been more of a shock 
ETA and at least I would have known how to fix it. Quoted:
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At least you didn't drill through his electrical conduit...... That would have been more of a shock
ETA and at least I would have known how to fix it. But only after a trip to the ER or mortuary.......
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Doesn't work on pressure. Damn sure wouldn't seal it in a wall. |
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I made a rigging error on two instrumented gps guided parachute systems for drop testing, resulting in the test items hitting the ground rather fast after falling 8000 feet thanks to the parachutes not opening.
The guidance systems and the test items were destroyed. Probably cost the company 30 grand.
Feel better, OP? 
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg SERIOUSLY? 
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Someone had a cart full of tall narrow highly polished injection mold parts sitting and I bumped into the cart. All told a half dozen or so fell on the floor. ...I think they had about $8000 a piece in man hrs in each one. Lucky for me we had extra over and above what the order called for, however they were still going to be buying the extras but they had to be junked since the mirror finish was trashed and couldn't be simply fixed |
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg Is that real?!? 
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg Neat. How did the 4 wheel drive work? |
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I made a rigging error on two instrumented gps guided parachute systems for drop testing, resulting in the test items hitting the ground rather fast after falling 8000 feet thanks to the parachutes not opening. The guidance systems and the test items were destroyed. Probably cost the company 30 grand.
Feel better, OP? Starting to
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg show me the carfax now... 
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Don't feel bad. This guy was coming up the Mississippi River from Florida. He got close to Gunnison MS and anchored out. During the night he dragged his anchor and found himself in a very shallow spot. That is about a 60' cabin cruiser in 3 feet of water. That's right, 3 feet. We and two other boats spent several hours trying to get him out. At one point we had him free. He had no rudder so he could not steer. We were pushing him out into the channel when he blew an engine. Lost all power and ended up washed right back to where he started. He has no hope but to wait until the River comes up and get a tug to tow him to an industrial port for repairs. The River isn't coming up until at least Thursday and then it doesn't look like it is going to come up much. If it goes down a few feet he will be high and dry. It is hard to imagine how much all that will cost. Thousands. You got off pretty good for $400. Cheer up
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg 
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Someone had a cart full of tall narrow highly polished injection mold parts sitting and I bumped into the cart. All told a half dozen or so fell on the floor. ...I think they had about $8000 a piece in man hrs in each one. Lucky for me we had extra over and above what the order called for, however they were still going to be buying the extras but they had to be junked since the mirror finish was trashed and couldn't be simply fixed You need a better cart. 
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I made a number of expensive mistakes
(1.) I didn't listen to my Dad and prepare myself to go to college by getting good grades and taking college prepatory courses. I ended up having to work my way through college. It took my 15 years from start to finish. Fortunately I didn't borrow a penny, but I suffered for a very long time working minimum wage jobs (2 jobs when I wasn't in school: to save up money for tuition). (2.) I got married. But I thought I was "smart" about it. I married a Chinese lady who was born and raised in Taiwan and then became a US citizen before I met her. Turned out this Size 4 Petite China Doll was a real Dragon Lady. Real sweet on the outside in public, but at home, once the blinds were closed...what a screaming violent gold digging controlling bitch. I ended up filing for divorce, but I did it the right way, by making sure that she wouldn't loose face and appealed to her sense of greed, so it never went to court. I almost lost my house several times over, because my monthly overhead with my new mortgage (I had to refi to buy her out) nearly sank me. Then of course shortly after we split up and I bought her out, the housing market really took a nose dive and my house lost over 100K of value in less than 6 months. We all make mistakes, to paraphrase my father, the key in life isn't not making mistakes, its surviving them. |
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SERIOUSLY? Quoted:
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg SERIOUSLY? When I saw that...
"You'll never catch a '14er pulling that kind of shit." Uh oh, now the jinx is in |
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I have ~$900 worth of scuba tanks I've never used. $600 of those have never been used by anyone. At least the other $300 worth have been loaned out. Yeah, I've just realized the carrying cost of owning 2 steel and 1 aluminum tanks, in a high desert, with a non diving wife and tropic-only co-workers. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I have a small landscaping company and keep coax fittings and a splice kit on my truck now. I have lost count of how many cable lines I have cut through digging out sod in new construction.
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bro thats a soaker of a story hope yo stuff made it out safe. I cut the cable line with the tiller last year and it cost me a day without internet, I know its nothing like you had but thats what I did ones.
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ESD'ed an offshore production platform by plugging a drill into the wrong electrical outlet once. Five and a half hours to bring it back up. Lost revenue was about $65k per hour.
Boss's take was "it happens to everyone at least once, but there will not be a second time... If there is, you better start swimming. " |
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That's a rough day.
I was putting up shelves in my closet but the bit just wasn't going in. I thought I was dull so I started to push harder - at the exact moment I remembered the electrical panel was in the other bedroom. That's right. I almost drilled into the back of my electric panel. |
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Yeah, I've just realized the carrying cost of owning 2 steel and 1 aluminum tanks, in a high desert, with a non diving wife and tropic-only co-workers.
Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Quoted:
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I have ~$900 worth of scuba tanks I've never used. $600 of those have never been used by anyone. At least the other $300 worth have been loaned out. Yeah, I've just realized the carrying cost of owning 2 steel and 1 aluminum tanks, in a high desert, with a non diving wife and tropic-only co-workers.
Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile (4) AL40s, (2) LP80s, and (1) AL80. All never used except the LP80s that I've loaned out on a single dive trip. |
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(4) AL40s, (2) LP80s, and (1) AL80. All never used except the LP80s that I've loaned out on a single dive trip. Quoted:
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I have ~$900 worth of scuba tanks I've never used. $600 of those have never been used by anyone. At least the other $300 worth have been loaned out. Yeah, I've just realized the carrying cost of owning 2 steel and 1 aluminum tanks, in a high desert, with a non diving wife and tropic-only co-workers.
Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile (4) AL40s, (2) LP80s, and (1) AL80. All never used except the LP80s that I've loaned out on a single dive trip. Oh. You win on tank cost. Are you interested in buying a couple OMS/Faber LP98s? Hydro expired this year, but they'll probably pass. 
I don't count the unused doubles manifold and Halcyon wing in my equation because I can sell them and recoup costs. But I haven't yet. Because they are shiny and let me daydream about "someday." As far as other expensive mistakes, I've watched people drop $20,000 ultrasound probes, damage eye-watering key expensive medical implants and meds that run 5-6 figures/vial. |
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I quit a job that had a 20 year retirement, already had college degree.
Went back to college for new career with 27 year retirement, took two years to finish classes. I could have retired two years ago - had I stuck with first career. I have almost 8 years left to go. Over 7+ years of my life in exchange for??? Live & learn, the hard way. |
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I once ran a manlift into the side of a KC-130. About $400,000 all told manlift. we all know what a c-130 is http://img.tradeindia.com/fp/1/609/563.jpg ETA: Feel better VAcaver ?
I 2as gonna post about the $1500 s4 instrument cluster I toasted with a cheap scanner, but that ain't shit. |
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I wanted a truck, so I took a Cherokee out on a test drive one day. http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m574/dtgotts/IMAG0554.jpg I do not see a truck here.... |
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One of the crews I worked with fucked up an oil well. I've heard it cost us $8-12M. Fairly hush hush as you'd expect so I don't know the exact number. Another former coworker rolled one of our pumps, just over $3M to order a new one.
That was probably not a good time to ask for a raise
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http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000862.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000858.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000841.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000842.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000844.jpg Quoted:
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Snip Let's hear your expensive mistake stories to make me feel better. I parked a semi on its roof.
Pics? http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000862.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000858.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000841.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000842.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000844.jpg Holy crap! Did you walk away? |
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http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000862.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000858.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000841.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000842.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000844.jpg Quoted:
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Snip Let's hear your expensive mistake stories to make me feel better. I parked a semi on its roof.
Pics? http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000862.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000858.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000841.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000842.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000844.jpg How did you not die? |
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That was probably not a good time to ask for a raise
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One of the crews I worked with fucked up an oil well. I've heard it cost us $8-12M. Fairly hush hush as you'd expect so I don't know the exact number. Another former coworker rolled one of our pumps, just over $3M to order a new one.
That was probably not a good time to ask for a raise
I got boned because of it. I was promised a promotion about two weeks before it happened. Corporate stepped in and put a hold on all promotions until the facts were sorted out. They were worried they were promoting too fast and putting guys in positions that they weren't capable of handling. |
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Holy crap! Did you walk away? Quoted:
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Snip Let's hear your expensive mistake stories to make me feel better. I parked a semi on its roof.
Pics? http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000862.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000858.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000841.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000842.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/00000844.jpg Holy crap! Did you walk away? I did, thats me in front of the truck less the 20 hours post ride of my life. |