What saying or quote sticks with you since you were a newbie?

RayWohlfarth · January 11

When i was a first year apprentice, I made a mistake on a job site. I mis-measured a piece of pipe I was threading. I told my journeyman, "I made a mistake."

He looked at him and said, "Its not a mistake until you walk away from it." I smiled and redid the pipe. It's funny how I still think about that saying some four decades later and can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday. I have used that saying with my employees too. Just curious what you heard when you first started that has stuck with you for your career.

Ray

PC7060 · January 11

“perfect is the enemy of good”

jesmed1 · January 11

Measure twice, cut once.

Also, why is there never enough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to go back and do it over again?

ratio · January 11

"If you don't get caught, it's the same as not doing it."

That's stuck with me for basically ever; not as a motto, but more like a touchstone to see if I'm doing the right thing.

pecmsg · January 11

$hit Happens. Now don’t do it again!

retiredguy · January 11

There may not be enough time to do it right but there is always enough time to it again. My favorite that I told everyone was that if you always tell the customer the truth you won't have to remember what you said.

hot_rod · January 11

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when no one is watching

MikeL_2 · January 11

" Perfect practice makes perfect ".

" Failing to prepare is preparing to fail".

By the late great John Wooden.

Intplm. · January 11

"If you have time to do it wrong, you have time to do it right. So do it right."

"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"

HVACNUT · January 11

"I forgot what you don't even know yet."

"Don't fix it before you get there."

Larry Weingarten · January 11

"Slow down. You'll get it done quicker."

Yours, Larry

PDTech · January 11

mikedo · January 11

as a plumber. payday comes on friday, **** runs downhill and dont bite your finger nails

TKPK · January 11

answers are free

Answers that require thought $5

Correct answers, priceless

similar vein…opinions are like ****

ShiverMEtimbers · January 11

Working at my step dad's jobber shop I heard him drop some good ones that years later come to mind regularly (RIP).

When someone was slinging a load of BS to avoid taking responsibility, "Flush that load twice—its a long way to the cafeteria."

"Opinions are like A$$h0les—don't show me yours and I won't show you mine."

"You have a bright future—and so will the rest of us if that goes boom!"

mattmia2 · January 11

You're paying for the 20 years not the 15 minutes.

delcrossv · January 11

Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

ethicalpaul · January 11

”this fix is only temporary—unless it works”

EdTheHeaterMan · January 11

I would kindly reprimand my technicians on a job site, when they would comment "Good Enough". Especially if a customer was in ear shot. I took them aside and said the proper translation for "Good Enough" on a job site was "Perfect".

We all knew that when someone said Perfect he was actually saying "Good Enough". And the customers thought we were awesome at all that perfect work we were doing.

I remember seeing a former employee at a supply house one day while getting a replacement part that was not the exact replacement, and he said "PREFECT" just like I taught him.

Steamhead · January 11

"You Can't Fix Stupid!" which I first heard from @Firedragon .

LRCCBJ · January 11

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1833920#Comment_1833920

^^^^^^^^^

THIS

leonz · January 11

MY well driller after driving 92 foot of well casing-

"I hit bedrock at 92 feet" UH HUH.

292 feet later he found water and the well pushed 270 feet of water up the casing until the well collapsed up to the casing.

No running water for 7 months made life extremely difficult but not impossible.

mikedo · January 11

we do it nice because we do it twice

EBEBRATT-Ed · January 11

" If it is worth doing its worth overdoing"

From a former co-worker

DCContrarian · January 11

If you're not measuring you're guessing.

neilc · January 12

only takes one "oh sh!t" to wipe out 10 "attaboys"

Intplm. · January 13

"Steam is a gas that always wants to be a liquid" Quoting this has explained so much to so many over the years.

Thank you @DanHolohan . I believe this is a quote I read in one of your articles many years ago.

Robertw · January 13

The time less " lefty loosey Righty tighty"

Mad Dog_2 · January 13

"Everything you touch turns to S—-t!!"

From a brutal foreman that would throw wrenches and the coffee you got him AT you...if he felt like it. It took me a year to please him, then he treated me like his son. Most apprentices quit or he laid them off immediately. Lesson: The harsher & meaner they are, the harder I bring it...Served me well. Mad Dog

DanHolohan · January 13

Thanks!

RayWohlfarth · January 14

I love these saying Thanks

Jamie Hall · January 14

A bit late to the party…

"Improvise, Adapt, Overcome"

Steve Minnich · January 14

Dollar waiting on a dime. Me, being the dime.

Or, what the &@$? Is so hard about that!? Pushes me away and shows me again.

Intplm. · January 14

"Screw the screws back into where they came from so they don't get lost"

TonKa · January 14

Everything takes longer than you think, including thinking.

RayWohlfarth · January 15

Lots of great sayings

leonz · January 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1834361#Comment_1834361

Except when you have to change a tire on a military four by four or six by six, right loosey, lefty tighty.

Intplm. · January 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1834929#Comment_1834929

Or when you have a SS impeller shaft that, due to its rotation, has a left hand thread (That's lefty tighty righty loosey) . "How long should we let them struggle with it till we let them know?"🤔😁😉

mattmia2 · January 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1834969#Comment_1834969

until they break something?

i think cars had left hand thread hubs on the appropriate side in to the 60's or so.

why is clockwise the direction that it is. i know the answer. don't google it.

guzzinerd · January 15

I do all my own wrenching on my vehicles including a collection (18) of old motorcycles, these always come to mind

"If it doesn't fit don't force it"

"If it ain't broke don't fix it"

Jamie Hall · January 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1834996#Comment_1834996

I think that was just Chrysler Corporation… maybe American Motors?

What saying or quote sticks with you since you were a newbie?

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