Ever amazed by your own stupidity?

[theclaud]

heres a tale originally posted by @theclaud ...

LOL I was wondering what I had done when I got summoned to the Stupidity Thread.

While I'm here - I did once cut a cable outer to length... with the inner still inside.

And I once spent about three hours trying all sorts of increasingly idiotic and elaborate methods to get the cranks off my bike, before remembering that they had self-extracting bolts. Which would have been less stupid had I not installed them myself not that long before.

Also I made a lovely chicken stock, and then went to strain it. Which I did. Straight into the sink and down the plughole, leaving myself with a sieve full of bones and overcooked vegetables.

Anyway it's fair to say that after I am no longer amazed by my own stupidity.

 

[Drago]

One of my works colleagues put fairy liquid in the dishwasher, because we'd run out of dishwasher tablets.

Ah, yes, I may have done that once (you only ever do it once!)

A little bit goes an awful long way in a dishwasher!

 

[steve292]

Ah, yes, I may have done that once (you only ever do it once!)

A little bit goes an awful long way in a dishwasher!

Its one of the reasons your electricity is so expensive

 

[slowmotion]

I cut some plasterboard for the irregular-shaped ceiling of my tiny office......



.........in a perfect mirror image of the pieces required.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Ah, yes, I may have done that once (you only ever do it once!)

A little bit goes an awful long way in a dishwasher!

It has to be said, the only reason I haven't considered doing that is that I haven't got a dishwasher...

 

[ClichéGuevara]

It has to be said, the only reason I haven't considered doing that is that I haven't got a dishwasher...

Likewise. I don't have a dishwasher, and would have undoubtedly done it if I had.

 

[Alex321]

A recent one for me.

Building two stud partition walls in the garage, to create a laundry rom and workshop. The height was 2.4m. I looked up the prices on the timber merchant we were using, and 4.8m lengths were less than twice the price, so decided to get those instead. Forgot to halve the quantity. Compounded this when it turned out they didn't have any 4.8m in stock, so I said Ok, I'll take 2.4m instead, doubling the quantity I hadn't halved!!!

Anybody want some 2.4m lengths of 2x4 (sawn, pressure treated)?

 

[Profpointy]

I cut some plasterboard for the irregular-shaped ceiling of my tiny office......



.........in a perfect mirror image of the pieces required.

I read an account, possibly on here, of someone who'd discovered it's much easier and more accurate to cut carpet from the back (which it is) Unfortunately he took this a step to far so cut his carpet to be perfect fit for next door's house. This was perhaps beyond funny as it could be a thousand quid goof at today's prices.

 

[Profpointy]

LOL I was wondering what I had done when I got summoned to the Stupidity Thread.

While I'm here - I did once cut a cable outer to length... with the inner still inside.

And I once spent about three hours trying all sorts of increasingly idiotic and elaborate methods to get the cranks off my bike, before remembering that they had self-extracting bolts. Which would have been less stupid had I not installed them myself not that long before.

Also I made a lovely chicken stock, and then went to strain it. Which I did. Straight into the sink and down the plughole, leaving myself with a sieve full of bones and overcooked vegetables.

Anyway it's fair to say that after I am no longer amazed by my own stupidity.

The chicken stock one is classic and had me in tears. Depressing if you've just spend a couple of hours carefully simmering it. I've a feeling I started doing that myself but stopped before wasting all of it.

On a related note I strained a batch of stock through a tea-towel - unfortunately it then tasted of soap and I had to sling it.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I cut some plasterboard for the irregular-shaped ceiling of my tiny office......



.........in a perfect mirror image of the pieces required.

I had to cut some pieces of a bed today, to make them into a bench seat with an angled back. They had to be mirrored.

I did cut them correctly, but I spent a rather excessive amount of time preparing and marking, then double checking them before running them through the saw...

 

[Profpointy]

How about the rubber plug shrouds on a cable ? I was soldering up a five pin DIN cable (quite fiddly in any case) and forgot to put the rubber shroud on. Never mind, I'll stick it on from the other end before soldering the 2nd plug. Bollocks, forgot again! De-soldered one end, and stuck the pair of shrouds on then re-did the plug. FFS - now I've got them both on facing the wrong way !

And I bet I'm not the only one who's diligently said to themselves "cut the cable tie, not the cable", yet still managed to cut the cable.

 

[slowmotion]

I read an account, possibly on here, of someone who'd discovered it's much easier and more accurate to cut carpet from the back (which it is) Unfortunately he took this a step to far so cut his carpet to be perfect fit for next door's house. This was perhaps beyond funny as it would be perhaps a thousand quid goof at today's prices.

I had "measure twice, cut once" drummed in to me from an early age but getting the handing correct sometimes trips me up, especially if I cut from the non-good side.

 

[Punkawallah]

Never amazed by my own stupidity - it's been with me so long, it's like a comfy blanket.

 

[mikeIow]

One of my works colleagues put fairy liquid in the dishwasher, because we'd run out of dishwasher tablets.

Oh, I did that too: when a 16yr old lad, doing a 2 hour supper shift in an old people home (evening job).

They'd run out of powder, so I just squeezed a little in.
Turned my back, only to then find bubbles squeezing out of the back, the door, all over the floor
Took me about an extra 4 hours to clear up - wash everything by hand, clear suds and run several clear washes.
Doh!!

 

[slowmotion]

I recently was unblocking the kitchen sink and removed the ubend. Picked it up and poured the contents down the sink.

Ah, another fellow sufferer of a very large club.