Never done that in all my years......................................

[Gino]

I think I pulled the most bone-headed blunder of the century..... both last and this century combined.

Had a 3' x 10' sign with cut-out letters on it in gatorboard. Finished it off at the end of the week and didn't have it installed yet, due to a misunderstanding. Anyway, Monday we were loading one of our trucks, emptying another truck and getting ready to finish another job which we had been working on for a few days. We ran out of room, so we put the 3' x 10' gator sign on the roof of my personal vehicle. I wasn't going to be using it for a while. That night, used a different truck to go home in and the next night, I hadda switch trucks to do something else. Didn't touch my personal vehicle since Monday morning, until I went home last night. Used another truck this morning to go do a job and just got back a few hours ago. We unloaded and went about our sign work. I went to get something to eat for lunch and when I got back, I remembered my personal truck was at home. Now, I'm looking down the garage bay and think.... where the heck did I put that 10' sign ?? Ever get that feeling that starts in your groin, gets to about your stomach and then the panic button goes off ?? Well, I just had it.

No one has seen the sign, but they're all laughing at what I did.

So, can you top that ??

 

[myront]

Hmmm. I once went to shake a gallon can of paint I had been using previously that morning. Uh..forgot to ensure the lid was on tight. I had paint from head toe and had to be at another job in an hour.

 

[petepaz]

nope you win cheers.

that sucks

 

[Baz]

To many things going on at the same time and you lose track ....

Happens to the best of us!

 

[James Burke]

That's too bad. It must have been an impressive departure, had somebody been able to witness it. I forgot to latch the hood on my '75 Audi one day and experienced a similar result, but with a little more noise, and a sudden involuntary pucker factor thrown in for good measure.

On a somewhat related topic, somewhere on the web there's a video of pranksters who attach a baby carrier to the roof of their car and then proceed to drive about town, eliciting panic and horrified looks. You must have felt the same way with your "baby".



JB

 

[Drip Dry]

When I was new in the business, I went over to see a sign guy that had taken me under his wing.

He had a 3' x 10' aluminum framed sign hanging in the back of the shop.
When I remarked about it, he said is was a mistake.
The customer wanted a 3" x 10" engraved sign.

Funny how some things you never forget

 

[signed off]

are you still hoping it is sitting on top of your vehicle or do you think it is in Kansas by now

 

[Marlene]

trimming the edges of a sign that I covered with vinyl using a snap blade with no holder. couldn't understand why it wasn't cutting so pushed harder only to find I had the sharp side to my fingers and sliced my finger almost to the bone

 

[visual800]

I was cutting moulding on the mitre saw, measure each peice with a metal 48" ruler, 2" wide ruler at that. made my mark, phone rand, got off phone went back to saw, started it and came stright down on the wood and the metal ruler.

I cannot describe the noise, I went deaf for a second, sparks flew and my hand was throbbing cause I was holding the moulding with one hand. after I came to my senses I wrapped my hand in a towel and would not look at it, I had no idea how it looked. Held it under cold water and removed towel, it was cut and nail was smashed but I think about that every time I cut something on that saw

 

[Andy D]

trimming the edges of a sign that I covered with vinyl using a snap blade with no holder. couldn't understand why it wasn't cutting so pushed harder only to find I had the sharp side to my fingers and sliced my finger almost to the bone

Ouch! Not sign related, but that reminds me of a time I worked at Domino's Pizza, and my dumb @ss manager was opening one of those industrial size cans of olives,
when the lid was 99% cut, one side fell down into the can, and she reached into the can yank it out... yeah it wasn't pretty, she sliced most the way through two fingers
& her hand was stuck in the can, she was screaming and bleeding all over the place...

 

[ams]

Here is something I've done twice and I pray doesn't happen again. Holding an 18" ruler with cork back, cutting along it and the blade jumped up onto the ruler and through my pointer finger. Cut off a large chunk of my finger clean off, took about 5 days to stop bleeding and the hospital had to induce clotting to help stop it. Needless to say I am extra careful now.

 

[boxerbay]

haha. thats funny. one time i got to work and my pick up truck bed liner was gone. i thought who the hell stole it last night. MF'rs!!! then on my way home that afternoon i found my bed liner on the side of the road. haha.

 

[jfiscus]

Not me, myself, but I've seen some very similar situations. At the old shop we had a VERY impatient salesman who wanted a proof cut down "right now", I told him I would get to it in a minute. So, he grabbed a rectangular blade to trim it down with on the table, but pressed down on the wrong side of the blade and split his index finger in two... That proof didn't get delivered that day! AND he never tried to rush us again!

Also at an old shop, the owner had a friend who was "down on his luck" who he was trying to help out by having him take a 5x10' polymetal sign face and install it at a location 100 miles away. We handed him and his son the sign face and told him where he was going and how to install it. He had stopped to use the restroom at a rest area half way there and said that both the sign face AND his 10' aluminum ladder were no longer on the trailer. He spent the rest of the day looking for them but never saw any sign of either...

 

[myront]

...Holding an 18" ruler with cork back...

I absolutely hate rulers with cork back! I will not allow them in my shop. Have em? Get rid of em now!

 

[petepaz]

nope you win cheers.

that sucks

actually a good one i do is...
we have roland print / cut machines and i will set up to cut some vinyl and forget to check the blade force, start the job and come back to a slice N dice mess of vinyl with the machine beeping because the person using the machine before me was cutting something printed with a 5mil lam and the machine is set at like 175 when i only need like 75
...good times...haha

 

[Zac]

actually a good one i do is...
we have roland print / cut machines and i will set up to cut some vinyl and forget to check the blade force, start the job and come back to a slice N dice mess of vinyl with the machine beeping because the person using the machine before me was cutting something printed with a 5mil lam and the machine is set at like 175 when i only need like 75
...good times...haha

I've done that a few times with my Summa. I'll go from cutting reflective to regular vinyl and boom, stencil party.

 

[Gino]

I've done that a few times with my Summa. I'll go from cutting reflective to regular vinyl and boom, stencil party.

Haha.... I thought your call letters stood for LARGE FX, not Little Rock Graphics. :Big Laugh

 

[Andy D]

Gino, I didn't want to be a Nark, but I was in front of your shop the day your sign went missing
and saw this:

 

[shoresigns]

Was trying to remove some indoor foam letters from the wall in our store. Just double-sided tape so I thought at least the foam would break and they'd come off fairly easily with a bare-handed yank. Note these foam letters had metal octolux laminate on the face. So I grabbed one arm of the capital "W" and pulled, I literally tore it off, tearing the thin metal too, and sliced my hand wide open on the torn edge of the metal, all in one motion. Still have a bit of a scar from that one.

 

[cathartes88]

mess ups

Went to a job site at 425 Main Street to rig, paint and letter a brick wall. Had a photo of the wall attached to the work order and started to work. After rigging the swing stage, blocking out the panel with primer, coating the background while lettering I noticed some goofball staring at me from below. Finally after a half hour of this I yelled down "What the hell do you want?". Turns out he was the owner and I was at the wrong location. My boss is dyslexic. Down at 524 Main was an identical looking brick wall and ANOTHER angry man.

 

[ams]

I absolutely hate rulers with cork back! I will not allow them in my shop. Have em? Get rid of em now!

Why? They don't slip.