Shoutout to the old timer who called me out for using a level wrong on a job site in Phoenix last summer

He walked over while I was fighting a brick that was totally out of plumb, just tapped my level and said 'son, your bubble's lying 'cause you're holding it like a pool cue,' and I still check my grip every time I set a course now, has anyone else had a stranger fix a bad habit with one weird comment?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleybutler14d ago

And the beauty of it is, that advice works for pretty much any tool you're holding wrong. I had a framer once tell me I was holding my framing square like a book and missing the actual measurements by a good half inch. Now I catch myself doing the whole 'hand flat, fingers spread' thing every time I pick it up. One weird comment can rewrite years of bad muscle memory if it's specific enough.

taylor_barnes5914d ago

Wait, don't you think that framer's advice might have just swapped one habit for another though? Like sure, holding it different works for that one tool but "fingers spread" isn't automatically the right grip for everything else.