The things they do!

[Nick the Cabin Boy]

While posting in the problem area, I was reminded of the time when our verandah suffered from a broken post.

When the repairmen eventually turned up, they decided to replace the wooden post with a 2" square galvanised steel tube.  So, they got a piece that looked about the right length, then held it near the spot where it was to go.  They stood it on the first step down from the edge of the verandah, marked where the verandah deck came and where the top had to be, and proceeded to cut some off each end!

And they weren't even Irish!

Anyone else with similar stories?

Nick

[Mike from CT]

Actually, they got it about right (especially if they didn't have a tape measure)...

If they'd placed the pipe on the floor where it went, rather than a step down, they wouldn't have been able to place it perpendicular to the floor, since it was too tall to fit before being cut.  AS a result, it would have been on an angle and too long when they tried to actually place it perpendicularly.

Of course, if they'd had a tape measure, they could have marked t as they did and then measured the length from the bottom of the pipe to the line at the base and then lowered the upper line by that much, but that'd mean more measuring and more chance for error.  I don't know how long it took for the extra cut or how long it would have taken to do the extra measurements, but for minimizing the chance of error, I'm on their side....

[Nick the Cabin Boy]

But they did have a tape measure!

I suspect that you are probably right, though, but it did seem strange at the time!

Nick

[BritsTukker]

However they did it, did it fit correctly when they'd finished?
Nothing would be worse than finding that after the cuts the thing was too short..........

[Nick the Cabin Boy]

Yes, it did fit!

I suppose my feeling about the whole thing was that it seemed very unprofessional.  I probably could have done the job just as well myself, had I been allowed to (we were tenants).

An example, unfortunately, of the Aussie "She'll be right, mate!" outlook on life.

Nick