As an American, it is your duty...

[jmowreader]

to own a tape measure and know how to use it.

Yes, this is a Customer of the Day thread.

Today's candidate for retail immortality presented with a sheet of plywood he wanted cut to "three and a half feet wide."

By "feet," he meant the ones at the bottom of his legs--and he had 10.5-inch-long feet. (Yes, I measured.) Average-size guy. Itty-bitty feet. He paced the thing off because he did not have a tape measure.

We get lots of people who come in with parachute cord that's got knots tied in it...but measuring with your feet? New one on me.

[Deja Q]

1. Oy! I know how to use mine!

And you wouldn't believe how long mine is... (over 12 inches... :blush: )

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Yes sir! Cut twice, measure whenever.

Isn't that the rule?:dunce:

Was he surprised to find out that his 'foot' came up a bit shy? Do you think it makes him, er, insecure?

[jmowreader]

3. Dunno, but your "rule" sounds about right

Check this one out: Old lady comes in to get some wood cut. No tape measure, so she has eight pieces of nylon string with knots tied in them. I cut the wood to "string" sizes.

Three hours later she comes in. The wood's all wrong. Some of the strings were stretched when she used them but not stretched when I did (so the wood was too short), some of the string pairs were mixed up...I got a manager to tell her that if she didn't get a tape measure and use it to measure the wood we wouldn't cut her any more. "Oh, I don't know how to use a tape measure." And didn't really want to learn, either, but I showed her how to measure.

This "I can't use a ruler" shit is endemic in Cumberland County, North Carolina. Young people can't measure. Old people can't measure. Anyone who makes things that are measured requires people to take a tape measure class when they apply for jobs. (Needless to say, I can SMOKE that fuckin' test.) This is supposedly the state that invented the end-of-grade test (it was in Greensboro in the 1970s) and people can't do a simple, basic thing like measure something? They have schools down here, right?

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. Well...

Here's my primary one.



And it's "Measure twice, cut once." :P