When I was in the Navy, I worked on F/A-18 jets. Now you can't lose one single tool while working on an airplane, because if you do, it could actually be IN the airplane. That's not good! Airplanes don't like spare pieces floating around in them. Jams things up you know. Kills pilots and wastes tax dollars.
So, every single tool had to be accounted for. If one was missing, the entire squadron would shut down and do a search for it, called a FOD walk down. (Foreign Object Damage) One very late night we had spent an hour or so looking for a tool. My room mate finally looked at me and said with a smile, "I'm going to the bathroom."
You see, she knew my trick. I can find nothing, even if it's an elephant on my lap, if I have to go to the bathroom. So, I go to the bathroom, and low and behold when I come back there is the thing I was looking for!
So off to the bathroom my room mate went. A few minutes later she came back out, holding the missing tool in her hand! Someone had taken it to the bathroom, sat it down on the counter to utilize the toiletry system, and left without it.
Moral of the story? Don't let tools go to your head. |
Jul. 4, 2006
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That was funny
Jul. 4, 2006
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stopping by to say
Jul. 5, 2006
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Old Navy Days
Well do I remember FOD walkdowns! It was the one thing you really didn't want to hear toward the end of a shift. You really, really didn't want to be that person with the missing tool either!