I used to chase every call like it was a race until that governor rebuild in the Parker Tower went sideways last Tuesday.

Pulled the governor sheave off without double-checking my split ring pliers were adjusted right and ended up dropping a $120 retainer ring down the hoistway, has anyone else had to swallow that kind of mistake to learn to slow down?

3 comments

3 Comments

max41513d ago

Wince when I read that, man. I dropped a whole governor tension sheave once and watched it bounce off every floor landing on the way down. @william_henderson gets it right about the spare rings though, I started keeping a bag of those little retainer clips after I had to apologize to a building super for taking forever crawling around a pit with a flashlight. Having backups takes the pressure off and lets you slow down just enough not to make the expensive mistake twice.

perry.evan14d ago

Nah man I gotta push back on this one. You say "swallow that mistake" like it was some kind of lesson but honestly that ring probably cost less than the time you'd waste triple checking every little thing. Speed matters on these jobs, customers notice when you drag your feet, and that $120 is just part of doing business. Ive dropped whole bags of hardware down shafts before and I still keep moving quick. If you slow down every time you mess up you'll never get anything done. The real trick is learning to recover fast not avoid mistakes completely. That governors rebuild woulda been done in half the time if you just kept pushing through instead of second guessing yourself after the drop.

william_henderson13d ago

Yeah you're right about the recovery part honestly. You gotta have that rhythm where you just keep moving, drop something pick it up later don't stop. I've learned to keep a couple spare rings in my bag for governors specifically just for that reason.