Only one rule in my garage. I don't loan tools, unless they come with me if I'm helping someone. Just don't like chancing others breaking or losing my tools. If somebody asks me to help them, and they don't have a tool or two, I'll bring mine. But generally I expect them to have the tools when I come to help. And if they don't want me grabbing tools from their wall or tool box, then they better get up and get them every time I need something. I rarely have help in my garage, but on rare occasion I do, I'm happy to either point the guy to my tool cabinets, or grab all the tools out that we need. And when we're done for the day, I pick everything up, and clean and return the tools to where I like them. Whoever helps can help by piling them nearby, but I don't expect or want them to pick the tools up and return them to where they think they go.
Everyone that comes over to my place is really good. They know I buy lunch and will stop the ice cream truck on summer evenings. Farting... I'm okay with it. One night, I was farting already and my brother shows up... another gas bag. My buddy from down the street texts me and asks if I'll be in the garage. I tell him sure come over but warn him about the air quality issue. He says he just had tacos and would be right over. At one point we had to open the big door to air it out.
I don’t really ever ask for help but when I have dudes over it is to work on their ride and they are paying me most the time so they just watch. If they want to learn and help I charge less for labor or just charge for parts. If they bring energy drinks or beer it’s a plus. If they do ever come over to help me I usually put them on dumb dumb stuff. There’s only 1 or 2 guys I know that I would trust them to do stuff on my car without me micromanaging them. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Yea, if you’re helping its yours, go for it. If you’re watching Don’t Touch Anything ! And, the property belongs to the dogs, i just live here.
I don't lend tools, I got a lot of money tied up in tools and shop equipment, also, two tractors, snow removal stuff, everything I need to live in the boonies. BUT, I get a couple guys, one, my neighbour, who think, because I got all this shit, they should be able to either use it, or get me to do shit for them because I got it. I tell them, (get hard feelings here), that if they want the use of those things, to go buy them like I did. More and more, I meet people who think because we have the tools and ability, that they should benefit from same, and are likewise shocked when I say no. OR, are insulted when I ask for payment. Maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety?
Well, there is a thing of bring a good neighbor. But i hear you. I am finding that my new neighbor, who is overwhelmed with his circumstances, will not do it himself if i help him out. So i have changed to enable him to get it done himself. what’s that biblical saying ? Give a hungry man a fish or teach him to fish and be able to eat for the rest of his life.
Hey Pete, I'm in this position BECAUSE I been a good neighbour, 10 years worth. I have helped out, we share a driveway, I keep it plowed all winter, he donates nothing to the cause, not even five cents for gas, so, I guess I'm just getting old......
Not sure on the biblical reference but in Klingon the saying goes "build a man a fire and he will be warm for a while, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life".
I occasionally loan out tools, but only to CLOSE friends and neighbors. I've lost a few over the years, but that's OK, I can replace tools easier than friends. I help out when I can, too, because I know there will be a time when I need help. Hell, I've even given a house key or garage door code to A friend and A neighbor, with the understanding that they are free to come and go as needed if I'm not here. Granted, these are people I've known for a loooong time, and that trust was built over a long time. I'm also not afraid (or shy) to ask a friend or neighbor for help if I need it. It's all within a give-and-take relationship. The big payoff is when your neighbor keeps watch over your house when you're gone, or questions unknown persons who show up when you're on vacation, or the buddy that always drops what he's doing to help you when you need it. What goes around comes around, and I don't expect more from them than what I am willing to give. I freely share whatever expertise, talent or experience I may possess. I suppose my outlook stems from growing up with parents who lived through the Great Depression, when people had to trust and rely on each other, and taught me to think of others, not just myself. The Golden Rule. Besides, if I'm not prickish about helping and loaning, I can be a total asshole in other regards, and still average out as a decent guy. YMMV
Assume any gun you see is loaded. Any metal you see is probably hot. Any edge you feel is sharp. Every tool you see is expensive. Any money you came with will likely be staying here.
I bring my own tools if I'm doing electrical work, I'm a electrician and have most everything in my truck. Don't ask to borrow tools. What do I do if I get a service call at 3am and need my amp probe or something else, don't ask.. When I borrow tools from my neighbor's who are master mechanics, I have those borrowed tools back as soon as I'm finished. When I'm taking the test ride, its usually to return the tools I borrowed.. When I was growing up in the city Pittsburgh. People all looked out for each other. It seemed like every weekend my dad and neighbors were putting a side walk in here or a cement porch there. They did our whole yard, front and back porches and garage all for free. But my dad would be helping them with there's.. It was an unwritten rule.. Those people were all from the depression/WW-2 era and really looked out for each other.. One time my dad and I were going to my grandmothers in his 61 Biscayne and this Barney Fife like cop pulled us over for a expired inspection sticker. He was giving my dad the third degree about safety when our neighbor down the street pulled up and gave him the third degree about respecting the people who pay there pay checks! Our neighbor was a Lieutenant too. I was learning how important it is to be a good neighbor and help people. A couple months before this incident, my dad and neighbors put a new walkway on the cops mothers house.. He was worried she was going to fall and brake her hip again. My dad and neighbors had a new walkway in and finished on one weekend. This was summer of 1968 and this cop neighbor couldn't help out like he used to. Poor guy was working around the clock because of the Martin Luther King riots.. When the riot's started, he came up our street, going door to door making sure everybody was safe and had a weapon, along with good strong doors with bolt-in locks. I still remember him saying to shoot first before they got close enough to hurt you and/or familys..
I made a general rule, no tools loaned to anybody. Then my BIL started building a house and needed some home repair type tools I have (PEX tool, compressor, nailers, etc) so my good hearted wife loaned them to him. She keeps telling me she'll go get them back from him but it hasn't happened yet. I thought the idea was he would bring them back. So once again, my general rule proved right and I get to be a hardass about it the next time. Not even her father would loan tools to his sons, I don't know what she didn't understand about that.
If I go to help someone, I always assume they'll have all the tools, and I'll have full access to them. If they're going to ask for my help, and then restrict me to waiting for them to hand me tools I'll stay home. I will gladly bring specialty tools with me if they ask me to, but I wont bring my toolbox, or average tools everyone should own. And I'm glad to help pickup the tools, but I let them arrange them back as they want them. I wont assume that I know where they go, or put them back in the wrong spot. I don't bring guys over to work on cars here. If they want help I'll go to them, and not their cars coming to me. Not enough room at my place for other cars, unless it's a quick repair I can do in the driveway. And nobody I don't know well ever sees the inside of my shops. What I have wont be seen by friends of friends. So if they bring a friend along, the friend better sit in the car 'cause he's not coming into either of my shops.
I read through some of these post and saw a variety of attitudes regarding shops! Wow! I’ve got two close gearhead friends and we rotate to each other’s shop, and usually work real good together. The one thing I saw here , I thought I was the only guy that did this, but I now find out it’s common! Get the tools yourself, but just put them back on the bench near the tool box! That is the hardest thing to get guys to do! They always want to put them back! That is the best way to “ lose” a tool. Iam getting a little lax in my old age, but back in the day, I had a special spot for each tool! If it was put in a drawer I don’t open often..... that tool could be “ lost” fir months! Put the tools back on the bench! Oh.... and no spitting in my shop, anywhere, anytime! Bones
I don't think I've ever had anyone in my shop that didn't chew or dip, but they all knew to use the trash can or spit out the door. And don't dare put oily tools back in the drawer!
I used to use my buddy's shop a lot when I didn't have any place to work and he knew I had been here because all the tools that had been laying on the floor were wiped clean and in their correct spots in the tool box, the floor was swept and the extension cord was coiled up and hung on it's peg. Normally I did all that before I ever put my rig in there to work on it and then repeated when I left. I have two standing rules for anyone who comes to my place. Absolutely don't tell anyone about what you saw in my garage or sheds and don't bring anyone you don't know and trust. I told a guy that two years ago and haven't seen him since. If you can see it from the road you can stop and ask about it but don't come asking about something that you heard I had in one of my sheds from someone. 38 years or so ago I had one of my students (now a close friend) show up needing to borrow a tool and saw that he had parked down at the end of the driveway. He simply said that he didn't know the guy with him well enough to bring him closer to the house and left it at that.
There are two things to remember when you are in my father’s garage. First , my father won’t argue, he’ll just explain why you’re wrong. Second, his toolbox, his tools, his rules. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
You spit in my trash can, you will empty the trash can and rinse it out before you leave. I just don’t cotton to chewing... it’s just me, I know! But like stated in previous post... my shop, my rules! Bones
The Jalopy Journal
