Ran into a guy at a small machine shop in Portland who pointed out my tool offset was off by 0.003

I drove up to this place called B&B Precision to grab some scrap stock and the owner noticed I was fighting a finish pass. He had me check my offsets and sure enough it was that tiny bit off. Anyone else have a random encounter like that where a stranger saved you a headache?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul3303d ago

Have you ever noticed how the best help always comes from someone who isn't trying to sell you anything? That's what gets me. The guy at B&B probably didn't make a dime off you, he just saw a problem and fixed it. It's like that old saying about how strangers on a bus will give you better directions than your own GPS. We're all so used to people wanting something from us that when someone helps just to help, it stands out. Makes you wonder how many little headaches we could all avoid if we just talked to each other more. That's the thing I keep coming back to, it's a dying art.

craig.brian3d ago

I get what you're saying, paul330, but I actually think people are still pretty willing to help without wanting something back. The B&B guy probably didn't think twice about fixing that problem. I see it all the time at my local hardware store. The guys there will spend twenty minutes walking you through a plumbing fix even if you only buy a two dollar O-ring. And when my neighbor's kid got his bike chain stuck, the old guy three doors down came out with his tools and had it sorted in five minutes. No one offered him money, nobody asked for a favor in return. I think most folks just like feeling useful.