Eyeballing spacers on a herringbone job? That sounds like a recipe for disaster from the start. How did you not see the wavy edge forming as you went? Once one tile is off, the whole pattern falls apart, right? Laser guides aren't just helpful, they're basically required for that kind of work. Why take the risk when the tool exists?

We had a similar thing with a kitchen ticket spike. Orders would slide off the pass and get cooked twice or not at all. One of the dishwashers jammed an actual metal spike into the counter. Now every ticket gets impaled. Saved so much food and yelling during a Saturday rush. Found a ticket for a well-done steak stuck under a towel once, spike would have caught it.

But what if noticing weird stuff just makes you more aware of how long you're stuck there? Sometimes staring at the clock is less annoying.

Our grinding wheels used to hate that stuff.