Your biggest blunder?

[top hopper]

What do you feel the dumbest thing you've done in your career.

I remember years ago, working with a bucket truck that seemed to regularly need to be topped off with hydraulic oil. One day while on site I decided to check the level of fluid and discovered that it was like 5 gallons low.
So, I topped it off with 5 gallons of fresh hyd. oil. My mistake? The out riggers were down when I checked the fluid level. Guess what happened when the outriggers were retracted.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Free climbing, and falling. THAT was purty dumb.

 

[Paul B]

telling my computers 11 teacher to go to hell. changed my career path drastically that day.

Other than that, well, I once filled up the forklift fuel (gasoline) tank at work, with diesel.. talk about smokey the knocking engine! whoops!

 

[Altissimus]

The ski area I work my winters at , has a hudred stories ... the purchasing dept. orders bar oil , 2 stroke mix , and all the other oils in identical quart containers which makes careful label reading helpful .... what do you suppose happens when someone puts a quart of bar oil into the 2 stroke resevior of a brand new sled ...

 

[NeTree]

Nothing, Dave. Nothing at all.

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

Getting into tree work.

 

[Awsomeclimber]

Hiring a fellow called Steve!!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Working for a fellow called Ekkka!!

Fixed!

 

[Al Smith]

Ever trusting my ex superintendents' son Larry to be a groundman for me while I reguyed a 90 foot pole with 34.5 KV feeders on it . Only by the grace of almighty God and my quick reflexes is the reason I can be here typing this rather than 6 feet under pushing up daisies . Once was enough ,I never let it happen again .:what:

 

[sawinredneck]

The day I took down a 36" DBH Hedge tree and thought making an angled back cut might keep it from barberchairing.
I hugely miscalculated and ended up UNDER my face cut and had to wedge the whole tree up and over.
Ugle doesn'e even come close to describing that day!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Working three days in freezing cold mid winter in the snow, for a guy who skipped out on paying me. He also skipped out on paying my teenage son, who helped one day.
I payed the boy.

 

[sotc]

some how forgetting to clip my belt to the bucket, i was always clipped in, dont know how i forgot. unfortunatly osha was there clicking pics

 

[top hopper]

some how forgetting to clip my belt to the bucket, i was always clipped in, dont know how i forgot. unfortunatly osha was there clicking pics

Oh man, that sucks! Did you get fined?

 

[gf beranek]

Coming to the end of my rope, without a stopper knot.. That hurt baaaadddd.

Cutting my safety line and not tied in.. Stupid, stupid...Ouch!

This forum just doesn't have space for the rest of my oops, ah shats. But those were about my best.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Making ONE MORE CUT... when I had just said I was done and got talked into ONE MORE CUT... wasnt just the tree that got cut that time... Never again...

 

[OLD PUP]

Broken ribs & a tree spike thru my foot !

 

[SkwerI]

I've had so many that I can't even think. Lots of bumps and bruises and broken fences and dented gutters and a few broken windows. They all kind of blur together after a while. Although the time I slipped in a wet pine tree and spiked my leg was pretty bad. Still got quite the scar from that one. Or the time I smashed my thumb and it took 14 stitches to sew the pad back on.

 

[MasterBlaster]

What, this is an injury thread? I could go on forever...

 

[CurSedVoyce]

No chit huh?... LOL
ABout that time I dropped an oak on my foot... lol

 

[Stumper]

Drawing a 110 lb compound bow-the draw was okay...but then I had to let it down. When the eccentrics rolled over it tore my shoulder. A whole lot of pain in the 14 years since and I guess that shoulder will never be right again. I don't even LIKE compounds.

 

[Paul B]

Justin you stole my thunder, I was JUST about to say the same thing.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Was having a bad day and had several things happen. Read the top wrong in a dead ponderosa at about 70 feet up where I was cutting it..... Caught it in time and asked for a wedge sent up.... Rut Ro.. Seems when loading the truck we forgot them...
Borrow wedge from neighbor... Have line sent up to help pull it over, Found this all rather embarrassing in front of the home owner. After my BOO BOO i had to rely on my partner Rob to read the different leans in in tree as I sectioned it down... Just the top could have cost me a roof. BAD DAY. I came down dropped the spar finally, clocked out and went for a walk to shake it off.

 

[Old Monkey]

I removed the wrong oak tree.

 

[stehansen]

I didn't actually do it but I didn't stop them, a guy dropped a huge cottonwood top (20" more or less) on the headache rack of my truck and smashed it down to the bottom of the window.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Dang Steve... did you have to open the can of whoop ass out after that?