# GIVEAWAY: Enter To Win $500 worth of 3M™ Safety Products



## Admin (Dec 10, 2003)

I am very pleased to announce that we have partnered with 3M™ to give away *$500 worth of 3M™ Safety Products*.

To enter this giveaway, reply to this thread with your response to the following:

*Every contractor has had them — those days where everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Tell us about your worst day ever!*

On *April 18, 2016* we will do a random drawing to select the winner.









*3M™ SecureFit™ 400 Safety Eyewear*, 3-pack (clear, tinted and mirror). Quantity: 3. 
*3M™ 8511 Sanding and Fiberglass Valved Respirator* 10-pack. Quantity: 8.
*3M™ Organic Vapor Cartridge*. Quantity: 6. This product is for workplace/occupational applications only. 
*3M™ Professional Hearing Protector*. Quantity: 2. 
*3M™ Pro Multi-Purpose Respirator with Quick Latch*. Quantity: 3. This product is for workplace/occupational applications only.

_*Added Note*: Responses to this thread should be limited to entering the giveaway by responding to the posted question._

*See Official Rules, Terms And Conditions*

Sponsored by 3M™


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## Donohue Const (Dec 31, 2011)

When I got my hand stuck in the baler! !!!

Oh wait, this is probably about construction 

Hard to narrow down to just one day

But I have been having the worst time on the current project 
Worst day, or days was when we started with the wood basement 
Footing got poured, we got there about a week later to start the basement walls
Snapped all the lines, got everything squared up and bolt holes marked and drilled.
Come back the next day to build walls, and all the walls had caved in!!!!
Get it dug out and of course all the lines had disappeared

This happened every day for about a week straight 
I think it was because of the weather
It would freeze at night then thaw during the day with rain throughout the week


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

Worst day ever happened when I used a piece of rubber hose to temporarily connect the supply line on a toilet while I used it on a renovation job. I did my business, flushed the toilet, and went on my merry way... totally forgetting to cut the supply line off. This was on the 3rd floor. 

I left out of there Friday thinking all was well on a project that was 95% complete with a few punchout items. Monday morning rolls around and I get a call from the Real Estate agent telling me that she was on her way over to the property because the neighbors saw water coming out of the basement door leading into the alley. 

The short story is that the make-shift supply line slipped off of the toilet valve, flooded every floor down to the basement and the house was scheduled to be shown the following weekend.


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

My worst days are when I find out something went terribly wrong on a prior job. I know in 2014 it was when I found out one of our doors fell out of the rough opening and exploded. $4000 is a pretty good hit.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Worst day ever was when I turned the corner and saw one of my guys had fallen off roof 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

the day i reached in thru the railing to grab my snips and was stuck there for 4 hours..


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

> the day i reached in thru the railing to grab my snips and was stuck there for 4 hours..


That looks like a monkey trap if I've ever seen one.


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## Lunicy (Dec 24, 2004)

There was the day I was spraying popcorn on the ceiling. It was in a clients house. The room to be worked on was draped off, plastic, the works. 

I had put the compressor in the other room, just to keep it out of the way, and it's quieter.

The compressor cycled and tripped a gfci. I walked into the room to reset the compressor. 

It started up again and built pressure. I was standing by to make sure it wasn't going to trip again.

BOOOOOM!!!

The bottle of premixed popcorn had somehow held pressure and exploded... In the clients "clean" room, and my face.

Well, that sucked.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

Hardwood floor job...late on a Friday and trying to get it done. I was being foolish with the miter saw, trying to take a notch out of the end of a short board and pulled my hand into the saw. I took off 1/3 of my middle finger. Anyway, I got it sewn back on, and it works fine. Just a finger nail that grows a bit odd, but I'm happy. :thumbsup:


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

My lungs are too far gone !


I'd rather have the sand paper !!! :whistling


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## illbuildit.dd (Jan 7, 2015)

When one of my guys fell from an extension ladder breaking six ribs and his hand and puncturing a lung. Definitely my worst day.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

My daughter was 3 days old, the real estate company messed up and tenants showed up to spend their vacation in a unit that I had opened to install a dormer and I started having panic attacks at 7pm while climbing framing 25' in the air. It was a rough month.


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## mski (Apr 4, 2013)

Mondays


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

Sand day!


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## mtb (Oct 11, 2012)

*GIVEAWAY: Enter To Win $500 Worth Of 3M™ Safety Products*

A lot of really bad days so far, I think losing a finger is one of my big fears.

So far I've been pretty lucky on the job. I had the bottom of an extension ladder kick out while stepping onto it during a reroof. I was able to grab the exposed rafters and got away with scraped arms and a good scare though...

Oh, I just thought of one. When I was first starting out, 19 or 20, I was framing a small cabin with my future wife.
I was shooting in the top plate of a wall with my funky bump fire nail gun, my wife was on the other end aligning studs with the bottom plate and I double tapped. The second nail took off the corner of the plate, flew 8 ft down the wall and right through 2 of her fingers. Pinned her ring and pointer together but missed her middle. 

I need to find the x-Ray to post here. I felt terrible and was gun shy for years after that. I also promptly bought a single fire trigger for the gun. Luckily it missed the bones and didn't do any lasting damage, but that was my worst day so far and she likes to remind me of it often.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SavannahReno (Aug 18, 2015)

Several years ago I went to a high school about 3 hours away from the shop to measure a roof. I got there, set up my ladder, and went along my merry way drawing and measuring.

When I had finished, I noticed dark clouds...a storm was approaching fast. I was heading back to he ladder and a huge gust of wind comes from out of nowhere knocking my (not tied off) ladder down to the ground. 

Then I remembered it was summer and there was no one at the school.

Took me about an hour, but I finally figured a way off the roof....soaking wet.


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## SamM (Dec 13, 2009)

Was roofing one day. Picked up a roll of ice and water, and heaved it into my arms.

There was a 2 1/2" nail stuck to the bottom. The weight of the roll drove it straight through my wrist.

Still had to wait 5 hours in the er to be seen.

No permanent damage, but I had no strength in that hand for a few weeks.


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## fourcornerhome (Feb 19, 2008)

My wife was bringing donuts to the job site for a birthday surprise for me.I was working on the back side of the house and I heard a crash ,then a child crying. I thought, that sounds like my 3 year old son. I came running around the house..... 50mph zone, she got t-boned pulling in....car totaled...they got out with just cuts and bruises , 4 stitches in my son's head...


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## Dave in Pa (Oct 10, 2009)

When my Father passed away in front of me, while I did CPR on him. He was in the construction field for 50 years and taught me a lot!


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## Brad Gunn (Aug 18, 2015)

That's a tough one, Dave. Thanks for sharing. You got kids?


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Dave in Pa said:


> When my Father passed away in front of me, while I did CPR on him. He was in the construction field for 50 years and taught me a lot!


Happened to a friend of mine who was a paramedic. Out helping his father cut down a tree and he had a massive heart attack. Brutal.


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## Tom M (Jan 3, 2007)

Shooting roof nail in my knee cap then having to get down the ladder.


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## Driftweed (Nov 7, 2012)

I was hoping they would give a full face respirator in the giveaway...

So here's my story:

I was overbooked, and recently had to fire my employee. So I wound up having to work until midnight doing bathtubs. During the daytime, I painted an apartment, then had to scoot across town to refinish a tub that was scheduled for move in the next day.

It's ten at night, and I break out the chemicals to start cleaning, when by freak accident I splashed the cleaner in my left eye (contains a mix of sulfuric and phosphoric acids)...

Good thing I am already blind in that eye! But it still burned like hell...

Ever hear of a "Murphy flush"? It where they put a contact lens in your eye that has a hose attached so they can flush your eye...for 45 minutes!

Now, you'd think: eye flush, pffft. But after the 15 minute mark, you really start to find out what you're made of. They should use that to interrogate terrorist, haha


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

Decided to spray out an apartment with shellac. I wore a 3m respirator, p100 filters. It burned sooooo bad. So sick. Prefilters filled almost immediately. Swapped them out, it was all I could do to power through and spray the apartment out in two or three minute intervals. Truly truly awful feeling.


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

Driftweed said:


> I was hoping they would give a full face respirator in the giveaway...
> 
> So here's my story:
> 
> ...


Fatigue is a *****.


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## Dave in Pa (Oct 10, 2009)

Brad Gunn said:


> That's a tough one, Dave. Thanks for sharing. You got kids?


Yep 2 boys, 26 and 24. The worst thing is at the time that Dad went down, my oldest was 14, and was with him. By the time Chad got me and I reach out to him I knew it was to late, but I had to try for one last time!


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## Defenestrate (Aug 13, 2015)

Reading some of these, I realize that my worst day ever was pretty darn tame. (Though the possibilities for disaster still haunt me...)

Working alone late, trying to finish an interior wall, I was drilling the slab on grade floor for anchors for the plate. Finished a hole, pulled the drill back, and I hear hissing. Yes, they had set the gas line within 3" of the top of the slab, and I managed to hit it. I started to run for the door; realized there was a wrench in the other direction so grabbed it; and hightailed it out to the shutoff.

No kaboom. So not bad for me, but it could have been ugly with a hot drill bit and metal pipe. (And it could have been even worse if the gas had been off, because I just would have continued on my merry way, and a slow leak might have filled the house with gas...)


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

I don't have a story of a bad day involving an injury or job gone bad. I've been in this field for over 40 years and have been lucky to make a steady living at it. But there's been a couple rough slow times while working for myself.

So I would say my worst day or days are those when I don't know when my next work day is.


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## Driftweed (Nov 7, 2012)

I'm thinking Dave is in the lead so far, really hard to top that story...too bad it's "random"


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## Brad Gunn (Aug 18, 2015)

Dave in Pa said:


> Yep 2 boys, 26 and 24. The worst thing is at the time that Dad went down, my oldest was 14, and was with him. By the time Chad got me and I reach out to him I knew it was to late, but I had to try for one last time!


Most important thing, fathers and their kids. 
Your turn now, Dave, teach them well.


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## antonioooooooo (Mar 8, 2010)

When I brought my dog out of town to work, and specifically told the hotel not to come into the room because my dog is in there. They decided to go in there, leave the door wide open, walk away, and have my dog get hit by a car. Along with everything else happening that week, that incident topped it off.


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

Metro M & L said:


> Decided to spray out an apartment with shellac. I wore a 3m respirator, p100 filters. It burned sooooo bad. So sick. Prefilters filled almost immediately. Swapped them out, it was all I could do to power through and spray the apartment out in two or three minute intervals. Truly truly awful feeling.




Shellac is nasty nasty stuff to spray. I've sprayed bin primer a few times, didn't have a good respirator the first time, thought my brain was gonna just melt.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

Cricket said:


> View attachment 287441
> 
> 
> I am very pleased to announce that we have partnered with 3M™ to give away *$500 worth of 3M™ Safety Products*.
> ...


I don't normally pay much attention to these give away thingys ..But That's a bulk deal I could really use. 

Can I win tonight and have it sent by the morning ..Cause I've gotta 170 boarder to sand out tomorrow !!! :laughing: 

The Marlboros just ain't filtering out the dust like they use too!!

My worse day ever? That's every day ! And I have had a few hangovers that I thought would kill me!! But I'm still kicking!!


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

blacktop said:


> I don't normally pay much attention to these give away thingys ..But That's a bulk deal I could really use.
> 
> Can I win tonight and have it sent by the morning ..Cause I've gotta 170 boarder to sand out tomorrow !!! :laughing:
> 
> ...


"Damn it, woke up again." /drags
a$$ back to work.


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## charimon (Nov 24, 2008)

On my Worst day ever I later received a Bronze Star. But that is not a story for here.


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## wazez (Oct 25, 2008)

My worst day ever is to embarrassing to tell....


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

charimon said:


> On my Worst day ever I later received a Bronze Star. But that is not a story for here.


Why not? I'd love to hear!


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

wazez said:


> My worst day ever is to embarrassing to tell....


Come on man! She couldn't of been that ugly!!


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## oravik (Dec 27, 2010)

Worst for me was in Lerwick ,Shetland. We were doing a complete remodeling of a bunch of council houses , this involved stripping off all the plaster and wood laths . We chucked some of them in an old fireplace and set light to them , after a few moments the woman from the house next door came in to say there was smoke coming out of her cupboards . Then while shovelling up the laths ,I hit a lead water line at floor level , it wasn't that bad , so we left it trickling overnight . The following morning both houses (joined) basements were flooded and the water was pouring out of the brick vents . Still makes me cringe after 20 odd years !


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## kixnbux (Feb 12, 2015)

Went to a job re flooring a mobile home with OSB about an hour out in the country. Forgot safety glasses, at that time I didn't wear them much anyway. Last board rip of the day fired a piece into my cornea. Worst pain I've ever felt. Took hours to get pain medication and days for it to ever stop hurting. Had to wear a patch for a good while. 

I'm religious about eye protection now. There's multiple pairs in every vehicle and trailer. I can still feel it just talking about it


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## bigdaddyrooster (Jul 16, 2015)

Spraying stain blocking primer on ceiling after setting up plastic walls and floor covering. End of day finding cat stuck in closet passed out from the fumes. Hopefully I win a kitty sized respirator also. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## Pearce Services (Nov 21, 2005)

I was working in a Yogurt Factory fixing a door. I had to drill out some rivets, but one of them wanted to spin so the drill bit could not cut into it. 

I grabbed the backside of the rivot with vice grips, my hand was safely behind the door panel. As I was drilling, I warbled the drill to help it bite the rivet. The bit slipped off, ran past the door panel.

Out of reflex, I pulled my hand back, Right into the path of the drill bit.

It sucked into my wrist and along my hand heading out towards my middle finger. Being a typical construction worker, I put the drill in reverse and pulled the trigger to reclaim my 3/8" diameter drill bit, causing more damage. The sound of flesh being cut by a drill bit is much louder than you would think. 2 surgeries and 6 months of light duty was more painful than the injury.

That is my worst day, but not much worse than the time I fell through a hole in a mezzanine because the roof deck was not fastened down yet, I'll save that for the next giveaway.


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

I've got to be honest. The worse accident I've had to date is cutting my thumb while cutting cap shingles. Blade ran up on framing square and into my thumb. I've had some table saw kick backs but nothing that hurt me. A piece of wood did get thrown about 20' and hit my stabila 2' level and it was driven into a metal mechanics tool box and dented the crap out of the tool box and bent up the level. Eye opener for sure. It came off a portable saw too. Anyway I try to be safe. My biggest fear is falling off a roof during framing stage as it is hard to tie off when there is nothing to tie off too.

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

Did I win yet? 


No kidding tho... My worse day on the job was watching the old guy I was working with walk down the basement stairs holding a large flap of skin above his right eye and bleeding like a stuck pig!! He'd fallen on the scaffold and the corner of the hawk caught him just missing his eye by a frog hair. The nearest ER Was an hour away. It took 60 stitches by a plastic surgeon to get him straightened out .. He was a tough old dude tho..All the way to the ER All he was worried about was leaving his tools on the job! He was worried to death someone was going to steal his tools ..I had to assure him I'd go back that evening and pick up all his gear.


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## FrankSmith (Feb 21, 2013)

One Monday morning I reported in to my employer of 7 years to find out my services where no longer needed. It pissed me off so much I decided to succeed in business just to get back at the prick.


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## gdalton4 (May 8, 2008)

Snow covered roof and I had to remove pump jack braces from gable side of roof. I slide all the way down to the eave and found myself sitting on the edge , feet hanging over and holding on with a death grip to the roof edge. Two stories up, cars going up the road, people pointing at me and nobody stops to help! I thought well I'll try to turn and scamper back up. So I let go with one hand to make my turn and off the roof I go. Thankfully the snow had drifted against the house and I landed in 4 feet of snow. I left a nice snow angel where I landed. The best thing to happen was that we moved the brick pile that was in that spot the day before. What a day.


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## Bob10 (May 8, 2008)

Not sure of a day but reading other's worst reminded me of several of my own. Most recent was coming off a lumber rack and landing on a wheel well in the bed. Shattered ankle, 3 weeks waiting for swelling to go down enough for surgery and 5 months mostly on my back


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## AndyWRS (Sep 12, 2010)

My boss got a new 2015 Silverado and while loading up 2x8x20 spruce fascia boards at Ganahl lumber with him, I dropped one. It hit the rollup door framing and bounced right into his front right fender. His truck was about a week or two old and we were loading up in a spot different than our usual one...it was busy. Totally my fault, I didn't have good footing. I was standing the top of his rack and the board was pulling me headfirst over the side of the truck...ended up saving myself but it cost me.

I was riding with him the full day so it was a bit uncomfortable. I get it, it can be fixed but it is still a brand new truck.


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## cdshaw (Oct 20, 2014)

My worst day Oct 7.1997 fell off a roof crushing my ankle lower leg no insurance. But steel plate 12 screws and back to work month later got told could go back in 3 but had bills to pay still suffer with pain to this day


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## WyrTwister (Jul 19, 2013)

When I had the battery compartment fall on me . We were taking it off the pallet / skid .

Broke my leg . :-(

God bless
Wyr


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## Jay hole (Nov 12, 2013)

I have had some good fortune not getting hurt, And I have done plenty of boneheaded moves! But as someone mentioned earlier it's the slow times that get to me. I live in an oilfield town and the recent drop in oil prices has had a huge impact on our community. I long for the days that I pre cut and pre assemble all the window extension jams and trim 3 inches short!!!


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## C2projects (Jan 9, 2013)

I'd have to say my worst day was showing up at the end of a basement development and my trailer was broken into. I was there till 11:30 the night before and showed up at 7:30 to finish up and be on the next project by 10:00.

The bastards got away with around $4,000.00 worth of tools. Which at the time was the bulk of my tools.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

C2projects said:


> I'd have to say my worst day was showing up at the end of a basement development and my trailer was broken into. I was there till 11:30 the night before and showed up at 7:30 to finish up and be on the next project by 10:00.
> 
> The bastards got away with around $4,000.00 worth of tools. Which at the time was the bulk of my tools.


Two years ago they got me for 2k worth of tools..it is not a good feeling!!!


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## C2projects (Jan 9, 2013)

blacktop said:


> Two years ago they got me for 2k worth of tools..it is not a good feeling!!!


I don't normally get so mad that I punch something. But there is a hole in the wood paneling on the door of my trailer from that day. I dont think I've ever felt so helpless. 

I feel like the guys were watching me. The entire job I had my tools in the house. And I loaded the trailer up that night so it was an easy clean up in the morning and ended up paying for it.


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## Rx8 (Jan 3, 2009)

Worst day would have to be when I cut my thumb in the table saw while running drawer rails. The 1x6 was warped and when it wobbled it kicked my hand into the blade. Went in deep and hurt bad, but could have been so much worse, still have my thumb afterall!


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## BigPoppa (Apr 30, 2014)

*GIVEAWAY: Enter To Win $500 Worth Of 3M™ Safety Products*

Every contractor has had them — those days where everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Tell us about your worst day ever!


Worst day ever I was installing a can light in a clients existing shower. I had located a spot where the can would be best installed, from inside the shower and had then gone up in the attic, to move insulation and make sure there were no obstructions. 

After climbing up through a closet hatch and eyeballing measurements taken from below, I figured my drill bit was popping up right over there where the roof was AWFULLY low. Sure enough after climbing over to the spot, I was wedged in between the ceiling joists and an HVAC unit as well as the backside of a roof deck that was doing an excellent impression of a cactus, with plenty of nails letting me know to keep away. 

Ends up that there was a ceiling joist just intruding into where the can light hole would need to be which required a small shift in the hole location. My utterly GREEN helper had forgotten his left and rights as well as how to read a tape measure. Frustrated, I had him bring up and hand me the hammer drill and all the supplies I needed to wire and mount the can as I backed out of the predicament I was in. 

I had to use the hammerdrill because my helper had failed to setup a cordless charger the night before despite my asking him twice. 

Now comes the funny part, due to the awkward position I was in, upon drilling the hole my thumb had accidently hit the trigger lock on the drill. Once the hole saw reached the end of the cut and jammed I lost grip but the drill started to spin and promptly beat the hell out of my face, while my reflexes impaled the back of my head on the roof deck nails. 

That damn drill didn't stop till it had wound up enough cord to unplug itself. After finishing the installation and coming down from the attic I had multiple stab wounds to the back of my head which were bleeding at a surprising rate, a fat lip and swollen eye. 

My helper took one look at me and put two and two together pretty quickly, he burst into laughter exclaiming that he thought I was angry and it was me pulling the cord up into the attic so fast, especially since I was swearing a bit at the time. 

Moral of the story is....keep your head shaved its much easier to stop the bleeding.


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## PCI (Jun 8, 2012)

I'm very grateful that my worst day was jumping down into a window well at 6:30am when it was 10 degrees below. I hit the ground and rolled my ankle. 

Called my athletic trainer friend and he said "tighten up the boot laces" and keep moving.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

BigPoppa said:


> Every contractor has had them — those days where everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Tell us about your worst day ever!
> 
> 
> Worst day ever I was installing a can light in a clients existing shower. I had located a spot where the can would be best installed, from inside the shower and had then gone up in the attic, to move insulation and make sure there were no obstructions.
> ...


That's one ass whipping can light right there buddy!


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Loading up cabinets to go do an install. Lifted a long heavy cabinet, I had the side with all the drawers and hardware. Ripped a muscle in my arm, weird feeling, not good at all. Put the cabinet down and walked away. Felt dizzy and sat down on the ground leaning up against a pole and passed out.

Not a fun day and not a fun 8 months of recovery.


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## Builders Inc. (Feb 24, 2015)

Not near as bad of a day as Dave had, but we tripped a breaker on a house. Customer was on vacation and we were doing outside work. Didn't have access to the breaker box to turn it back on. Also didn't know that the same circuit was feeding his deep freezer that held about a thousand dollars of meat in it. Stinking mess for our customer and a reimbursement check written to him when we were called and cussed out. Now we have gfci three ways and a few generators. Oops.


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## Admin (Dec 10, 2003)

No entries will be accepted following this post as I am working on the drawing now.


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## Admin (Dec 10, 2003)

AndyWRS said:


> My boss got a new 2015 Silverado and while loading up 2x8x20 spruce fascia boards at Ganahl lumber with him, I dropped one. It hit the rollup door framing and bounced right into his front right fender. His truck was about a week or two old and we were loading up in a spot different than our usual one...it was busy. Totally my fault, I didn't have good footing. I was standing the top of his rack and the board was pulling me headfirst over the side of the truck...ended up saving myself but it cost me.
> 
> I was riding with him the full day so it was a bit uncomfortable. I get it, it can be fixed but it is still a brand new truck.


Congratulations! :thumbup:

Your post was selected in our random drawing to receive $500 worth of 3M™ Safety Products. I will be contacting you via PM for some information from you.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

Andy's a good guy:thumbsup:


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

I have some houses I need sanded out Andy ...you interested??? :laughing: congrats man!!:thumbsup:


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## AndyWRS (Sep 12, 2010)

Awesome news, thanks very much. 

Couldn't have happened on a better day, I was having a really bad day today.

Hmmm, last time I won anything it was probably 1979:laughing: 

Thank you CT and 3M, much appreciated.


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