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Showerthought: My dumb assumption about a rat chewed line turned into a better habit
Last month, I was fixing a no signal issue at an old ranch house. I saw gnaw marks on the outside cable and thought, yep, rodents again. I replaced a big section, but the problem came back the next day. I felt pretty stupid for not looking closer. Turns out, the real damage was inside the wall where the line bent too sharp. I had to cut open the drywall to fix it right. Now I always use my inspection camera before blaming animals. It added time to that job, but I haven't missed since. Small win for learning to double check my hunches.
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wren9581mo ago
But @the_mila, calling it a life habit seems overkill for a simple cable fix.
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the_mila1mo ago
How many times do we blame the obvious thing before checking our own work first? Feels like a life habit not just a fix-it thing.
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Started blaming cheap parts for repeat brake line leaks until I forced myself to pressure test the whole system first. Found my own flared fitting was just a hair off. @wren958 has a point about not making things into a big life lesson, but checking my work before pointing fingers saved me a lot of comeback jobs. Now my first guess is always to re-check the last thing I touched.
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