That story about the staple gun damage is exactly why I keep my cheap tester in the bag. I had a similar situation where I was chasing a flaky connection on a run that looked fine from the outside. The basic continuity check passed every time but would drop out under load. My little tester caught it as an intermittent short that was barely there. Turned out to be a screw that was just barely grazing the jacket inside a wall box. Fifteen minutes with a pair of snips and some tape and it was good as new. Those cheap testers are worth keeping around just for the oddball problems they can find.

It's a pattern I see everywhere now. Walk into any big event these days and you're basically paying for the privilege of getting overcharged by someone else. Conventions, music festivals, even farmers markets have turned into this weird ecosystem where you pay a cover to get in and then every single thing inside is marked up to hell. The vendors know most people aren't leaving once they've already paid the door fee, so they can charge whatever they want. It's like a two step tax on having fun that nobody talks about because everyone's just used to it by now. Makes you wonder if the con organizers even care or if they're just counting the cash from both sides.

Tbh the kid rearranging them is exactly why I keep my highlighters hidden in my desk drawer.

Is it just me or did @carter.thea hit the nail on the head cause I literally dropped $180 on a tool I used once and still regret it?

and really, @andrew693, you're not wrong about the water thing. I've had clay swell like crazy on me before after a bad rain. But here's the trick, if you let it dry out completely and then hit it with a heavy clay breaker like gypsum or that liquid stuff, it'll actually help flocculate the particles and settle them down. Just don't keep adding water week after week or you'll be stuck with a muddy mess forever.