What have you ordered, which turned out substantially bigger

[Frrair]

I was managing a construction project that was a redevelopment of a fairly large site that included the footprint of a large factory unit. The demo company had reduced the building down to the slab, as we commenced the break out of slab we found a huge concrete pit now full of demo material which was also full of very sludgy oil.

After trying to pump it out from a sump but it being topped up with rain water just as quickly I decided I needed something to soak it up that could then be scooped up and sent off site, so I rang round saw mills and found someone who could supply me a load of saw dust. Now I was used to ordering stone so a 8 wheeler holds about 20 ton of stone so I thought I would have one of those, 20 ton should be about right.

The first lorry looked like a 30 tonner but but hey ho that will do, it was tipped and we started to mix it in with a couple of 360s. Then the next truck and then the next all the same arrived. My god there was loads of the stuff, it then dawned on me that hey a cube of sawdust is of course very light weight, so I had about 4 to 5 times more of it by volume than I expected. I rang them and they did take it back, I am sure they had a laugh at my expense.

Did the trick though.

I also used to order fixings, when buying large quantities of nails you order them by 25kg boxes, I did somewhat get more than I expected when I ordered 25 of this, 25 of that..... included panel pins, when the delivery came I wondered why I had all these small boxes, my there were loads of them, I gave most away but still got a box left in the garage now.

[FRA53R]

AC43 said:

My wife once bought a "cheap" chaise longue on eBay. Now we just need to pick it up. "Where?" I said

"Near Manchester" she said. "But we can go an stay with our friend and make a weekend of it."

Cue a 400 mile round trip. In a C43 AMG.

When we got to our friends she told me to go off and get it.

Another 50 or so miles later I was there....

Then it stared to rain. A lot

As it was an estate I folded the seats and stuck it in the back. Well, most of it anyway. I couldn't fully shut the boot so just used a bungee to hold it down.

The next day it became clear that the rain wasn't going to stop for days so bough rail tickets for the wife and kids and drove it back home solo.

Still, we had a good weekend. And I can confirm that the C43 exhaust sounds epic when gunning it over the Pennines with the boot open.

However once you factor in 500 miles of fuel and three train tickets it wasn't exactly cheap. And it still needs re-covered....

I can certainly agree that the sound of that engine is great when the boot is open.



I was supposed to pick up 6 6 foot Christmas trees, turns out the nursery had been generous and they were 7 feet tall and big bushy bds to boot! Got 5 in which I thought was a decent effort. Great drive home

[Rostfritt]

Shakermaker said:

since my image search for that hole punch the other day I am now getting email alerts asking if I am still interested in the Rapesco office hole punch.

Also how have they got away with being called Rapes Co for so long?

Since reading this thread I have noticed one at work. I really want to have a reason to hole punch a catalogue or something with it now. No idea why it exists as nobody is going to file that much in a lever arch file nowadays.

[budgie smuggler]

duckwhistle said:

Friend's daughter moving into a flat, dad spots some nice looking furniture going cheap on Gumtree. Asks me for a hand to collect. Longish drive in a borrowed van only to find it was a collection of doll's house furniture.

[Riley Blue]

We needed a new cordless phone for home; one in the kitchen, one in the office. When it arrived it was a triple rather than a twin so in a sense 50% 'bigger' - knockout, eh?

[Rostfritt]

Riley Blue said:

We needed a new cordless phone for home; one in the kitchen, one in the office. When it arrived it was a triple rather than a twin so in a sense 50% 'bigger' - knockout, eh?

What we all need to know is where you put the third phone.

Downstairs loo?

[Shakermaker]

Rostfritt said:

Shakermaker said:

since my image search for that hole punch the other day I am now getting email alerts asking if I am still interested in the Rapesco office hole punch.

Also how have they got away with being called Rapes Co for so long?

Since reading this thread I have noticed one at work. I really want to have a reason to hole punch a catalogue or something with it now. No idea why it exists as nobody is going to file that much in a lever arch file nowadays.

Indeed. We got ours back in 2010/2011, when lever arch files were all the rage at our company who had decided to go "paperless" several years earlier...

[Bowen86]

My Dad and I are restoring a mk1 Gti campaign. Sadly we are missing the centre caps which seem difficult to get hold of until my dad phones me;

"I've found some wheels, centre caps and tyres in Germany for £35 posted. I've ordered them and they'll be here in two days!"

I thought this was too good to be true, but hey Germany is where this car comes from they must be 10 a penny there....

Waited two days, a small box arrives from Germany. The wheels, tyres and much needed centre caps were perfect... for a 1:18 scale model.

[RC1807]

Bowen86 said:

My Dad and I are restoring a mk1 Gti campaign. Sadly we are missing the centre caps which seem difficult to get hold of until my dad phones me;

"I've found some wheels, centre caps and tyres in Germany for £35 posted. I've ordered them and they'll be here in two days!"

I thought this was too good to be true, but hey Germany is where this car comes from they must be 10 a penny there....

Waited two days, a small box arrives from Germany. The wheels, tyres and much needed centre caps were perfect... for a 1:18 scale model.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Frrair said:

I was managing a construction project that was a redevelopment of a fairly large site that included the footprint of a large factory unit. The demo company had reduced the building down to the slab, as we commenced the break out of slab we found a huge concrete pit now full of demo material which was also full of very sludgy oil.

After trying to pump it out from a sump but it being topped up with rain water just as quickly I decided I needed something to soak it up that could then be scooped up and sent off site, so I rang round saw mills and found someone who could supply me a load of saw dust. Now I was used to ordering stone so a 8 wheeler holds about 20 ton of stone so I thought I would have one of those, 20 ton should be about right.

The first lorry looked like a 30 tonner but but hey ho that will do, it was tipped and we started to mix it in with a couple of 360s. Then the next truck and then the next all the same arrived. My god there was loads of the stuff, it then dawned on me that hey a cube of sawdust is of course very light weight, so I had about 4 to 5 times more of it by volume than I expected. I rang them and they did take it back, I am sure they had a laugh at my expense.

Did the trick though.

I also used to order fixings, when buying large quantities of nails you order them by 25kg boxes, I did somewhat get more than I expected when I ordered 25 of this, 25 of that..... included panel pins, when the delivery came I wondered why I had all these small boxes, my there were loads of them, I gave most away but still got a box left in the garage now.

That's comedy gold, thank you for sharing!

[Willeh85]

So for those of you who live in and around the Derby area and drive past the University I provide you with this giggle. Firstly it was not me that ordered this banner.

I have worked for the university for about 5 years now, but this banner has been here long before I joined. It sits at the top of one of the towers and says 'University'. It can actually be seen from quite some distance and I had always wondered why it didn't say 'University of Derby' and have a logo on it.

I've made some friends from the estates department in this time, and the story goes that the banner was ordered using the wrong metrics. ie someone filled in the form using centimetres but the online form required inches.

So it does have our logo, and it does say 'University of Derby' the rest of it is just folded up behind it as its gigantic

[Bristol spark]

Have been at it again

Decided to treat myself to a new Marshall DSL15C tube guitar amp (only had solid state before), thinking at "only" 15W i can drive it at full power in my living room.....

Well it nearly blew the fking windows out!!

Seriously impressed at how loud it is for only 15W, i nearly bought the 40W version, my neighbours will be glad i didn't

Im pretty sure they can hear it outside!

[Bungleaio]

We had a new landlord in our office building and they ordered a new sign. The design was approved and installed. The landlord went nuts when he saw it as its massive. What he thought was 6 feet turned out to be 6 meters. It looks ridiculous but cost a fortune so they won't change it.

[Mound Dawg]

Old Alfas use 2" diameter paper trunking to duct air from the heater boxes. I had to re-order this and bearing in mind that each car takes 2 metres of it I ordered 100 metres so we'd have plenty.

To say that I was surprised at the number of boxes that arrived is an understatement. I ended up squirrelling them away all over the warehouse. Seven years later the warehouse guy who helped me bury it all is now the parts buyer and has finally had to re-order it himself.

Popcorn ready.

[Bristol spark]

Mmmmm steak