: Allowing a woman into a workshop can be a maturing experience.
: Personally, I hated it when my elders told me I was immature
: when I was young and I love the way nobody dares tell an old
: fogey he needs to grow up. I don't want to grow up and I don't
: want to mature: I've seen what that does to people - next thing
: you know you're going to the funeral. So women in the workshop
: are out for me, no matter how good they are at finding things.

: The problem, as we all know but don't want to admit, is we have too
: many tools. And no place to keep them. Or we don't put things
: back where we found them after we have finished with them.

: The answer, I was told when I was very young, is a place for
: everything and everything in its place. And when/if I mature, I
: might try that. I think it operates on the theory that, if there
: is only one thing on the workbench, it is easy to find it.
: Sounds plausible; like that investment scheme that chap told me
: about that ... but let's not go there.

: In the meantime I have identified some alternative strategies:

: 1) put things down anywhere I want, and put everything away when I
: can't find something
: 2) as #1 but stop when I've found the thing I want
: 3) tidy up at the end of the day

: I've tried them all. #3 is suspiciously like the "place for
: everything" gig. The problem with PFEAEIIP is, tidying up
: is all you ever seem to do. #3 is like that: the end of the day
: better be sometime around noon or it doesn't happen. #1 is
: similar, and it takes far too much mental discipline once I've
: found what I needed to actually finish cleaning up, and then I
: forget where I put the thing I needed ... So I stuck with #2 for
: a long time (normally the only thing I stick with is glue) but
: that turned out to be less than ideal too. If you never clean up
: the place gets so messy ... well we've all been THERE haven't
: we?

: So recently I have taken a new direction. When I can't find
: something, look for a few minutes then go off for a beer. This
: is an excellent approach from a mental health perspective. it
: will take a while to evaluate how effective it is for getting
: the job done. Right now I need to get more beeer.

I put everything back in it's place, eventually :)

I'm also very good at laying things down and after awile making a gross mess of the shop, so have to have huge clean up days so I can find anything.

Maturing, bad thing .

Bill H.