Sorry to bring this thread up again, it is quite old,
I was reminded of this thread yesterday, by a conversation (no, argument) I had with an "Electrician" who was originally from Michigan in the US and he had been here in New Zealand for a year, or so.
He was re-training to pass our trade exams and getting some work experience as well and him and his Tradesman were at the local electrical supply house, when he started having an argument with his Tradesman about buying some new screwdrivers.
The tradie told him, the company H&S policy is that you must have insulated screwdrivers and the guy didn't like this,
the tradie was summarily told that them types of tools are for "alternate lifestyle men".
"We didn't ever use them in the States!, why do I need them here?, all of my screwdrivers are Kliens, nothing wrong with them, yes they are bare, I can cover them with thick walled heat-shrink."
The tradie and I got talking and I said to the guy "you need to get with the plan, covering things in heatshrink is not a proper way of doing things, for the cost of a decent set of common screwdrivers at trade rates, you'd spend the same amount of money and time putting the heatshrink on them".
That's when things went south, the guy launched into a tirade at me and the tradie, "So you want me to buy these stupid (expletive) plastic screwdrivers!!??, I wish I'd never moved to this (expletive)(expletive) country you're all a pack
of (expletive)(expletive).
The tradie told him to calm down and he did when I said that the best set for him had 9 screwdrivers, all the common sizes, for NZ$ 77, which is like US$35, they'll last you a lifetime.
Everyone walked away happy,
Apart from me, I forgot the 2 contactors and 3 light fittings I had on back-order that had arrived, I did get some nice ceiling fans though.
