3
Been using the same hand signal for 'lower slowly' for years and it was wrong
I was on a job in Tacoma last month, working with a new rigger. He kept looking at me funny when I gave the signal... finally he asked if I meant to lower or stop. Turns out my palm down, fingers wiggling thing was way too close to the 'stop' signal. I looked it up in the book that night and he was right. Anyone else ever find out they were giving a bad signal for a long time?
4 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In4 Comments
the_mary3mo ago
My old gym had a guy who used a totally wrong spotter signal for years.
6
harper_burns593mo ago
Wait, you were wiggling your fingers? That's the part that gets me, I always thought that was for something else entirely. How did nobody correct you before the Tacoma job, that's years of people just going along with it. Makes you wonder what else we're all doing wrong without knowing. Glad the new guy spoke up before something bad happened.
2
This whole thing reminds me of my buddy Jerry who worked at a bakery for like 5 years making bagels. He was telling me the other day he thought the "slap and fold" technique was just slapping the dough as hard as you could and folding it over. Turns out he had been doing it completely wrong the whole time, the other bakers just thought he was being enthusiastic about his job. Nobody said a word until a new manager came in and was like "what are you doing, you're destroying the gluten structure." Jerry said he felt like such a moron but also kind of mad nobody ever pulled him aside. Makes you wonder how many other people are walking around thinking they're doing something right when they're just lucky nobody's called them out yet.
5