Stop work you are angry ( and tired )...
 

What a Day,I a had vacation from working the weekend, I had my 300D 87 all finished except at the last minute I thought I would replace a timing guide on my chain--something told me not to--but there was the new one in the Fastlane Box, buried under bubble wrap, and i said "what a shame to waste the $8.00 "...... I started to use a 6 mm bolt, a socket and some washers to pull the pin and I started to make progress--and then I stripped it!!
I should have stopped right here and closed the engine up and banged the pin back in and I would be driving her right now.... but I was tired and angry.... anyway one hour later I was at Home Depot buying an angle drill..and this is when it really gets goofy-- when I came out, a lady driving an Escalade thought my car had hit her bumper, even though the Geometry of the scene showed it was impossible and I had to wait 1 hour for the police to come..
When I came home I started drilling to tap a 6 mm thread and debris got away unexpectedly into the engine and now I have to start over..
Walk way from it when you are tired!! 8 hours and I am back to where I started...

Too True.
 

Working tired, angry or hungry makes bad decisions look good.
In my late teens, I did all three on an electronics hobby project.
I woke up to the smell of burning meat, the soldering iron in one hand fell across the back of the web of the other hand (between thumb and index finger).
The doctor was worried I might need surgery; fortunately it healed better than expected.

One should always be respectful to everyone...
 

One should always be respectful to everyone...but I lost my cool with the lady and now I regret it...

That's why I envy the folks with a lot of old cars. Most of the time, at least 1 is running. When you just have 1 like me, you have to get it going to get to work the next day. Makes working late at night during a gentle chilly rain so much more fun. Next door neighbors wouldn't speak to me for 6 months after I was swearing and throwing tools after removing most of the skin on my knuckles and simultaneously burning myself while working on the car.

One thing I have tried is hiding all my saws, drills, etc. when doing anything I know won't require them under "normal" circumstances. That way, when something goes awry (which is sure to make me mad) I have cool-down time while looking for the saw/drill/5 lb hammer/etc. to fix what went wrong. Too many bad things can happen when you are p.o.'d, working in a cramped area, and have a tool of mass destruction in your hand.

"Tools of mass destruction"
 

Thats funny---I like that...theres no telling what you can do when you are po'd, and your adrenaline gets going and you have powerful tools at your disposal...95% of you is saying, stop, shutdown the shop, and 5% of you is telling you, get Vise Grips and just pound that pin out with a Sledge...

Before it was so taboo... I always said any auto mechanic should be a cigarette smoker...it is amazing how much the energy of a situation will change if you just take 10 minutes out to do something you enjoy... then go back to whatever is giving you trouble.
Bret

aaah
 

But then you flick that lighter and dream of torching the nasty POS that just ripped your finger nail off or stabbed three inches of broken steel rod through your arm.
I work on high line and Concourse d’Elegance cars; the temptation is still there, until you think of the OMG COST of repair on a 100 point Concourse d’Elegance car, sudden cold water of sanity on the burning frustration.
I have even taken a day off to decompress from some of the very bad ones.
Thankfully; most cars I work on are more than worth the effort, and I do love my work.

A cup of tea can work for me - same sort of idea.

Something else that works for me is to find something else to do around the work area, work that's useful while not requiring any real mental effort. Tidy up the work area, clean up any little messes I've made (and left for later) during the job, wipe down tools and put them back in the box, etc. In any case, it gives a break. Sometimes, it lets the brain come up with a better solution to a thorny problem - thinking better when you're not thinking so hard about what's bugging you.

If I'm just plain physically and mentally exhausted ("bankrupt" is the word I use), well, unless it's do or die, I'll walk away from it and come back fresh later.


-- eskimo