So, what tools would you send?

I can't believe that you guys are taking this so seriously

I was going say:

a mobile phone and a note of the nearest handyman's phone number

even if so, there are other uses: eg stick-'n-poke tattoos have been popular among students lately.

Large can of flykiller to deal with the inevitable side-effect of leaving a bin full of half-eaten takeaways to fester for a month+ because no-one remembered to put the bin out.

Should they really be dooing any maintaince , I'd thought if in halls of residence or rent a room from a landlord and shouldn't really touch anything. Going by my students I'd just say knife, fork, spoon and for the adventous types a tin opener.

Oh and the ability to read simple instructions such as lab opening times and to read what it says on the door(s) and when we say we are closed at weekends that means we are NOT open at weekend ! FFS !

Also had one a few weeks ago that didn;t know howe to open a padlock, telling me it doesn't work. I had to show him how to pull the U shapped metal part up and/or pulling the square bit down and how that made it work.

You obviously don't think like an engineer! :-) The world is full of things that would be trivial to fix and could be done "right now" with little or no effort with access to basic tools and a "can do" attitude, but people avoid doing because "it's not my job". The nett result is they never get done because calling in a specialist would not be cost effective.

However on a practical level he might need to open and fix his computer. Or fix the door knob when it comes off in your hand and you can't get out of the room.

(Had that happen to someone I know once when the bolt on his bathroom door fell apart in his hand and he could not then get out. I had to lob a screwdriver through the window to him so he could undo the bolt)

Or even just "Push" :-)

A dial telephone will probably confuse them as well.

Phone, what's a phone? Oh, you mean the thing you use for Tiktok and Snapchat.

Come on, surely the correct word is vugular.

What's wrong with a hand drill? (s)he isn't going to be using it lots.

A small saw - one of those junior hacksaw things - might be good too.

Andy

and when we were on hilday in Crete, we were told NOt to put in the dunny because it blocks the pipes

Hand drills can be bulkier than small cordless ones. Although I can't imagine them using either, apart from as a screwdriver.

What would you they that for?

Bearing in mind they rent, so house maintenance should be someone else's responsibility (and they risk being fined if they DIY). So the use case is just things that aren't maintenance (or stuff where it's too much hassle to get the landlord out)

Theo

Yes, vulgar, too.

I thought they provided a special bin for used bog paper in places with inadequate sewerage so it could be taken away and burned.

There's a special bin in the bathroom, but it goes in the regular dumpster in the street with all the other rubbish (there is also a recycling dumpster, if people use it). There isn't a special waste stream for toilet paper.

Theo

There isn't for dogshit bags, so I expect people don't care. Or the people who handle rubbish are regarded as Dalit.