You are 2nd year apprentice - what would you do?

[ARW]

Your task is to cut out a doormat that is partially covered by a new wall in the entrance to a shopping centre. You decide to use the angle grinder, the

110V transformer and the 230V extension lead. However after plugging the extension lead into one of the sockets in a shop when you come to use the angle grinder you have a power problem. Using the knowledge you have picked up in the last 15 months you quickly and correctly identify the 230V extension lead is at fault.

So do you?

a) Plug the 110V transformer into to the socket in the shop and then use the

110V extension lead to power the angle grinder

b) Examine the plug connections and the fuse on the 230V extension lead and then using the knowledge and skills you you have picked up over the last 15 months fix the faulty extension lead

c) Plug the transformer into the socket that is right next to the doormat and complete the job without using any extension leads.

d) Walk aimlessly around the shopping centre for 30 minutes searching for me whilst carrying the faulty extension lead with you. And don't even think about winding up the lead before walking around the shops looking for me - you need to drag 10m of trailing flex behind you.

[Nightjar]

Not a difficult choice if you eliminate the options that actually involve doing work.

[docholliday93]

I think my preferred option would be c - but then I like to avoid extension leads wherever possible, so I might have omitted the initial part of that sequence and gone straight for it. I'm assuming that the actual option chosen was d)...

[Adrian]

How many years is this apprenticeship?

[Graham.]

None of the above. e) Wire a BS 1363 plug to the 110 side of the transformer and see how much faster the AG runs on 440v

[Thomas Prufer]

e) as above, and when asked why, answer "because pushing 10m of flex didn't work".

Thomas Prufer

[BobH]

I'd go for b first, then d, and if I could find you, I would try c as a last resort, lol

[Tim w]

First of all someone has built a wall across a doormat, and left the doormat in place???

And to cut a doormat you use an angle grinder???

What country is this?

Tim W

[Brian Gaff]

Well even a first year should be able to see that if there is a socket right next to the job, you can finish it, and take the bits back to base and fix it in the comfort of the workshop. Brian

[GB]

This must be what you have trained him to do. I have no idea why, though?

[Adam Funk]

What the heck is the doormat made of that calls for an angle grinder?

Does the apprentice get partial credit for identifying the fault?

I think we've all guessed that this isn't a hypothetical story....

[ARW]

4 years.

[ARW]

Yes

Yes

England

[Nick]

e) borrow the van and nip down to a local shed and get a new and better extension lead?

[spuorgelgoog]

f) go and 'read' all the top-shelf magazines in the newsagent's.

(or don't newsagents sell top-shelf magazines any more?)

Owain

[Adrian]

Year two of four, and you're actually letting him loose with extension leads? Fuck me, is he on the fast-track?

[Andrew May]

Of course you use an angle grinder to cut a doormat. WD40 [1] just won't do it.

[1] which is the only other solution recommended on uk.d-i-y

[Adrian]

Gaffer tape?

[Andrew May]

Nah. You can't cut a doormat with gaffer tape :-)

[damduck-egg]

What about using a Mattock.

G Harman