“When I was in high school auto-shop, the group of guys I had for classmates was just great. We were all friends, and each of us knew a fair bit about cars. couple that with the amazing teacher we had and it was just a great experience all around.
Except. There was one kid in there named Bailey. And Bailey was a real lemon. I could tell you about a hundred stories about Bailey’s sheer stupidity, but if I had to sum it up best, it’d be this.
Out in the parking lot is a car with a flat tire. My teacher says ‘Bailey, take this portable air tank. Fill it to 100psi and then put 30psi in the tire’
So Bailey goes outside. And about 10 minutes later, I realize he’s still out there. So, I let my teacher know. He gets kind of nervous, saying ‘Holy cow, I hope he didn’t misunderstand me and he’s trying to put 100psi in the tire….‘
So I run out there hoping to stop him before he blows himself up. And I see him there with the air nozzle on the tire valve. But it’s still flat. So I ask, ‘Bailey, what’s wrong!’
‘The thing won’t go!’
So the first thing I do is check the big, obvious air gauge on the tank. Which is bottomed out at zero.
‘Bailey… did you fill this thing with air at all?’
‘Oh, I have to do that?’
‘Uh, yea. You do actually have to fill the thing with air, it doesn’t just come from nowhere.’
So he waddles back inside, where I have to show him how to connect the tank to the air hose (Which is pretty easy for anyone who has never used compressed air), and then it’s time for round two.
So he goes back out to the tire, and I triumphantly go to my teacher and say ‘Well, he failed to actually fill the tank first, but we’re good now!’
‘Did you mention the air pressure?’
Oh. NO.
So I run back out again.
‘Bailey! How much do you have in there?’
‘Uh, I dunno, maybe 90, uh…. p…s…i?’
‘Holy COW! Back away from that thing right now!’ I shout. So he does, and after I cautiously look to see if the tire has begun changing colors, I slowly approach with my pencil gauge, expecting the gauge to blow apart when I connect it. Instead, it registers 20psi.
‘Bailey. Get the heck back inside. I’ll do this..’
‘Dur, okay.’”
