The Day I Got Excited About a Calibrated Tape Measure

I’m currently offshore, so Mike has the unenviable task of keeping me updated with what’s happening back at the workshop.

This week’s update?

A tape measure.

Not a new machine. Not a completed fabrication. Not a customer order.

A tape measure.

To be fair, it did have a fresh calibration sticker on it, which is why he sent it.

I looked at it for a second and then realised I’d become exactly the sort of person who gets excited about calibrated tape measures.

A few years ago I’d have rolled my eyes and wondered who had time for that sort of thing. We’d have been far more interested in getting a job out the door than worrying whether the tape measure had paperwork.

Somewhere along the way, though, things changed.

Without really noticing, we’ve built proper systems into the business. Equipment gets logged. Assets get tracked. Tools get calibrated. It isn’t because anyone is standing over us with a clipboard; it just seems to be the way we do things now.

The funny part is that Mike didn’t send me the photo because he thought it was unusual. He sent it because, in his mind, it was a perfectly normal workshop update.

Apparently, we’ve reached the stage where “the tape measure’s back from calibration” is considered news.

I don’t know exactly when that happened, but I suppose that’s a sign that Terra has grown up a bit.

Don’t get me wrong; I still find the idea of calibrating a tape measure slightly amusing.

I just also find myself wondering when the rest of them are due.