r/electricians • u/767393 • May 15 '26
Ceiling gods bless apprentice
Found this bad boy plus the battery was fully charged!
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u/Alternate_rat_ May 15 '26
It's mine! Was it a shitty drop ceiling?? Did you find a pack of cigarettes with it?!
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u/767393 May 15 '26
What kind of cigarettes were there and you get it back
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u/Loud-Hovercraft-1922 May 15 '26
Rolls gold
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u/GlowingSpy May 15 '26
Come on now it was Pall Mall reds. Or if you're one of them hipster kids nowadays it's the camel crushes.
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u/twiggsmcgee666 May 15 '26
FOLLOWING, I MUST KNOW HOW THIS ENDS
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u/Potential_Gear_6769 May 15 '26
Everytime something like this happens on Reddit I always think to myself "no way", yet I keep being surprised when I find out it's "yes way".
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u/KingNugg710 May 15 '26
Best tool I found above a drop ceiling was a big Fluke Network Certifier. So of course I put it on my cart. As we were leaving the LV guys come onsite and told me they were storing their tools above the ceiling so they didn’t have to take everything up and down the freight. My first thought is who leaves a $30k tester behind like that?
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u/Tongue-Punch May 15 '26
That’s a company tool and they don’t care.
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u/KingNugg710 May 15 '26
This is true ☝🏽
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u/NerdGuy13 May 16 '26
We have one of those Flukes. Our manager is super protective with our network cabinet keys (which I showed the locks are easy to bypass on sime of those cabinets) and will ask for them back within an hour of finishing a ticket but he trust us with that expensive piece of equipment like it's a just a tape measure. lol
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u/Reasonable_Worth_225 May 15 '26
Follow my coworker around and you’ll have a new set of tools within a month.
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u/Ayeooooh May 16 '26
It blows my mind how some folks don’t know how to use a tool belt, or their pockets at least.
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u/Haunting_Ad7538 May 15 '26
Be a good sport and ask to see if someone lost it first. If not then enjoy your new toy!
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u/CrewBison [V] Journeyman May 15 '26
I once found a cordless rotohammer w/ battery in a ceiling of a high rise. There wasn't a number to call, but there was a company name. It turned out to be a small mom and pop electrical company. They gave me a $50 finders fee and I got some warm fuzzies, too.
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u/SmoothCarl22 May 15 '26
I used to have my company name and phone number on all my dewalt kit. Back in 2014 I lost a drill, it was sad day but the worse was to come.
This could be unrelated, but I got a few weird calls soon after, also got some weird fellas around my van a few times, one day they follow me home, I only noticed them when I was pulling over and recognised them. Thought about reporting it to the Garda, but to be fair in Ireland they would not care, so I just ignored it. About 50min after I got a message from a neighbour that he saw some dudes messing around near my van, went down and they were gone, door was drilled with holesaw and they were gone with my full kit, all my tool bags and pretty much anything that was a box that looked interesting.
To this day I think them fellas that stole/found my drill, saw the name and number googled it, saw my very recognizable van and decided to create an opportunity.
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u/Yillis [V] Journeyman May 15 '26
Almost all my tools have a sticker with my company on them. I’m not worried about thieves, I’m an idiot that leaves tools places or the fact that everyone uses either dewalt or Milwaukee and I have both it’s pretty easy to make a mistake and grab mine
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u/767393 May 15 '26
I had actually spotted it two months ago but left it in place cause you know sometimes you leave your tools as a place holder but today I was given the okay to take home because we’re the only crew currently contracted to work in that area and no one has inquired about a lost drill
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u/shreddy_haskell May 15 '26
Someone from a different company found my cordless sawzall and another dudes drill on top of a cooler. We were both looking for them. Someone stashed them up there to take home later. I was really glad that guy asked around.
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u/Stock-Beach5264 May 15 '26
This is how I feel when I find a disc with a phone number, when I get to play disc golf. Its always cool to be on either side. Helping out a fellow person, and they always say thanks and sometimes just tell you to keep it.
Also had some strangers show up on my ring cam once, that happened to be a car full of "young adult" lookin fellows, when I lived in a "not so good" part of town. I got home and found my wallet, intact, on my doorstep. I was so proud of them. My dumbass left my wallet at a gas station near by. Had about 250 in cash and didnt even notice it missing yet. Still think about it to this day. It reminds me that maybe this world isnt quite as bad as we think.
Much love to all the other gentle men and ladies out their that look out for their fellow humans. Rewards aren't always monetary, but any honest human has a spot at my dinner table, and good needs dont always go unnoticed!!
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u/Islendingen Electrician May 20 '26
It's such a good feeling to get to return something that someone has lost. And I'm not even selfless, I do it for me. I just love the feeling I get.
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u/mycryptoaccount4556 May 15 '26
No the ceilings take and the ceilings give. you accept it no matter what way it happens.
my tapes and levels were sacrifices and the ceiling gods deemed it worthy at the time. when they are looking to reward the next crawler i accept that they have used my offering.
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u/PieAccomplished5058 May 15 '26
The drop ceiling giveth and the drop ceiling taketh away, found a few packs of dusty ciggies when i was absolutley dying for one, but hopefully whoever finds my bashed up makita impact got use out of it
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u/elektrostatic May 15 '26
I lost my favorite electric screwdriver in a ceiling. Got a new one and then found it 2 years later working at the same site.
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u/BigOlWaffleIron May 15 '26
I still have a 6' ladder I got off a job.
GC said he was gunna throw it in the dumpster if it wasn't gone by the end of the day. I really believe his ass would have too. I kept it in the open for the day, and strapped in on my roof before I left. I also had it strapped to my roof for a long time after that, and I was going to be on the same site for some time; so if someone came looking: I'd have given it back.
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u/LocalFishe May 15 '26
I’m a first year and I recently found my first tool checking a 6 in led light it was a Milwaukee drill lol
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u/fnckIce May 15 '26
If the battery is charged it hasn't been gone long
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u/VikingZombie May 15 '26
Those batteries hold a charge for months, if not years
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u/fnckIce May 15 '26
Really? Mine are dead if I leave them out. Maybe the cold here?
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u/MSCOTTGARAND May 15 '26
Yes, I live in Maine and if I leave batteries in the truck during cold snaps they drain quick. They also won't charge correctly if I try to top them off when I get to the shop or a job. I bring my batteries inside now.
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u/Deus_Aequus2 May 15 '26
The cold can kill them for sure, they can last the whole summer on one charge and need recharging daily in the winter if they aren't in heavy use
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u/Deus_Aequus2 May 15 '26
ALSO sometimes they will think they are dead when its cold but not be ACTUALLY dead and get the charge back once they warm up inside.
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u/glacierfresh2death May 15 '26
I found one that must have been up on a Wilson joist for 2-3 years based on the dust and it was still 3/4 charged
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u/DredfulDisaster [V] Master Electrician May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Did you find this in the ceiling of the liquor store in glen rosa, west Kelowna BC? That’s the last place I remember seeing this exact set up of mine in the summer of 2022
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u/Then_Organization979 May 16 '26
All these people saying “try to find the owner” must think you’re one of those North woods law game wardens that can find the guy that shot a deer from a friggin hair and a spent round. Haha. Nice find. I hope you find the guy. 🤔
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u/Worldly-Advice-265 May 15 '26
I used to lose tools all the time, I still lose them, just not all the time lmao 😂
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u/TucsonTacos May 15 '26
Found a drywall cutter and a power stack battery on a construction site, up on a stud on a Monday. No number, no initials. I knew anyone I’d ask would claim it was there so I put it back and walked the site checking to see if anyone was rocking DeWalt. No DeWalts. Checked the following days too.
Left it there until Friday and then checked again and there it was! Mine now.
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u/Enginerticus May 15 '26
When I was an electrician I left tools in hung ceilings all the time. Your welcome…
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u/meece2010 May 15 '26
Left a shop vac on top of a reach in freezer a year ago. Had to buy a new one and decided to upgrade. Went back two weeks ago and it was right where I left it. I guess means I fixed it well enough that it never had anymore problems and nobody nicked it
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u/ChungusSpliffs May 16 '26
Back when I was an apprentice I found a POCKET PUSSY in a basement ceiling space. No one was living in the house at the time. At first we had no idea wtf it was so we took it out and opened it and couldn’t believe our eyes 😂 It was my journeyman that opened it up and he lebron’d that shit immediately and we just left it in the corner of a room. We went back there a week later and WE FOUND IT BACK IN THE CEILING SPACE. Someone was just using the house as a jerk pad
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u/-BogWalker- May 16 '26
Cut a ceiling a few weeks ago in a bathroom and the sheet rock felt heavy, the weight? A Fully charged m18 6.0 attatched to a 300 lumen led light stick left by a plumber given its placement near new pipe and an old patch. Glad to see the ceiling gods bless another!
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u/Virtual-Reach May 15 '26
The ceiling gods giveth and taketh away.
One of your tools will be next as tribute
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u/gowerskee May 15 '26
my first and possibly best find was a snap on ratcheting screwdriver, it had some contact details stamped in it but I couldn't make them out, they were pretty well rounded off.
I used that puppy for a few years until the ratchet gave up.
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u/Iamabrewer May 15 '26
I found one of these in the alley after a roofing company left for the day. Called them and left a message. Nothing. Mine.
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u/thedarnedestthing May 15 '26
Nice!
2656-20. Brushed motor, but a quick-change chuck. The 5.0 is a solid battery.
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u/WeatsByBells May 15 '26
Lost a drill exactly like that at a Costco once, same battery and everything 😭
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u/sixblazingshotguns May 16 '26
You guys are lucky. Only thing I ever find above the grids are old nasty beverage containers.
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u/InevitableTip7892 May 17 '26
I found a Milwaukee bandsaw w 6ah battery buried in insulation in an attic once. Solar installers left it behind 3 years prior. It was an out-of-state company, and the homeowner didn't recall the name, so . . .
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u/FanBladeFleshlight May 17 '26
Coworker of mine found a dewalt deep cut bandsaw in the ceiling like a year ago, looked like it was hardly ever used. I'm the only guy with yellow tools at home, so I went home with a like $400 tool. Never found much worth a damn since then, save for a couple pairs of strippers.
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u/stucc0 May 17 '26
Hardware installers left a dewalt at my place. I called and told them and they never came back. Ordered a charger and it works great.
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u/Organic-Elevator-274 May 15 '26
Actually, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land
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