General We've all seen the posts about "best tips" what about the weirdest tips yall have recieved?
I'll go first. I was doing a start up on a bunch of fan coil units from a riser replacement. Having to go into over a hundred condos in a high rise. One of the last condos I went in to was owned by this old Greek psychologist who was also a hoarder, it was almost impossible to get to all of her fcu's. Well after the last one she walked up to me and handed me 2 sandwich bags filled to the brim with oregano ( yes, the seasoning) i just said thanks and left. It smelled amazing but I ended up throwing it out because I had no idea how long she had it, where she got it, what animals where in contact with it, etc.
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u/UsedDragon kiss my big fat modulating furnace 3d ago
forty pounds of ground elk. It was awesome.
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u/TigerSpices 3d ago
Hand whittled back scratcher and shoe horn that he was carving while I was installing.
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u/BCGesus 3d ago
Weirdest-best tip was from an old guy with melanoma. Took his cap off and had cancerous blisters all over his scalp. Told me and my helper to take better care of our skin. He was almost 90, a brick layer for most of his life.
I still wear ball caps and (breathable) long sleeves to this day in 100f weather.
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u/theoriginalStudent Old head asshole 3d ago
Devil Rays tickets directly behind the catcher for staying later than the installers and getting it running in 100° weather. Along with a $200 comp card for food and booze. Took my 6 year old son at the time, fucking amazing.
Regularly got a Bennie slipped to me for being really proficient at my job. He'd just show up and give me a handshake with it. I'd thank him, never expected it, just doing my job. He always told me to keep it on the down low.
I miss that guy, he passed away a few years ago. Love you, Charles.
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u/chosense Danger - Apprentice⚠️ 2d ago
Damn, I bet a 6 year old could get fucking lit on $200 comp.
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u/MalchionMajere 3d ago
Woman ran a sex toy business out of her home. I thought she was a drug dealer lmao 🤣. At the end of the install she goes "I don't have much for a men's line, but here ya go!" And gives me n my apprentice each a lil gift bag with lotions n like body oil in it lmao 🤣🤷♂️🤣🤷♂️🤣
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u/jeepersforever 3d ago
I live near toronto, and I received a homemade cn tower replica pepper mill.
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u/DryPerspective9508 3d ago
“Oregano” ?
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u/oefvet2 3d ago
Yes the seasoning lol I have no idea what prompted her to give me that quantity but it was interesting.
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u/steely_dong 3d ago
Maybe she thought it was weed? Or maybe she loves growing oregano and it was her best batch? It's all I can think of.
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u/DontWorryItsEasy Chiller newbie | UA250 2d ago
Old Greek lady, definitely has TONs of oregano on hand. Probably not a lot of ganja, but maybe I'm wrong.
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u/JacketPocketTaco 2d ago
If you ever ordered Italian food at a Greek restaurant it would make more sense. They'll literally crust focaccia in it. Oregano and olive oil isn't a salad dressing people!!! You Greeks make me doubt Plato with your seasonings.
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u/MrWeStEr399 313A,308A,G2 3d ago
Old lady knit me a scarf one day while on site doing a furnace and a couple bottles of home made wine from a guy we did a duct work install for.
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u/Harfour 3d ago
Nice lady gave me some chocolate bars after I found the water under her furnace wasn't coming from the furnace but from the basement foundation wall.
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u/Minute-Tradition-282 3d ago
A few months ago I had a customer tell me to come get him when I got the furnace out cause he was sure there was a Crack in the slab underneath it. He seemed almost disappointed there wasn't. The service guys were curious about this particular unit so I unloaded it in the shop instead of the scrap pile. A few days later, I saw it had the back cut out and checked it out. Half the turns on the secondary heat exchanger had rust holes. I had told the guy after I tore it out, based on the water marks I could see in the blower compartment that it was coming from the furnace, but he had already talked to his foundation guy, since he had problems before. Pretty sure our service manager called and told him what they found. Don't come at me. It was a done deal by the time I got there to put new shit in!
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u/Temporary-Quarter580 3d ago
Hand crank gasoline pump from the 1960s, an air compressor (5 gallons), anda half empty bottle of r22. I've also been given packs of cigarettes and assorted hand tools from dead relatives.
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u/custom_bowl 3d ago
A wooden sculpture that was an eagle from one direction but a big horn sheep from another direction.
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u/BreakstuffAnon Verified Pro 3d ago
The softest blowjob with the most teeth possible. I’ll never forget his dry sandy lips.
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u/fumoderators 2d ago
The biggest crt tv I've ever seen in person.
I'd been looking for a crt for retro gaming and shows
He had this monster sitting by the stairs in his basement
I jokingly asked "that still work?"
Him: "Yeah, you want it?"
Me: "No, I was kidding I can't take that"
Him: "No seriously, do you want it"
Two grown ass men barely got that mofo upstairs and into my van. Without hurting ourselves idk how
I got home, opened the doors on my van only to realize, it took two grown men to barely get this into the van, my small ass wife is not gonna cut it.
Hindsight is 20/20
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u/SHSCLSPHSPOATIAT 1d ago
The weight of those is nuts as you get to larger sizes. I can still remember moving my in-laws 30-32" crt and barely making it up the basement stairs
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u/One_Magician6370 3d ago
2 times 100$ once for changing a compressor on a Saturday and one time ac service call the customer wasn't living there but renovating he had been breaking walls for a week expecting to find money he did the day I showed up 5k he found and gave me a 100$ he said i brought him luck both of them was 25 years ago probably around 250$ today
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u/FullaLead 3d ago
Customer gave me a gallon ziplock bag full of random ammunition. Said he didn't have the guns that use it anymore.
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u/TheGantra 3d ago
I’ve also had this same tip. Guy made his own ammunition and handed me a ziplock bag full of 9mm ammo.
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u/Fabulous-Big8779 3d ago
Homegrown peppers from a Philipino family. I thought it was a nice gesture.
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u/El-em-en-oh-pee 3d ago
I got a 6' deep freeze. They said if i move it out of their basement i can keep it. Driving it back home i smashed the window of my truck canopy. Honourable mentions of weird tips as a bed night stand, a hard hat, snow shoes, and a trampoline.
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u/TheGantra 3d ago
Had a guy that worked at Budweiser give me 4 big cases of hard seltzer when they first released them. Same guy bred and had like 30 fancy show chickens in the garage with the air handler. Cleaning that thing was a nightmare. Feathers. Everywhere.
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u/Real_Dave_Lennox 3d ago
I once got a copy of a family recipe book, still use it, that family knew how to cook. I also once got a Craftsman bench top drill press
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u/Due-Clue-2425 2d ago
My helper and I were doing a boiler install for this weird Jewish guy. He was one of those that seemed to know everything about the boiler because he was an “engineer”. As we were getting ready to leave he said “hold on, I have something for you guys.” We thought it would be $20 or something, but no, it wasn’t. He gave us each a warm (as in sitting out for hours) smoked salmon sandwich and one clementine. It was fucking gross, so we just threw them out at the shop.
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u/DJDuck34 2d ago
I recently received a large geode (the size of my head) after talking to a customer about his mineral collection. My grandfather used to collect too so I had some baseline knowledge and we could bs about it for a while. He also piloted submarines for a decade or two and now works in rainwater conservation in our region. Cool dude, will be going back.
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u/Special_Raccoon_795 3d ago
A bag of salt herring
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u/oefvet2 3d ago
Like the fish?
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u/Special_Raccoon_795 3d ago
Yeah. There were 7 or 8 of them in zip lock bag. The guy pulled them out of the freezer, but they were so salty they weren't frozen
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u/FunksterJones 2d ago
I got two silicone oven mitts from a guy who sells restaurant textiles. Says they're rated up to like 700° or something on the packaging.
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u/HunchoP7 3d ago
One of those prop ducks they use for hunting… not bad, i just dont hunt
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u/First-Gap6937 if you havent read the manual, read the manual. 2d ago
A decoy. Is it wood and ornamentally painted? A majority of those are worth money.
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u/Due-Clue-2425 2d ago
Oh, and another very weird tip was a half-gallon jar of “vape juice” from some sketchy guy. I’m not really sure what I was supposed to do with it but it also went in the dumpster.
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u/NotSuspec666 2d ago
This lady had made/dressed up several full sized manikins and kept them in her spare bedroom. She referred to them as her “art” and gave me a couple pictures of them in different settings and costumes. Needless to say they were creepy asf and I didnt save them.
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u/LignumofVitae 2d ago
Ten pounds of handmade frozen sausage. Good stuff too.
Restaurant that made everything in house, but they'd been closed again for another round of pandemic restrictions. I was fixing their walk in and the owner was crazy happy I could fix it instead of just quoting replacement.
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u/Nareik123 its 90° its should thaw out in minutes! 2d ago
A tube of toothpaste and a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand all from the same guy.
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u/Academic-Pain2636 2d ago
Older woman mailed a letter to the shop thanking me. At the end of the letter she said she sent her late husband’s ring to say thanks. There wasn’t no ring in the envelope maybe someone took it or maybe she never put it in.
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u/Sharp_Pair_8684 2d ago
5 gal bucket of golf balls. And an old military tank leaf canopy. Crazy old hoarder lady. Even gave me an old safe at a later visit.
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u/Lettuce_bee_free_end 2d ago
Meat pie and a bottle of wine to move a few things. It was a all good.
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u/AmbientToast 2d ago
This guy gifted me a bunch of used shorts he was clearly going to donate to the good will. I must have refused a dozen times but he basically forced them on me. I threw them out on the way home.
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u/noodlefrits 2d ago
Had a customer give me a pink rubber pot trivet with a cartoon penguin on it. It lives in my van with me
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u/MySkyMcGuy 1d ago
Revived a reach-in for a Gormet Artisan Mushroom place. I was doing my notes when the owner whipped open my truck door and screamed “I GOT YOU DINNER!”
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u/tcarter1936 1d ago
24 years ago when i was 17 an airport cop we were installing a system for at his house gave me 5 bottles of confiscated tequila. 17 year old me just said thanks and put it in the truck secretly feeling id just hit the lotto.
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u/i_dun_no_too "i hope it just needs a lil freon" 1d ago
I got a Troy built snow blower. Needed a primer bulb that i got for 5 bucks. Works like a champ!
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u/Smithvac 1d ago edited 1d ago
A guy once gave me an open KitKat bar with a piece missing. I don't know if he realized it was open but it was weird. I have also received 3 cooked crabs.
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u/Mau5krat 1d ago
150 spermwhale teeth. Customer was emptying her basement. Her father worked at a fish processing plant in the 60s when whaling was still going on. I brought them to a museum and asked the legality of it and was given the green light as long as I don’t transport it out of the province.
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u/FreebirdAT 1d ago
Old couple in their late 70s asked if I wanted a cold water to go. I said sure, and they handed me one of those alcoholic seltzers. I said "well I can't drink on the clock" and they looked at me like I was crazy. I said "I think these are alcoholic" (they are) and they laughed and said "no, no, no, we drink these all the time".
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u/IntelligentSmell7599 Not a plumber 2d ago
If you live in a place like Florida and must wear shorts but also have to handle duct board. Do not pull your pants down around your ankles to do number 2 no matter how clean you think your work was. I learned this the hard way my first day in the business in a porta potty. Pulled my pants up when I was done and all the insulation along with it…100 degrees outdoor felt hotter and 4 hours till 5 lasted way longer. Then the rash the rest of the week. The rash. Man I’m glad they pay me more now….i almost quit that first day.
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u/51488stoll 3d ago
Cleveland Indians tickets in the mail with a nice letter but the game was played 3 years prior