So a buddy from my hometown in Kentucky hired The Amish to do some millwork around his fireplace and chimney. He asked them to drill a hole and pull through an HDMI cable he gave them to the spot over the fireplace where the TV would eventually be.

He comes back and it was beautiful, cept they had folded the cable in half and pulled it so you had the folded end sticking out of the chimney and the two ends down inside the cabinet, all closed up and too tight to pull anything else through . LOLOL

Your fault. You shouldnt have given them a cable that was long enough to fold in half. lol

I watched the electrician on This Old House put a 180 degree bend on the HDMI when he taped it to his fish tape and pull it through a floor, on the way out of a wall.

I find this story to be a bit on the unbelievable side. Contrary to urban myth, the Amish don’t live in caves. And they are allowed to use technology for business, just not for personal lives. And I’d be surprised if some individuals that regularly do cabinetry and millwork wouldn’t have some basic understanding on the wiring of TVs.

OK, scratch everything I said before. Clearly anyone can be a moron, regardless of religious practices.

How many "claimed" Ci's actually know what the bend ratio is on cat cables, and how many do, but still screw up?

I can't tell you how many times I've seen cat cable pulled through a top plate at a very tight right angle, stapled tight to studs or floor joists, etc, etc, then having a client with a network that barely works...

Don't forget the tight knot they tie in the cable, to keep it from pulling back thru the hole :)

And dont forget these nuggets of goodness...

Have heard these referred to as “china men” pre pc.

I was working on a new build hospital site when I came across a very curious room. The project was at punch list stage.

Clearly the architect screwed up, calling for more cabinetry than a small room could support, and the crew had a sense of humor. In one room that seemed finished, one could only open the (inward) door about six inches before bumping into a cabinet. I grant that the room could exist, but I don't know how the last man out bit worked.

True story.

Your fault for not advising friend to get conduit in place instead of using a cable.

They would just loop the conduit back so you could pull a babel back and forth. Maybe they folded the cable in half so you would have two. Cut it at the fold and put two new ends on it.

I recently had a call from a cheapo contractor who thought that he could make some money by installing the wires himself -- why get me involved? He missed the point about active HDMI cables that there is an "in" and "out". He asked if I could swap ends. He's the type who would try wire nuts next. (Well, maybe not wire nuts, because he knows that I don't like them -- he'd use crimps)

I was asked by a customer to call the GM of his country club, so I could get involved in hanging the new TVs in the locker rooms. The women's was straightforward with no surprises- hang it on a tilting mount over the mantle with a cabinet next to it, where the equipment would go- the drywall hadn't been put up, so routing was easy and it needed about 10' of length. The men's locker room, OTOH, was different- they wanted a TV at each end with the DirecTV boxes behind the bar, so they had their maintenance guy go out and buy a couple so he could install them. As soon as I got there and looked at what they had, I found the 'Display' tags at the bar location and they had buried the cables behind new Walnut paneling and crown molding. Fortunately for them, someone had decided the coax to each TV location should stay, so I called DirecTV and ordered two RF remotes and mounts for their boxes, to allow them to mount behind the TVs and not be controlled by line of sight. The remotes were labeled and left for the staff to keep track of- I told them that putting the boxes so close to liquids was a bad idea, so the only loss was the cost of the Monster HDMI cables and possibly an uncomfortable conversation for the maintenance guy.

The project was supposed to be finished in time for the New Members weekend promo, where ONLY new members were supposed to be in the locker rooms and existing members couldn't influence them with their pettiness. As soon as I hung the TVs and assigned the remotes, some existing members came in and, like clockwork, they started with questions and comments like "Why is it so small?", "Why is it so low?" and "Geez- the display for my laptop is bigger than that".

They reinforced my opinion that this place is the Bushwood CC of the Milwaukee area.