How many miscellaneous drawers do you have?
- None
- One
- Several
- Many
0 voters
#3 in the Getting to Know You! series…
Read them all! 
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Also, see this:
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I’m retired and all my junk drawers have been emptied and divested accordingly. Selling a lot of stuff too. My sons are upse cause I sold my Vietnam war era practice bomb, pay phone, tank periscope, 50 cal dummy ammo, etc.
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How orderly was your toolbox as a pro mechanic? Reset to ‘neat’ to start each day?
Did your habits change over time?
Sorry. Curiosity gets the best of me. 
I had one of those 10G toolboxes full of SnapOn, MAC, Cornwell tools. $50/week. My wife was so happy when the tool guys finally got paid off. That was a lot of money on a mechanic’s salary and raising two grocery face boys.
Everything was organized for ease of access. No wasting time looking for a tool. Mechanics dislike working out of other mechanic’s toolboxes because every mechanic arranges their box differently.
Sockets, ratchets, and extensions were in the large top drawer.
Combination wrenches were in the second drawer.
The rest of the drawers held diagnostic tools, specialty tools, and power tools.
I forced myself to have only one junk drawer that held parts too good to throw away.
When retirement time got close, I dreaded the hassle of parting out the tools and box.
Then the skies turned blue and my problem was solved when a multi-millionaire bought the shop as a hobby. He worked on a ‘Chevy Challenger’ when he was younger, and had fun. He twisted my arm and made me service writer at the same salary, so no need for tools.
He naturally had no tools, so…. we both wrote a number on a piece of paper. The numbers were close enough for me, so the box got wheeled from the back of the shop to the front. Shortly after he replaced the box with something newer.
He sold the shop 5 years later to a mechanic I worked next to for about 6 years. The MM owner is a germaphobe. He was draining our roll around oil drain bucket. You are supposed to close a valve, and connect compressed air to the tank to push it out a drain hose into a huge tank. He forgot to close the valve, and about 20 gallons of old engine oil came out the top of the bucket, and drenched him. Remember he is a germaphobe. This is hazardous waste. He freaked out. I think this is one of the reasons he sold the business. He still owns the property.
Found a pic of the spill
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Good story, Tom, thanks! 
I had a 3-drawer luggable box with everything I needed where I needed it and nothing else… and someone stole it.
It was all low-to-mid level stuff and a bunch of eccentric tool-fixes I’d improvised and I was really bummed. It felt very personal.
Must be where my younger son gets the nickname ‘Storytime’ as a tech sergeant in the Air Force. They say he has a story for everything. 
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