Great, now it's pissed off, blind, and in a hole

December 17, 2011 2:55 PM

We're all familiar with the various types of conflict: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society, and of course man vs. truculent concrete buffer. Redubbed, in case the narration isn't your cup of tea.
posted by codacorolla (42 comments total)

Buffer overruns can be a real pain.
posted by Dr Dracator at 3:01 PM on December 17, 2011 [18 favorites]

I think that the narration is just perfect. Equal parts: sacarsam + shaking of the head in dismay.
posted by Fizz at 3:03 PM on December 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

On the plus side, that's some really buff concrete.
posted by dirigibleman at 3:03 PM on December 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Come on, people. Shooting it is always the best solution.
posted by orme at 3:10 PM on December 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

I don't see the word "truculent" nearly often enough. Thanks.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:24 PM on December 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Pissed off. Blind. In a hole.

Sounds like just another Saturday night at Casa de Cool Papa Bell!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:29 PM on December 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

The redubbed version just made me cry. I'm crying now. Look what you did.
posted by oulipian at 3:33 PM on December 17, 2011

The tarp was a pretty inventive solution, but what exactly was the bucket of water supposed to accomplish?
posted by ook at 3:34 PM on December 17, 2011

Benny Hill version.
posted by grimmelm at 3:39 PM on December 17, 2011 [4 favorites]

I think the water was because "engines burn gasoline, right? Juuuust gotta put out the fire..."
posted by LogicalDash at 3:43 PM on December 17, 2011

Benny Hill version

oh goddammit don't post links like that when I've just poured myself a drink
posted by subbes at 3:43 PM on December 17, 2011

...man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society...

Even concrete buffers started small.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:43 PM on December 17, 2011

WORKER 1 - WAIT
WORKER 2 - WAIT

BUFFER casts SPIN

WORKER 3 - WAIT
WORKER 1 - ITEM -> 2x4 ... *miss*
WORKER 2 - ITEM -> BUCKET ... 1 damage

BUFFER casts SPIN

WORKER 3 - ITEM -> TARP ... BUFFER is CONFUSED!

BUFFER casts SPIN

WORKER 1 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*
WORKER 2 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*
WORKER 3 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*

BUFFER casts SPIN

WORKER 1 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*
WORKER 2 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*
WORKER 3 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... *miss*

BUFFER casts SPIN

WORKER 1 - FIGHT -> ATTACK ... 15 damage

Duh duh duh dunnh, dunh, dunh, DAH duh DAAAAAAH

Gained 6XP and 2 gil.
posted by saturday_morning at 3:53 PM on December 17, 2011 [49 favorites]

saturday_morning, your comment may have made me laugh just as much as the video itself. Well done.
posted by lizarrd at 3:55 PM on December 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can guarantee the bucket of water guy was the resident know-it-all. "We can short out the spark! It can't not fail!! Trust me!"

He is also undoubtedly the guy who disabled the dead-man-switch.
posted by gjc at 4:07 PM on December 17, 2011 [3 favorites]

Narrator's count of "people watching this" seems to be short by a couple of people I can think of.
posted by Western Infidels at 4:12 PM on December 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

Human default mode: when in doubt POKE IT WITH A STICK.

If it is big, poke it with a big stick.
posted by louche mustachio at 4:15 PM on December 17, 2011 [6 favorites]

I wish it didn't start off with LOLworkingclass because otherwise it was a treat.
posted by munchingzombie at 4:15 PM on December 17, 2011

Besides the guy saying "what a bunch of dumbasses", the narration is great.
posted by Corduroy at 4:35 PM on December 17, 2011

The tarp was a pretty inventive solution, but what exactly was the bucket of water supposed to accomplish?

My uneducated guess is the water was meant to lower the coefficient of friction between the buffer and concrete, so maybe the handle was spinning with less force and less likely to injure someone when they grabbed it.
posted by midmarch snowman at 4:50 PM on December 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

The row of workers all grasping for the tarp, it's like a choreographed dance move. Could watch that for hours.

The film is rolling, Howard.
posted by troika at 4:50 PM on December 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

In my life there's just three things: Man versus Nature, Man versus Woman, and Man versus The Empire Brain Building.
posted by beelzbubba at 4:57 PM on December 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

After years of seeing industrial safety videos, I expected this would end with one guy speared through the hand while another screamed as his face was buffed off.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 5:43 PM on December 17, 2011 [6 favorites]

I'm not sure why, but machines acting outside of human control is just so fucking funny.

When I was a janitor's assistant in college, we had a vacuum we named 'R2-D2' because it looked like that droid, with a long vacuum attachment. We also had a ladder that was like 2000 feet tall. Once somebody took R2D2 up there to vacuum the ceiling, or something, and R2D2 fell off the ladder.

For three days, all anybody had to say to me was, 'R2D2 fell of the ladder,' and I'd become useless with laughter.
posted by angrycat at 5:49 PM on December 17, 2011 [8 favorites]

Angrycat, I fear you may have identified the humour-basilisk first described in this Monty Python sketch. I fear for us all.
posted by Hogshead at 6:02 PM on December 17, 2011

That's just a lot more hilarious than it has any right to be, but I roared with laughter a few time there so thanks for that...
posted by Skygazer at 6:09 PM on December 17, 2011

I swore when the guy showed up with the giant board that they'd get one guy on each end, walk toward the thing and knock it over. That would've worked, yeah?
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:15 PM on December 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah I would hazard a guess that the water was meant to lower the friction, not to kill the engine.
posted by idiopath at 7:00 PM on December 17, 2011

RICK

RICK

RICK

I'M SPINNING, RICK

RIIIIIIICK
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:01 PM on December 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

That buffer's name is Fenton.
posted by biscotti at 8:20 PM on December 17, 2011 [4 favorites]

Friction. Of course. Now I feel dumb for not having thought of that.
posted by ook at 8:46 PM on December 17, 2011

FYI, the real name of this is a concrete power trowel. Most of them apparently come with dead-man switches, much like your similarly arranged yard mower, but the guys in the video may have disabled it -- as the guy in this apparently official sales video seem to has done as well (see the board).

I agree the water might have been to stop the spin -- when he concrete is firmer, there's more resistance. But they probably needed a lot more water -- a hose might have done it, but could also have damaged the pour.
posted by dhartung at 9:44 PM on December 17, 2011

After years of seeing industrial safety videos, I expected this would end with one guy speared through the hand while another screamed as his face was buffed off.

Do-doop-da-da-doop-doooo....

(that theme song is permanently etched in my mind after seeing that short on Rifftrax, and now automatically plays in my head when I realize I'm doing something stupid/dangerous at work)
posted by chambers at 11:52 PM on December 17, 2011

Wait; it's the 21st century. We're supposed to have people to deal with this.
posted by chambers at 11:55 PM on December 17, 2011

Obligatory German industrial mayhem set to cheerful whistling
posted by flabdablet at 12:11 AM on December 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

ook writes "what exactly was the bucket of water supposed to accomplish?"

Like others have said the bucket of water was to loosen the grip the trowels on the machine had on the concrete. It's pretty well SOP and the guys in the office, somewhat ironically, really sounded like dumb asses for making fun of the guy with the water.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I'd have done if presented with this situation. Those machines weigh upwards of a couple hundred pounds and at what seems around 60rpm there is a lot of energy stored up in the rotation. I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to grab onto it by hand or even worse grab the tarp once it got tangled with the machine as that sounds like an awesome way to dislocate a shoulder or even lose or deglove a finger. Tipping it over with a lever is probably a good bet but the machines are pretty stable sitting on their bases. Or maybe lassoing the handle with a rope affixed to something immobile and sturdy; though there is lots of opportunity for for murphy to flail around with unintended consequences. Best approach of course would be to just let it run down but then the concrete pour would be damaged.
posted by Mitheral at 1:33 AM on December 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

It was a fun video, but I really started getting pissed at the smug commentary by the office droids, especially the "fucking morons/idiots" comment. Oh, really? Just how would you doughy cube-dwellers suggest they capture a large, heavy, runaway machine?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:59 AM on December 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

"but I really started getting pissed at the smug commentary by the office droids, especially the "fucking morons/idiots" comment."

Couldn't agree more. They had nothing to offer, not even concern for the workers' safety. All they proffered was off-color commentary, a video camera, and farting.
posted by sutt at 6:18 AM on December 18, 2011

Like MetaFilter, except we can't generally offer a video camera.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:23 AM on December 18, 2011

Fucking daleks.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 11:57 AM on December 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

What Thorzdad said. We all know a smarmy narrator. Most wouldn't last 3 days on a construction crew.
posted by rahnefan at 6:16 AM on December 19, 2011

People who have clearly never actually tried to use a concrete helicopter really don't get criticism rights. Hell, even my rotary floor sander/polisher can be a scary beast and it's got nowhere near the power or ground grip of one of those bastards.

To anybody who has used a powerful rotary machine, chucking a bucket of water over the blades seems a perfectly obvious thing to try. Intercepting that machine's viciously swinging arm is more than dangerous enough without its little feet being anchored firmly to sticky concrete.

It isn't the construction crew who are the dumbasses.
posted by flabdablet at 6:49 AM on December 19, 2011