You know! The tools!

It's a time of negotiation and inventory in lab. We are paring down what we have for renovation and other things. I was asked to check out what we had in a satellite lab across the way.

"I think there are some tools over there that we can use. Make sure you get them."

I open all the drawers and find swagelock fittings, VCR and VCO fittings, KF fittings and various other gaskets that I think will be useful. So many copper gaskets are always something to get excited about. I find some flowmeters and a cache of regulators. There is a single drawer with wrenches - but they look really big, commonplace, and I am positive we already have some that size. So when it comes to tools, I'm slightly confused as to where these "tools" are that there are so many of and that we need to be sure to get. Am I looking for a specific wrench, driver, soldering iron, pressure gauge? I must not know what this is because I am not seeing this stash of tools that is obviously being referred to.
Me. Finding the wrenches and being underwhelmed.

I report back the findings and ask for clarification about what tools I am looking for.*

Exasperated he says "You know. Tools! There is a long bar with things on the ends that you use to tighten gaskets and fittings! Tools!"

Despite feeling like this:
I say, "yeah, of course. I'll look for those." 

On a second pass through, I find the overlooked (4) normal wrenches we use for tightening torx screws and hex screws.

In summary:

Hey, make sure you get the tools.

(What he doesn't realize is that we've been pilfering tools from over there for months, so in fact, there are not many left and therefore there are not really that many tools over there. So then I am ever so slightly confused about what I am supposedly looking for - a cache of tools as opposed to what I find which is 3 or 4 of them. I report this.)

You know! The tools! The long bar with the thingys on the end to tighten things!**
Oh wait? You mean that is what you call those? I thought all this year I've just been using something else to tighten the 16 torx screws on the chamber viewport each of the 4 times I've had to replace it and the other time I built gas lines with 9/16" and 1/2" wrenches to tighten the screws and nuts and re-plumb the flow reactor all in swagelock and changing the nozzle on the liquid nitrogen dewar larger than I am, those are tools? I'm really glad you've cleared that up for me! Tools!! Ha. Who would have thought?

"You know. The tools!!?!"

I now say this to my labmates and we laugh. Especially because they know how far I have come and it's just silly to think that the phrase, "You know. The tools!" would have any sort of extra meaning for me.

*Also, some would say this was a sexist thing that happened. I'm just going to quash that right now and say no. Just going with it was the response I chose since it was obvious that the situation really could only get worse with any other response and we both knew it. Oh humanity; it shows up pretty often. 

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