Funny you mention "the old steel gets brittle from decades of vibration" because that's exactly how I feel about half the stuff I deal with nowadays. Seems like everything from old tools to people's patience just gets more cracked and fragile the longer it sits. It's like you don't know what's solid until you actually put some weight on it.

Yeah, you had that happen too? I was doing touch ups at my cousin's wedding last summer and the airbrush on the bridesmaids just started peeling off around their noses after dinner. We were wiping sweat off and it came with it. I don't get why everyone's so sold on it, cream foundation with a good powder on top never let me down like that. I'd rather spend the extra five minutes blending than deal with that mess again.

That "does the breakfast crowd actually convert" part hit home. A buddy of mine owns a landscaping company and he was all about the mixers for months, collecting tons of cards. Then he switched to the breakfast for like three months straight. He told me one of those breakfast conversations turned into a $12,000 contract for a commercial property redesign, just from chatting with the owner while they both got coffee. Meanwhile, he said half the mixer leads never even returned his emails.

My local library in Portland started this tool thing about two years ago and I was totally against it at first. I figured it would be a mess, like you're saying. But then I needed a post hole digger for a weekend project and didn't want to spend sixty bucks on something I'd use once. I walked in expecting chaos but it was organized fine, checked it out like a book. Honestly seeing more people come through the doors just to grab a hedge trimmer then wander over to the book section changed my mind. I still want my bestsellers available but if a weed whacker brings in a new family who discovers the kids story time, that's a win in my book.

Wait did oscar say mesh filters give off a metallic taste? That sounds like placebo to me.