January 8th, 2019:

I get the weirdest requests from customers...

As some of you know, I work in the hose & fittings industry (in sales), 
and I often receive some bizarre requests.  Most times, a customer will 
request something that is either overkill for their application (using a 
600 psi air compressor hose to water their garden), or something 
completely unsuitable or potentially dangerous (using a garden hose for 
propane).

In today's situation, one of our regular customers (an industry veteran
) called me up for something we though would be simple.

Me: Good afternoon, (workplace), Sparc IPX speaking.
Cust: Hi Sparc, do you guys still carry that small diameter potable water 
hose?
Me: Yup, what size y'after?
Cust: Half inch inside, twelve inches long with male pipe thread ends.
Me: Nothing premade, would have to make custom assemblies.  How many do 
you need?
Cust: Good man.  I need two hoses at 12 inches, and two at 16 inches.

(I make the requisite stock checks in our system)

Me: No prob, all the parts are in stock.
Cust: What's the temperature rating on the hose?
Me: Let's see... (product number) Potable water hose is rated to 65 
degrees Celsius.
Cust: Oh shit, I don't know if that'll work.  They need it to be rated for 
100 degrees Celsius.
Me: Ouch!  Don't think this'll be the right product, I don't think I'm 
going to have much in a potable-rated hose for that temperature.  What's 
the application?
Cust: From what I understand, it's coming off a boiler.
Me: OK, food service industry?
Cust: No, it's for their eyewash station, from the reservoir to the washer 
part.

(I paused for a second or two, trying to make sense of what I'd just 
heard.)

Me: I'm sorry, for an EYEWASH STATION? 
Cust: Yeah, potable water to eyewash station. 
Me: That's pretty sadistic.
Cust: What is? 
Me: You need a hose to deliver BOILING DRINKING WATER to an EYEWASH 
STATION?
Cust: ...
Cust: That can't be right.  (laughs) Yeah, that would be a lawsuit in 
waiting!  What the Hell is our engineer thinking?!
Me: I dunno, maybe he doesn't like his customer?
Cust: I'll call you back, I gotta talk to this guy.
Me: (laughing) He's probably looking at the specs on the hose that was 
originally installed, that might have been the upper rating of the hose 
the manufacturer used.  I can't imagine anything higher than room 
temperature would be needed.
Cust: Hope not, I'll call you back.

I spent the next half-hour laughing and wondering if the engineer in 
question was either sadistic, didn't know what "potable" means, 
misunderstood the eyewash stations specs, or was mis-reading the drawings.

As it turns out:

Cust: Hi Sparc, it's (cust).
Me: Hey!  What'd we find out?
Cust: ...eeeeeyeah, we don't need a hundred degree rating.  Room 
temperature is fine.  There's no boiler.
Me: Thank God...
Cust: Yeah, he misread the spec on the drawings.  It does need to be for 
potable water though, so no impurities are imparted to the fluid... unless 
you have a surgical grade hose?

So I quoted the customer, his engineer accepted, and we all lived happily 
ever after... secure in the knowledge that nobody was going to have their 
eyeballs scalded in the future.