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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Polymathy1 on 2025-05-18 01:50:50+00:00.

So I was working on my car and needed to finish it up last night so I could go get the steering aligned today. I started after work and had all the parts I needed. One side went really easily and the other side was tougher because my “puller” kept slipping off and I could not find the strut nut that holds the strut together. I looked all through all the packaging and tried the one from the old parts but the thread spacing was wrong.

So I about 3am, I decide to close my garage door, make 2 more laps around the garage and then go to sleep so I could go buy one this morning. Still can’t find it and I start cursing the supplier that sold it to me because this means the last 3 times I ordered from them I got a part with a component missing.

So I think maybe I can just bike over to the auto parts store down the street. I find my helmet easily, but I haven’t ridden that bike in a couple years, so my bike tires are flat and my air pump is broken.

Anyway, I pay 3 dollars for a bus pass, go to the auto parts store and they don’t have it. Try the home improvement store nearby and they don’t have it either.

Start calling around and a hardware store has it, but it’s an hour by bus each way… Pay for a Lyft over there and then ask my friend for a ride back because the bus and a Lyft will be 20 minutes before they get to me. Wait around a while… He can’t find his keys, so I ask my ex.

Finally got a ride from my ex for the price of lunch, and I make it home. I’ve got everything assembled and start cleaning up with my garage open and see one of the 2 (just in case) new nuts I bought on the ground outside the garage. That’s weird because I’m pretty sure I left the spare in my backpack… And then I realize that the nut I was missing was only lost because my garage door was closed.

TLDR: A critical nut rolled 2 feet out my garage door and I lost it because I closed the garage door. I spent several hours and about 40 bucks getting another one only to find it when I was finished.