PSA: writing my lift plan on the windshield with a grease pencil saved me 20 minutes a pick
I got tired of climbing down to check my chart on the dash every time the load swung, so I started marking radius and capacity right on the glass. Three picks into a tank job in Gary, the pencil wiped clean with a rag and I had the next one already figured out. Anybody else keep notes where they can see them from the seat?
The grease pencil on the windshield trick is solid but you gotta watch which pencil you grab, some of them smear the second your glove gets sweaty. I keep a china marker on a string tied to the grab handle so it never walks off, and I write the numbers up high near the sun visor where my rag never goes. Windshield glass holds it fine, but if the machine sits in the sun all day it turns to mush by noon, so I redo it after lunch. Back glass works better if you got a flat one, less curve so the numbers stay readable when you glance back. One thing nobody tells you, wipe it off before you park it for the night or the day shift will lose their minds about somebody writing on the glass.