Man, this stuff happens all the time, doesn't it? Like @robins83 said, asking around is the decent move, and it shows how small choices build your character. I see this bigger pattern where people just do the easy thing instead of the right thing, like keeping a lost phone or not returning extra change. It's why you can't trust anyone anymore, lol. That guilty feeling you have all week is your gut telling you that guy's actions were off.

Ever think specs are just a starting point?

Come on, it's never that clean. My "quick test" always ends up taking half a day to set up, and the memory use never scales in a straight line anyway. You just end up guessing regardless.

Oh man, I was totally in the pull cut camp for years. Watched a video on push cutting last week and it just clicked for me. You really do let the knife do all the work, it's way smoother. Felt like a total lightbulb moment, lol. Changed my whole game.

Yeah, that's a rough way to learn. I once used so much paste it oozed out like toothpaste, spent an hour cleaning it up. How much is too much, anyway?