Mickey Mouse Job

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Sometimes I’ll get strange quizzical looks when I explain that something was ‘Mickey Moused’, as in “the radiator hose busted so we mickey moused it with some duct tape”. Maybe the term isn’t so common? In any case, here’s a good definition: A job done incorrectly in an extremely poor manner using the simplest, easiest, cheapest and fastest way possible. Now that we are on the same page, let me show you an example. See that electrical pole above? That’s the most advanced Mickey Mouse Job I’ve ever seen!

Looks like some borracho hit this pole at 5 points last week with such force that the whole thing is tipping over, this wooden giant is counting the minutes ’til it rests its shocking head on some unsuspecting passerby. Trying to delay that electrifying moment just a bit longer, the repair people drove a large metal stake down thru the side, wrapped giant chains around it with a ratchet, locked it up, and decorated it with ‘High Voltage’ tape. The icing on the cake is the little rope up on top. Somehow, once it starts to go, I don’t see that being very effective. So long emergency staircase!

A few more pics are posted, click on link below

Here’s some more pics…
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TIMBERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

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5 Responses to Mickey Mouse Job

  1. Vidalia says:

    I wondered how those splinters got all up in my grill.

  2. Booknerds says:

    It’s possible that the same guy that rear ended my car also rammed that pole. Lousy drunk drivers.

  3. KIKO says:

    “mickey mouse job” is the favorite expression of Donny, the mechanic I take my car to. He loves to say this all the time, about new models of cars, about the “mickey mouse” job somebody else did years ago slicing a few millimeters off a fan belt to fit in my car instead of consiguiendo the right size. but everytime he says it, I always wonder at the origin. why “mickey mouse”? does this indicate the kind of job mickey mouse would do, if he were to do the job in question? or that mickey mouse & disney corp in general represent a certain aesthetic and technical level? I don’t know. do you know? not to get all fancy n shit, but what I really want to know is, what is the etymology of “mickey mouse job”? by the way, Donny is the sweetest, coolest, most honest mechanic in LA–no mickey mouse jobs there.

  4. EL CHAVO! says:

    According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse#Pejorative_use_of_Mickey.27s_name
    the term is pretty common. I think I read somewhere that mikey mouse was meant to refer to something small and insignificant (a cartoon mouse!) as oppossed to something real and tangible. I bet Disneyland has something to do with it: they remake the world into a cute, childish version (like the small world exhibit) that can’t be taken seriously. So some quick jimmied repairs are also not real, it’s just playing at doing it right. Or at least that’s my theory. In any case, I bet Disney hates it everytime their lil’ mouse is used in a negative connotation, so I guess we should encourage people to keep it up!

    Onward with Mickey Mouse philosophy! EL CHAVO!

  5. laura says:

    I was wondering about that, I’ve been using that expression forever and was starting to wonder if it was just a chicago thing, thanx

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