Our auto shop is so big and so full of stuff that we lose things all the time. We probably have everything imaginable, it's just finding where the last person set it down that's the problem.

we seem to lose taps and drill bits...and somehow we end up breaking them a lot too when we find them! this year hasn't been so bad but last year...wasn't very pretty!

Haha yea, actually, they did ;D

Our team has had some "issues" with tape measures. They are NOT fun to wind up =\

I don't know about you guys, but I have a nasty habit of losing those little screws that are one of a kind and are only meant to fit in that tiny hole that you just needed to unscrew to make the smallest modification to a computer, robot, etc.

We have one tape measure in which BOTH the lock and the spring rewind work. Some will go back in but not lock, others will lock, but not go in.

Maybe I should be a leader and buy a new one....

We have the same problem, down at our machine shop ( at a college in a nearby city ) we have every tool imaginable, and at least a dozen of everything we'd ever need. BUT we lose stuff all the time, so basically, if we lose something, rather than look for it, we go get a new one and find the one we lost in the process.
Another problem we have is, our machine shop has about 5 compressed air hoses that hang from the ceiling, making blasting the floor, tools, pieces, people all the more fun...but say you drop something, then someone shoots the air gun, say bye bye to whatever you just dropped!

drill bits and other small screws seem to just vaporize out of thin air... and evn when we clean...(major cleaning) they still don't reappear... the boogie man took them :),,,

I swear. It's mice! I think it's a conspiracy!

by far, the most difficult tool to find is the centerpunch. It is NEVER there when we need it. Id say second comes the socket wrench. We have a nice case for all our sockets, but the wrench part of it is never there... I have to also agree with the sharpies. Very very difficult to find those. ITs funny when ppl resort to using dry erase markers and they inadvertently wipe off their marks on the way to cutting it. I have an explanation for all of this, which my team refers to as the unwritten rule of robotics: "The tool belongs where it was last used." Its a MIRACLE if it is where it is supposed to. Actually, I wonder if we've spent more time searching for tools or working on the robot...

I found it!
 

Yay! I found the tape measure! It was on a table in the shop.

You always find something in the last place you look:D