Bless this mess …

I cannot work like that. Oh, it may get cluttered for a while when working on a particular phase of construction, but I clean and straighten things out when that phase is done. This comes from work habits necessary to my former career—misplacing samples, or portions thereof, is a scientific disaster. Tools and instruments need to be immediately available at all times.

When we first started working in a building with engineers, some of them had the idea that our equipment and tools were open and available for their (unqualified, and often unsafe) use. This caused serious problems, and didn't end until they were informed by the company president that a second offense would result in immediate termination, no matter who they were. This is one of the reasons for my antipathy toward structural engineers (present company excepted, in case any of you are or were structural engineers. Other species of engineers were rarely, if ever, a problem.)