Samrodriguez has a point though, my buddy's burger joint almost went under because he kept ignoring regulars who said his fries were soggy.

Yeah, that "perfect cold spot" idea is spooky. Did you check if the repair mortar was a different type, like something that doesn't handle heat the same way?

Yeah, your buddy was spot on about that. We had a retaining wall put in a few years back and the mason insisted on fat joints for the same reason, said it gives the mortar more room to flex without splitting. Totally worth the extra time mixing mud.

Totally get that. It reminds me of when I tried to learn guitar on a cheap digital tuner. The screen would just snap to "in tune" but my old teacher had this ancient needle tuner. You could watch it drift and see how the string actually settled, which taught me way more about keeping it stable. That little bit of wiggle tells a story numbers just freeze in place.

Guess they were waiting for a really special ride.