I used to believe that staying quiet in the cab helped me focus better on the job. Then on a site last month, a ground guy yelled for the 'blue excavator' to move, but we had two blue machines and I wasn't the one he meant. The other operator started digging in the wrong spot, and the whole crew burst out laughing at the confusion. Now I always double check which machine they're calling for, and a quick shout back has become my new habit to avoid those mix-ups.
I figured laser levels were just for show (never got the hype). After a storm ruined my hand-graded work, I'm a convert. What's your go-to method for setting up in bad weather?