"WTF, it's only a pull switch!"
You would say, but...
Went to see a friend by bike an hour away from me, kind of middle of nowhere if you don't drive (he doesn't).
He complained that his landlord's "electrician" had left the pull cord hanging by one bit of a bolt and could've fallen at any moment.
"Just needs a bolt" me thinks...
No, the "electrician" somehow cross threaded the one bolt there and broke the other in the thread.
Limited tools from my friend, so with some rusty pliers probably used by a soldier during WW1, I managed to extract the 2 screws without breaking the (mismatched) switch base.
Unfortunately the back box thread is no more.
Tap & die set? No chance!
But, my friend offers a bucket of assorted screws and bolts and after a rummage through I find 2 brass M4 bolts and a stainless steel one!
I used the stainless steel to re-tap the threads and, after cutting the brass bolts to length I realised why the "electrician" made this mess.
The switch holes don't line up with the ancient back box!
Using a skewer made hot on the hob, I modified the switch fixing holes so they match the back box.
Finally I refit everything thanking the "electrician" for having left a whole inch of wires available for connection.
Including tea, fag and cursing break = one and half hour.
Beat that!