A bad workman blames his tools
A workman who is not good at his work blames his tools and not himself. Blaming his tools is a bad workman’s way of not owning up to his mistakes or taking responsibility for a job not done well.
When a workman doesn’t do his job right, he loses credibility and his clients are driven away. Thus, he cannot take ownership of the bad work since that will establish him as a poor workman. Fearing this bad reputation, he blames everything but himself for his mediocre deliverables. Citing excuses, delaying deadlines, and pointing fingers are some of the many arrows in a bad workman’s quiver of fallacy. According to him, everything conspires against him whenever he is trying to do his job well. This saying is suitable for people who lack certain skill sets or qualities and instead of correcting them and improving, they make excuses for themselves by blaming it on external factors. The saying thus continues, ‘a bad workman always quarrels with his tools’.