And it occasionally teaches you things you can use later.
When I was a kid, my circumstances were … not affluent. As I joked this afternoon while someone was complimenting me on my ability to fix horse-cart tires on the fly, “I rode bicycles when riding bicycles wasn’t cool.” And I patched many a worn-out tube by the side of many a road.
You spend your life picking up skills, whether you realize it or not. When you live on a subsistence level, as I do, you never know from one day to the next which of those skills will come in handy. It just helps to be handy.
Oh, and I got paid with some really nice cast-off ring-flourescent light fixtures, which I dropped off at Landlady’s house. I’ve already got lights, and anyway these pull a tiny bit more current than mine do even though they’re nicer than mine. So I’m hoping she can use them.
You have reminded me of an incident at work that happened a few years ago. I work at a large Zoo and a lot of my job is interacting with the public and helping when it is needed. My job has a fancy title but in reality I am just a dumb old security guard.
It was late in the day and there was a couple who had a beater of a car from way out of town and their car would not start. I was busy so my younger boss went to give the couple a helping hand. My boss tried to boost the car but the engine would not even turn over. I finished what I was doing and went out for a look. Note that my boss had been fooling around trying to boost the car for half an hour. After checking a few things (key on lights in car would not work etc.) I looked at the main fuses. Sure enough one of the three wire fuses had broken just at the end. So with the leatherman out I simply cleaned out the hole the fuse wire would go into, scraped the end of the fuse wire, reconnected the fuse and told the owner to try to start the car. The car started OK and after the thank you and handshakes were done off they went. The difference between my boss and I is that I have had to learn to make do while he has not.
Note that a few days later my boss received a thank you card for my work from the couple. My boss showed it to me and said that I should get an award for customer service. Then he smiled and said that because it would make him look bad he would not be putting in the paperwork. Oh well, that’s life and I’m not bitter but I don’t go above and beyond anymore.
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