Posted on 05/03/2016 4:23:41 PM PDT by DuncanWaring
When I was growing up most of my friends were gearheads. You had to be to keep those cheap 50s and 60s cars running. Now among my kid’s friends not but a few know where to check the oil. Sad. That’s how you get raped by dealers and mechanics.
My dad was an electrical engineer but mainly a big radio geek. In the 1950’s my three-year old little brother would spend all afternoon removing screws from surplus electronic equipment.
Pressure gauge between a propane tank and a 500,000 BTU torch...
I find it hard to believe these kids never put together a single piece of IKEA pressboard “furniture.”
Oh, that usually involves an Allen key.
“[...] It just depends on where one is in the world.”
My sister-in-law’s boyfriend had been trying to help her mow the lawn with her lawn tractor from Sears, several years ago.
Eventually, they had to call me, as the mower wasn’t running right, and the blades wouldn’t engage.
Well, to make a long story short, the mower had never had the plugs changed, nor the oil, nor had the air filter cleaned or replaced. And I eventually had to replace the battery, clean the mower desk of old, rotted grass, and replace the blades, as none of that had ever been done (for around 2-3 years).
It wasn’t so surprising that my sister-in-law didn’t get this done (I was actually surprised that she hadn’t called me before): it was more surprising that the boyfriend couldn’t troubleshoot what was wrong, nor knew anything about how it ran.
I have to give him credit though: he watched me and learned the whole time I worked on it, and I gave him some troubleshooting tips on mowers.
But, it was amazing that he knew nothing about this sort of thing. He had never used a lawnmower, had never worked on anything resembling an engine, and had absolutely no clue on how to troubleshoot (i.e. eliminate electrical issues one at a time, eliminate fuel issues one at a time, etc.). It literally floored me.
I had been working with mowers since I was around 7-8 years old, and had rebuilt/replaced numerous engines on mowers, motor bikes and go-carts for years. And had worked on and rebuilt car engines since I was 12-15 years old. It never occurred to me that not all men knew their way around engines and such...
Try running a business and you’ll see that checks are still pretty common.
A little help here please....
And when I was in school, engineers were whining about the lost art of the slide rule.
Now all those guys are dead. And who cares about a slide rule?
I ran a retail business and took no checks. And I had no bounced checks.
My property tax would have incurred an $80 service charge if I had paid it any way but by check.
I run into 3 or 4 other reasons to pay by check each year still.
Where I can with no penalty bills are paid electronically.
Some people don’t want to join the 21st century. Doesn’t mean not being able to write a check is a bad thing. Time marches on, different skill sets are needed. Knowing how to setup an EFT on your bank’s website is a much more useful skill now than writing a check.
A person with an MBA should know how to write a check. It’s really not that hard and it’s still a very common business practice. Especially when it was HER JOB to write checks to vendors!
The government isn’t exactly known to be modern or intelligent. It’s funny really, since of all the ways for them to take in money checks are the ones that require the most work for them and have the highest chance of fraud, and is therefore the most expensive for them. Another example of government efficiency.
If it smells like chicken, you're holding it wrong.
Why? They don’t need to, it has NOTHING to do with business administration, and is, frankly a post dated skill. It wasn’t her job to write checks, it was her job to PAY BILLS, which in this modern age SHOULDN’T involve writing checks.
You are fortunate indeed to have had a childhood with so much obvious opportunity to learn such essential skills.
I have a Friend who is an absolute wizard with all things that make work easier. He fixes engines, computers, musical instruments, and he does wiring, and everything imaginable. I am regularly awed by him. I am totally inept.
I do not ask my friend for help anymore. He will not accept money from me, and that somehow makes me feel smaller. I would rather just hang out with him, and pay someone to fix my broke stuff.
I do envy both of you though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.