Man Spends Half His Salary Paying For All The Manly Tasks He Can't Do

[moparedtn]

As always, hidden in the humor are nuggets of truth.
I wasn’t trained but I have learned how to replace faucets and toilets, change out electrical outlets, paint walls and do many other things unrelated to my chosen career. Being a classic car guy meant that I had to learn how to do a lot of things if I wanted to get them done within my income level. That carried over to home repairs as well. My brother in law isn’t great with cars but is handy at home maintenance and repairs.

True that - and I'm sure I'm not alone in coming from very humble roots, which meant growing up watching
our fathers be the "fix-it man" out of sheer necessity - not having the money to hire out anything much.

Mini Ed Story Time:
My dad came from even more disparate times, having had to quit school and go to work at 14 when his own
dad passed away...
He learned how to get a lot out of very little, including a lot of $20 cars and such - and as such, even in later
years when he had a little more to spend, he still insisted on doing things as cheaply as he could manage.
Me being the oldest son, growing up my dad was pretty much my hero and I always wanted to learn from
him how to do this and that.

In all honesty, though - as I grew up, sometimes I'd realize there were better ways of doing some of it for a little
more $$$, so I went "Pop - Stage 2" as I learned this repair or that "fix-it".
Tools were a favorite subject of discussion between us - he being of the "buy the cheapest tools because if you
lose or break it, big deal - buy another cheap one" versus my own "get the better stuff so your knuckles aren't
so beat to hell".

Towards the end of his life, we had pretty much grown at odds on how to do home improvements or vehicle
repairs - and in hindsight, I didn't cut him enough slack (i.e., didn't respect him enough) to acknowledge
the humble foundation he came from and why he was frugal (cheap) to the end, even when he didn't have
to be; it was engrained in him earnestly.
I should have been better about it....but my own methods of "research it to death" and trying to learn it
"the right way" by observing others, reading instruction, all that crap...was (and is) engrained in me the
same way.

But here's the thing (now I know):
I am the way I am - with how I go at projects and repairs and such - because I come from a little better
foundation than he did, thanks to him.
The man sacrificed for us kids for so many years - all the money he could have used to have a hobby or
do projects or such like any other dad was instead earmarked for us kids to play sports or my sister to
cheerlead or any of a number of other things kids wanted to do.

So, what I'm saying is there's a number of reasons why some folks are so dang hellbent on fixing things
themselves - and why others don't even have a clue how to try to do so and wind up having to hire it out.
I'm very grateful now; wish I had been a little more when he was alive.

 

[Lefty71]

IF, these guys that can't do anything have the skills to earn a decent income.......

Agreed.... I assume you mean the trend towards white collar jobs as prevalant these days. I think that when blue collar jobs were more commonplace, people thought the same thing....meaning that they could afford to specialize in their chosen fields, and pay pros for as many services and luxuries as they could manage to pay for. However, (not being political here), those jobs went away like vapour, just like ALL jobs can. I think the real difference here, is that most of here had depression era parents or grandparents hammering home the importance of self-reliance!

 

[Lefty71]

Ed, you beat me to the punch, lol

 

[patrick66]

Kinda embarrassed to admit this...my older son calls me up one cold-assed morning last January and says his water heater isn't working. I ask "Is the pilot lit?" He says "What's that?" His roomie didn't know either, so they were on Day Two of no hot water. I go to their rental house and check it out. Sure enough, the pilot was out. "Gather around, boys, here's how you do this!" In about ten seconds, the pilot is lit. I showed them again, just to ensure they understood WTF was up!

No more water heater "problems". I got kinda pissed. Not necessarily at them, but at me, because I thought my son knew how to do this! I had showed him in the past. Several times. And his roommate, an Army vet, had no idea how to even check it.

My Dad and granddad were both electricians and entrepeneurs that could fix damned near anything, build anything, and they made **** happen. My Dad and I wired my shop in conduit after it was built and the basic wiring for code was in.

 

[AR67GTX]

Sort of like the young man we ran into coming out of a movie one day, whose van had a dead battery. I told him I would give him a jump and pulled our car over and got my jumper cables out. I gave him one end and told him to hold them while I connected my end. As I put the red one on my + terminal I heard all this snapping and crackling behind me. When I turned around he was standing there shaking and jumping while holding both clamps clapped together in both hands Still snapping and crackling. I never thought about having to explain to a man, even a young man, to keep the clamps separated.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Tradesmen will be paid like Doctors and Lawyers in the not too distant future.

Truck drivers used to make as much or more. There was no driver shortage in the 1970s. I figured on a pay cut switching careers to law, my main goal was to escape from working outside in PA winters. Things will go full circle, were already headed that way when I parked my truck. As stated in earlier posts, kids don't want to do this stuff, supply and demand will raise the price.

 

[patrick66]

My brother retired from trucking eight years ago after 39 years as a fleet driver and as owner/operator. My younger son was wanting to go into trucking before my brother retired. My brother sat him down and talked him out if it. This was about the time the trucking industry was having a bunch of problems; and unfortunately, things have got a lot worse since.

 

[68BabyBlue]

My brother retired from trucking eight years ago after 39 years as a fleet driver and as owner/operator. My younger son was wanting to go into trucking before my brother retired. My brother sat him down and talked him out if it. This was about the time the trucking industry was having a bunch of problems; and unfortunately, things have got a lot worse since.

Sad but true. Current compensation levels are way out of line with the skill level it takes to perform the job at a professional level. This is especially true with work requiring loading or unloading skills. Micro management of drivers by idiots with excess technology at their disposal is another negative. I absolutely would not advise a young person to enter the industry as it exists today.

 

[ruffcut]

Ed's mini story struck home with me!
I idolized my father
He came from that time as well and was very frugal and I understand why
I often tell my brother and others we were poor we just didn't know it!
Always a meal on the table though and we did our share and then some of hunting
I remember a time we came from hunting with 6 deer in the trunk of the 59 Fury!
ruffcut

 

[Budnicks]

IMO it's woke crowd mentality, coddled or spoiled
indoctrination engrained in them from diapers to pre-school
to kindergarten - thru college NOW

anything tough, dirty or hard work, chores or regular tasks, manual labor
easily done by themselves &/or sweating is seemingly 'beneath them'

started getting far worse in about 1992 on steroids since Nov 2008

opinions may vary, that's mine

 

[JR_Charger]

I've often wondered how much you "win" with a white collar job. If you can do carpentry and wrench on cars, you've got life's two greatest expenses (not counting wife and kids) covered. Meanwhile the white collar guy is paying full price or getting taken advantage of by unscrupulous blue collar workers. I knew a guy who spent $70k on repairs to his fancy house, only to have to pay to do have it done again because the first contractor screwed him over. Then he hired another contractor, and the last I heard that went south too.

 

[Kern Dog]

It is a balance.
If the white collar guy earns enough, he can pay others to fix his stuff and still have a high standard of living.

 

[eldubb440]

If I was loaded, I'd probably still fix my own ****; I just don't know any different, and I really don't trust anyone touching my stuff

maybe if I was loaded early in life, it would be different; but that wouldn't necessarily have been a good thing

 

[68BabyBlue]

I mentioned in an earlier post that my dad did almost all his own home maintenance in his early white collar years. He started farming most of it out as his income grew, along with demands on his time.

It truly was a balancing act. He built the house from scratch with my grandfather. Both were skilled carpenters.

 

[AR67GTX]

If I was loaded, I'd probably still fix my own ****; I just don't know any different, and I really don't trust anyone touching my stuff

maybe if I was loaded early in life, it would be different; but that wouldn't necessarily have been a good thing

Yeah, I hate taking one of our newer/daily driver cars to a shop, but I do on occasion because of all the damn electronics and disassembly necessary for what should be simple tasks. Even my old cars, if I need new tires or a flat needs fixing I take the wheels off and haul them to the shop instead of taking the car to them.

 

[Brandy]

7 million men have stopped looking for work and checked out of the work force....according to the talking heads.

 

[Geetex]

7 million men have stopped looking for work and checked out of the work force....according to the talking heads.

I think in this context, "men" is a stretch.

 

[demonram]

True that - and I'm sure I'm not alone in coming from very humble roots, which meant growing up watching
our fathers be the "fix-it man" out of sheer necessity - not having the money to hire out anything much.

Mini Ed Story Time:
My dad came from even more disparate times, having had to quit school and go to work at 14 when his own
dad passed away...
He learned how to get a lot out of very little, including a lot of $20 cars and such - and as such, even in later
years when he had a little more to spend, he still insisted on doing things as cheaply as he could manage.
Me being the oldest son, growing up my dad was pretty much my hero and I always wanted to learn from
him how to do this and that.

In all honesty, though - as I grew up, sometimes I'd realize there were better ways of doing some of it for a little
more $$$, so I went "Pop - Stage 2" as I learned this repair or that "fix-it".
Tools were a favorite subject of discussion between us - he being of the "buy the cheapest tools because if you
lose or break it, big deal - buy another cheap one" versus my own "get the better stuff so your knuckles aren't
so beat to hell".

Towards the end of his life, we had pretty much grown at odds on how to do home improvements or vehicle
repairs - and in hindsight, I didn't cut him enough slack (i.e., didn't respect him enough) to acknowledge
the humble foundation he came from and why he was frugal (cheap) to the end, even when he didn't have
to be; it was engrained in him earnestly.
I should have been better about it....but my own methods of "research it to death" and trying to learn it
"the right way" by observing others, reading instruction, all that crap...was (and is) engrained in me the
same way.

But here's the thing (now I know):
I am the way I am - with how I go at projects and repairs and such - because I come from a little better
foundation than he did, thanks to him.
The man sacrificed for us kids for so many years - all the money he could have used to have a hobby or
do projects or such like any other dad was instead earmarked for us kids to play sports or my sister to
cheerlead or any of a number of other things kids wanted to do.

So, what I'm saying is there's a number of reasons why some folks are so dang hellbent on fixing things
themselves - and why others don't even have a clue how to try to do so and wind up having to hire it out.
I'm very grateful now; wish I had been a little more when he was alive.

Sir, I’ve got to say. I always enjoy reading your stories. In this case, it brought back many memories of my dad. My dad grew up very poor in Mississippi with 8 brothers and one sister. Born in 1928, on a 280 acre farm. He was young through the depression, but in reality the family was poor prior to. They worked the farm with mules. That wasn’t unusual during the depression, but even after, his father wouldn’t buy a tractor because he had mules. His dad was a cruel man to his family. One time, he would have beaten my dad to death (at 13) with a brake lever off a 31 Chevrolet, if it hadn’t been for my dads aunt who physically tackled him so he would stop. Over some chores he couldn’t get done because of weather. He quit school and joined the Army Air Corp as soon as he was 18, not even telling his dad until it was done. He sent money home to his mom every month. I was a lucky kid! None of that abuse or anger was ever done in my family. He got his high school diploma in 1967 and did college courses to work his way up. I was always with him doing everything he was and he was a great dad/father and teacher. I thank him everyday for what he taught me about what I do for a living, working on vehicles, being a good father/dad, grandfather and most of all, respect. I lost my best friend in 2002. Thanks for letting me share a big part of who I am and the reason behind it. I know the man you are, just from what you write. Take care sir!

 

[moparedtn]

IMO it's woke crowd mentality, coddled or spoiled
indoctrination engrained in them from diapers to pre-school
to kindergarten - thru college NOW

anything tough, dirty or hard work, chores or regular tasks, manual labor
easily done by themselves &/or sweating is seemingly 'beneath them'

started getting far worse in about 1992 on steroids since Nov 2008

opinions may vary, that's mine

One word:
entitlement

 

[coronet68mx]

A stapler really? Plenty of useless man all around the world, man who can not change a flat tire, plug the drain, paint a bedroom, do the lawn, wash the dishes and a long etc.