Recommended Reading for Renches

[fsf1o1]

Great post mate

[chojinchef]

Had not seen this post yet, good one.

As a Chef, I have always looked at wrenching as therapy. I suppose if I did it as a profession, I would probably look at cookery as therapy.

Having worked in an auto body during highschool and had 6 cars by the time I got my license, I had thought I would find my way to automotive engineering, but my grades were not good enough for the GM Institute and I had to try and work my way in through another engineering school. Just did not work out as planned, and as they say - you can take the cars away from the man, but you cannot take the man away from the cars.

There was a time where I got out of cars due to living in NYC (Manhattan) and just not having the space to do it or the space to keep all the tools. Also the time I sold my Westy, and bought a Harley. Had space to work on a Harley and got heavy into those for a bit. Now I am back with cars and have not looked at any of my motorcycles this year. 10 years ago I was wrenching in a Harley shop by day and running a bar/restaurant by night. Tore me up.

Anyone looking at the Vanagon and the time/money I spend on it may see it as a losing proposition, except for the therapeutic aspect and the rewards of seeing my son happily running around the woods all weekend and asking on Monday "when are we going camping again?"

I applaud those who wrench full time, as I know I could not do it. I was happier being in the back of the house away from patrons for a while. Having to deal with a**holes or the ignorant is not my strong point, and I have asked a number of patrons to leave my facility out of respect for the others and to avoid litigation after I provided an attitude adjustment.

Not going into the work ethic discussion. I have varying views on this, and suffice to say they may not be the most popular, but have worked for me.

We too have the 'shop monkey', but too many youth are not willing to put in the time to learn, or do the job well so we hire recent immigrants who are just happy to have a job. Adds to the diversity of the kitchen and the fun factor.

The immediate gratification need is VERY evident in the culinary field. We work on that very premise - immediate gratification for the client every night, but seperating yourself from that is difficult. Many youth see this as a two way street, and its not. The cook takes the gratification from a simple thank you, or a comment along the lines of 'that was the best *** I ever had, or even a beer that gets sent to kitchen in gratitude.

Too many are coming out of school and think they are Chefs. You would not expect someone coming from law school is qualified to be a judge, or from architecture school can take lead on a new World Trade Tower? It comes with time spent, experience and aptitude.

I needed to get out, work for myself with no employees of my own for a while. Still a Chef, but now I have the time to tinker on my van, my cars and right the mechanical injustices of the Vanagon. Therapy, without having to pay some chucklehead who has more problems than most but likes to speak to others to justify their own problems.
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Its a mistress; an expensive, whiney, needy bitch of a mistress. She is a chunky, dirty girl with bad skin, little motivation and yet she always makes me smile. She sure has been around before shacking up with me. She has a direct line to my wallet, plays with my emotions, is consistantly jovial yet with a sarcastic and sardonic side, is consistant in her inconsistancy, and every once in a while gives me a great ride and a fantastic memory.

[JeffRobenolt]

This needs a bump to the top.

Great read
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[randywebb]

[kounterkultured]

Bon sang, mais cette lecture était délicieuse, cher ami!!
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Alex
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1989 Vanagon GL
Audi A3

[zeohsix]

I work in the building trades and am fortunate enough to be in a specialized industry. My wife has a BSRN degree she finally brings home more "Bacon" than I do. My work isn't easy but I have wrenched since my teenage years of riding/racing motorcycles.
I have 2 nephews neither has been much interested in pursuing a mechanical vocation even though they were treated to Karts and racing schools since they were 12. Both my nephews have worked for my good friend in his auto machine shop but the younger one has no interest in the goings on at the shop at all. I know they will have tough lives because they never took interest in mechanics during their teenage years. I see this throughout our society but another factor is the overrunning of the labor pool with cheap foreign labor. When I was going to Junior College in the 70's I made a little over $6/hr and decent cars could be bought for a $1000 gas was 0.89 a gallon. Taking that same equation gas is now $4 a gallon so that $6/hr wage should be around $24/hr to be equivalent. We can thank our corrupt political system and psychotic bankers for quite a few of our problems.
There is a little hope, our school district is restarting its automotive technology center hope the program lasts.