It's both scary and downright embarrassing how much catching up a lot of young adults need to learn just to get through the basics in life. If they ever can.
This is really what my OP was about. Not so much about working on cars. Just basic stuff - like replacing a rubber washer on a garden hose, or fixing a flat on a kid's bike. Or digging a hole......
True story.....
This winter, I attempted to instruct four young guys on how to clear an iced up flangeway. These weren't computer geeks or baristas - they were forklift operators. They were poking at it with sticks and a grain shovel. I told them we could clear the problem in a few minutes with a couple of picks - "Where's you pick. I'll show you how". Blank stares. "Your pick", I say, "do you have one?" They all look at each other, apparently each hoping the others will know. One asks, "what"? I say, "a pick - like a miner uses" - and I mime swinging a pick over my head. Another guy holds out a stick with a metal chisel point on one end - "you mean like this?"
I would have bet any amount of money, until this time, that I could take any four guys off the street, and at least one of them would know what a pick was and how to use it.This was a real eye opener.
