It is the middle of winter. It is and has been Corona season for a while. Christmas is over, tree down and outdoor lights unplugged and about to go into storage for another year. Check, Check, and Ouch! - a huge hit to our modest seniors retirement income! Why not celebrate the season properly and install a brand new energy efficient furnace into our nice little bungalow. Why? Because ours was a 40 year old original and the time had come. Some cracks showed up where they must not be if our home is to continue safe and sound.
Good news really. Firstly, it's no surprise, as we have been watching old faithful for the last number of years. Secondly, we're confident we are dealing with reliable professionals. And thirdly, the installation occasion has given me pause once more to think about some things. ["So what does not give this guy occasion to think about things?" you may say. Those of you who read all my blog posts already know my dad had that same opinion when I was a little boy - or a teenager, or a young man! The nescheah always thinking and asking questions 😏] What am I thinking about this time? Well, just some things I had almost forgotten.
At 8:30 a.m. the doorbell rings, precisely the time we had been told. A cheery greeting quickly leads to agreement as to best entryway for equipment and workers, and some quick explanation of what will happen next couple hours. In short order the house is a beehive tapping and banging and whirring and cheery words down there. Construction time. My surprise? When I go down to make a few ongoing homeowner-type queries, I am met by the same cheery 'boss'. My questions and accompanying conversation is taken care of by him - not by the three young helpers he has chipping away at various details all around. No smart-ass opinions or comments from them. They nicely respond 'when spoken to', but no extra opinions from them. I am impressed with the professionalism and good manners! Yes, we have a good crew at work in our basement.
This reminds me of when I was a kid. When I got a first 'city job' I was a yard boy for a trucking company. My job was to move trucks around for various small errands and yard jobs as assigned by the foreman. And of course at coffee time my job was to listen to tall tales (bs) as spelled out by said foreman and truckers. As of yet no stories from this upstart boy - just listen. There was an order and a dignity, a pecking order if you will. These young fellows in my basement were obviously in similar rank - apprentices of the trade. Their job is not to entertain one another or the homeowner or their supervisor. Their job is to learn the trade right in front of their face. The most satisfaction will come if they pay attention, ask the right questions, and do as they're told. That's what they're being paid the entry level wage for. AND THEY HAVE JOBS.
It has been a while since I've witnessed so clear as this, a demonstration of learning by doing - apprenticeship. That is because I have been in a different environment for most of my adult life. Even in my alter ego career, which for health reasons brought me back into a truckers world for a good number of years, I was an owner operator (o/o), kind of esteemed in trucker-land because I managed my small business earning a living with my own equipment. I was not 'learning the trade', although there are always things to learn. And of course my pastoral career (college and seminary training) has been in urban environment, upper-middle class actually. So obviously the communities I have lived in for fifty plus years have contained mostly privileged kids, good schools and parents often trying to please their offspring. That is why these days in my neighborhood the streets buzz with toonzied (souped up) Toyotas, BMW's, Hondas, etc. many of these birthday or graduation presents from wealthy urban professional parents. Many modern day teens and twenty-somethings know not the trades; they know entitlement. Hence, these quiet spoken young fellows in my basement were a sentimental reminder of something I had not seen for a while. Learning a trade is a good way to learn. It's a form of education I have always respected and had almost forgotten.
This is kind of a reinforcement of my current opinion - some might say current mood. Yes, it is what I have been thinking of late! There are too many young slightly educated entry level 'professionals' with an attitude of entitlement obviously because they are the children (and grandchildren even) of us baby boomers. The current Coronavirus gives good illustration. I now hear of young people receiving Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), some even reinvesting payments received - thanks to the counsel of wealthy conservative parents helping to take advantage of the system. Dammit, that makes me mad! Perhaps for that reason I considered it a privilege and breath of fresh air to have met these quiet bright eyed cheerful young guys learning a trade! En process they also installed a nice new furnace in my house. I am impressed.
It cost me a few grand $$$, but now my thinker has me slightly refreshed again. I am cheered to reconnect with some basic values.
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