The old timer who taught me how to read a steer in 5 minutes flat

I was working a late shift at a small shop outside Omaha back in 2018, just a kid trying to learn the trade. This old butcher named Hank came in to drop off a side of beef, and he saw me struggling to figure out where the fat cap thinned out. He just grabbed my knife hand and showed me the grain pattern on the round, said "you don't cut what you can't see, son." That one 5 minute lesson changed how I approached every primal since. He retired a year later and I never got his number to thank him proper. Anyone else have a mentor who dropped knowledge on you like that and then just walked away?

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barbara96716d ago

That story about Hank reminds me of a fella named Ray who ran a parts counter at a NAPA in Des Moines back in 2015. I was fresh out of high school trying to rebuild a carburetor on my old Chevy, and he just leaned over the counter and showed me how to read the jet numbers stamped on the side. He told me "if you can't feel the air gap you're guessing, not tuning," and walked off to help another customer. I never got his full name, just Ray from parts, and he retired a few months later when the store got bought out. You know how it goes, those little moments stick with you longer than any class you ever paid for.

nancy_miller15d ago

Hated hearing stuff like that when I was younger. Got it now though.