Old timer taught me a lesson about patience on a service call

I was changing out a panel in a basement in Cleveland about 5 years ago, and this retired electrician who lived there just stood watching me for 20 minutes. He didn't say a word until I started rushing and stripped a screw head. Then he goes "son, the wire ain't going nowhere, take your time." It stuck with me because I was always trying to beat the clock on service work. Anyone else have a customer who gave you advice that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.alex23d ago

Honestly I'm not sure I buy this whole "old timer wisdom" thing. It's just one stripped screw. People act like every old guy in a tradesmen's hat is Yoda or something. I've had plenty of older customers stand around and give me garbage advice that was outdated or just wrong. The whole "slow down" thing is fine for some jobs but service work is about efficiency too.

williamd7023d ago

And that's what I thought too until I had a buddy who does HVAC tell me about this old lady he was helping out. She didn't even know anything about furnaces but she just kept bringing him cups of coffee and telling him to relax. He was all stressed about his next call but she wouldn't let him rush. Turned out her furnace had a loose wire that he probably would have missed if he was flying through it. Sometimes the advice isn't about being some wise old sage, it's just about someone reminding you to actually see what you're doing instead of just trying to get gone.