Borrego
Well-known member
After 38 years, an old timer retired this week. No, not me, a coworker. "Mr. B.", as we called him. Fascinating man, his pearls of wisdom were the size of bowling balls.
Needless to say, his stories will be with me forever. Growing up in the then rural Fresno CA area, how his dad would pay him .05 cents for every rabbit he shot and brought home. How he would take his shotgun to elementary school and put it in the gun cabinet. At the end of the day, pick it up and maybe shoot a few rabbits on the way home.
The story that got me though was on his last day, he only spoke for about 2 minutes, but he told the story of when he was in the military during the Korean conflict. Back then, they did not call them wars, he said. He was the youngest person of the approximately 3 dozen in his group. I think he said he was 19 or 20 at the time. Everyone else was much older, 34-35 or so, "retreads" from WW2, because they did not have enough combat time in during WW2, they were drafted again in Korea. As the kid of the group, he never got any good assignments, only what was leftovers others didn't want.
One day, he gets called into his Commander's office. Shaking like a leaf on a tree, he wondered what he did wrong......Commander sits him across the table and tells him front line Lieutenants are lasting 16 days on average in the field. Hands him a set of bars and says, "you are now a 2nd Lieutenant".
No, there isn't anything tool related or mechanical related about "Mr. B." However, the old timer you think isn't worth a $%^& or can't work as fast as you can, a service bay or two away has stories and experience you won't find elsewhere. Take the time and effort to respect and get to know an old timer. Just might be the cheapest and best education you ever get. I'm a wiser man due in part to the 10 years I was able to work alongside "Mr. B."
This weekend, we celebrate the nation's birthday. Freedom isn't free. Men like "Mr. B." helped make sure it would stay tthat way.
Needless to say, his stories will be with me forever. Growing up in the then rural Fresno CA area, how his dad would pay him .05 cents for every rabbit he shot and brought home. How he would take his shotgun to elementary school and put it in the gun cabinet. At the end of the day, pick it up and maybe shoot a few rabbits on the way home.
The story that got me though was on his last day, he only spoke for about 2 minutes, but he told the story of when he was in the military during the Korean conflict. Back then, they did not call them wars, he said. He was the youngest person of the approximately 3 dozen in his group. I think he said he was 19 or 20 at the time. Everyone else was much older, 34-35 or so, "retreads" from WW2, because they did not have enough combat time in during WW2, they were drafted again in Korea. As the kid of the group, he never got any good assignments, only what was leftovers others didn't want.
One day, he gets called into his Commander's office. Shaking like a leaf on a tree, he wondered what he did wrong......Commander sits him across the table and tells him front line Lieutenants are lasting 16 days on average in the field. Hands him a set of bars and says, "you are now a 2nd Lieutenant".
No, there isn't anything tool related or mechanical related about "Mr. B." However, the old timer you think isn't worth a $%^& or can't work as fast as you can, a service bay or two away has stories and experience you won't find elsewhere. Take the time and effort to respect and get to know an old timer. Just might be the cheapest and best education you ever get. I'm a wiser man due in part to the 10 years I was able to work alongside "Mr. B."
This weekend, we celebrate the nation's birthday. Freedom isn't free. Men like "Mr. B." helped make sure it would stay tthat way.
