Thanks , Dan, tomorrow i will react on this. Thanks. adrie 2010/12/3 Dan Glover <[email protected]>
> Soul as a Verb > > I have some extra parts left over. > > The old boy whom I hired to rebuild carburetors for me seemed > perplexed. Call him Ed. I explained that the kit was made for several > different makes and that was why he ended up with seeming extra parts. > At least I hoped that was why. I have to admit though, the fact that > Ed didn't know that caused me a bit of consternation. > > I don't work as well with people as I do with machines. They say I > have a knack. And I suppose it is true. I just seem to know what to do > when it comes to machinery. But, when it comes to dealing with people, > I am for the most part flummoxed. I get pissed when someone doesn't > catch on right away. > > Let me see, I said. I hate having to do work over again that I have > already paid someone else to do, and I could hear the anger in my > voice. So could Ed. And I felt bad that I was angry with Ed but I > couldn't help it. I popped the cover off and checked to see if any > seals were missing. It seemed okay. But I was still pissed. > > I dislike it when someone claims to know something when it is clear > they do not know. The thing is though, sometimes they don't know that > they don't know and there is no telling them. I mutter to myself that > they are idiots but it is more than that. They have no soul... not a > soul as a thing, a noun, but rather soul as a verb, as caring action. > > Don't bother coming in tomorrow, Ed, I say. He has a hurt look but I > don't care. > > The building that serves as my motorcycle shop is a hundred years old. > It once housed a butcher shop. Years ago, they'd butcher cows and pigs > and keep the meat cool with ice they cut from the river during winter, > sprinkling saw dust over the ice to act as insulation. The floor of > the shop was made of foot-thick cork, again, to act as insulation from > the summertime warmth. When I bought the building the floor was rotten > so I hired a local boy to tear it out and replace it with concrete. We > added a pneumatic floor lift at that time so as to make it convenient > to change oil in cars and do brakes and other mechanical work. > > Winter is coming... and the bike shop doesn't do well in the winter. > The last couple years I've rented the place out to a couple brothers > who diddle daddle with stock cars. They like my pneumatic lift. And it > has served me well too. Still, in a town of 300, there are only so > many cars that need oil changes and brake jobs, which kind of > supplemented the income I made during spring and summer working on > motorcycles. But it wasn't enough to keep the lights turned on and the > taxes paid, so I rented the shop out three months a year. The brothers > were good enough to let me come in and work when I had work. > > This year, though, they are not renting the shop. I guess they don't > have the extra money. So I printed up some flyers to try and scare up > work, otherwise I will have to go into my pocket to pay for the > building's upkeep. I justified hiring Ed by telling myself the work > would be there. And it might. But, if I cannot depend on him to do > what he claims he knows how to do, then I may as well just do the work > myself. > > I feel stuck. Machines, I can fix. People, I can't. I suspect it is > the difference between soul as a noun versus a verb. And I suspect > that is exactly what Robert Pirsig is on about in ZMM when he talks > about stuckness. He uses the torn slot in a screw to explain that > stuckness but in my case, it pertains to people rather than machines. > Still, the analogy is the same. > > I realize as Ed is leaving that I've effectively fired him over a > simple misunderstanding but I still don't care. I tell myself to shout > out to him that I am sorry... go ahead and come on in tomorrow. But I > don't say anything. I just let him leave. I know that there will be > hard feelings but I still don't care. The thing is, a machine has no > feelings. > > Maybe that's why I like working with machines better than with people. > > Thank you for reading, > > Dan > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > -- parser Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
