Pride in the way of knowhow...

I can still remember the days in our workshop, when my father had already retired but kept a few mechanics to keep the business going. Actually, it was a losing concern when charges did not keep up with increasing costs, like wages and spare parts, that I advised him to close shop. He treated most people as friends and therefore was soft when charging.

Anyway, he was trained in petrol engines and therefore diesel engines were new to him. But we had a young man who was so good at dismantling and re-assembling diesel engines that we could carry on the business for some time.

One day, after assembling a lorry engine, he could not start it. The mechanic tried again and again (dismantling and re-assembling), without success. My father was a humble man and he did not hesitate to call up his friends in the same line for advice. I cannot remember who found the problem but I can still remember the simple problem was due to the new exhaust pipe which was clogged up by some insect nests while in the spare parts shop!

The reason why I am relating this story is because I cannot get over the young repairman at the apartment. If only he admitted that he is new to the job and inform us that he was having problem replacing the glass door locks, we would understand and perhaps try to sort out the problem together. Just imagine hammering away for hours just because he did not understand how the lock works. It took my wife only a few minutes to know how to fix it! He is still young and I hope he could take it as a lesson even without our saying so. We tried to be as gentle as possible and did not complain at all!
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