The kindness of strangers
The wife and I were running some errands tonight after work (Errin was driving on account of my lack of a valid driver's license, and insurance) when all of the sudden our car started chugging and then promptly died at the intersection of 800 South and State Street in Orem. To give you some vehicular context we have been without our faithful Subaru for the past month. Errin's brother-in-law Matt helped us out yesterday by replacing our starter. So the Subie was fully-operational for almost 24 hours.
So when the car died I pushed it into the Maverick station. As I was doing so a friendly dude with a cigarette and a giant cup of soda helped me get the car off of State Street. How nice, right? With good deed done this guy could have moved on, secure in the fact that he was not an a-hole. Instead he offered to take a look under the hood. "I am a mechanic, but don't worry...I won't charge you anything," he said.
The dude's name was Colby (like the cheese) and he determined very quickly that the alternator was indeed the problem (something Matt had figured might have been the case). Without batting an eye Colby said that there was a Checker Auto across the street and he would be happy to replace it for 20 bucks. Within 25 minutes he had taken out the alternator, replaced with the new one, charged my battery, and checked to make sure the alternator was working (he also got Checker to use his old employer's account to get a dealer price, saving me 30 bucks). The Subie works like a charm. I gladly handed Colby all the money in my wallet ($35) and Errin and I couldn't be more thrilled.
So often the cynical bastard in me gives up the human species, and most of the time I have plenty of evidence at my disposal for such a narrow worldview. But every now and then an ordinary dude with a cigarette and a big ass soda proves me wrong. Thanks Colby.
The experience also drove home (literally) something that the wife and I have been talking about for a while, and that is the need for actual skills. When Western Civilization finally goes tits up, which could be any day now, my graphic design skills or my pithy blog comments will only get me so far. it will be dudes like Colby and Matt (people who can grow, build, or fix something) that will be OK, and useless piles like myself will be living off the year supply I keep girded around my loins.
To actual labor, and skills.
