Other Way
My Dad was a big believer in having his children help out around the house. We had chores, not many, truth be told, but I did a lot of yard work, and we all always set and cleared the table along with doing an occasional dish. What I disliked the most was helping Dad when he was working on a project.
“I’m building a cabinet Joe, come help me in the basement.”
Oh I hated hearing that. I did learn a lot helping pop, but generally helping meant watching him and being at the ready to fetch a tool or hold something steady. He probably would have let me do more, but I was and am still incompetent with carpentry, plumbing and electrical stuff.
I think my incompetence frustrated him, and his watching me mess up frustrated me.
The thing that stands out to me the most, was my inability to loosen or tighten a screw or nut, or drill a hole. I think my problem is I am left- handed and have trouble using a right-handed screwdriver or wrench or drill.
“Clockwise to tighten, counter to loosen.”
Yeah, I know but for some reason I have trouble visualizing the clock. “Righty tighty, lefty loosey.”
I know, I know, but I still have to stop and think. Instead of stopping and thinking, it is always faster for me to just turn.
If I turn the wrong way to loosen it is usually immediately apparent and I know to turn the other way…hey, it works for me. Except that when working with Pop, he would be watching over my shoulder.
As soon as I turned the screwdriver (almost always the wrong way because of the 50/50/90 rule*) Pop would instruct me,
“Other way!”
When I turned a wrench to tighten a nut,
“Other way!”
Drill a hole, and push the drill button to the right,
“Other way!”
I know this frustrated him as it should be so simple to learn. What can I tell you, I am mechanically dyslexic.
Even today, years after Dad has passed, when I turn a screw, work a wrench or drill a hole, I have the same pattern. Just turn and then adjust if it is not working, and when the screw does not go in, the nut will not loosen, or the drill starts to smoke, I hear a voice in my head.
“Other way!”
*The 50/50/90 rule states that “Any time you need to make a decision where you have a 50/50 chance of making the correct decision, you will be wrong 90% of the time.”
A note on my previous post about a GPS golf gadget that was defective. I ran the battery to zip, recharged it, and it was an effective reboot. It now is finding GPS signals again.
A note on my previous post about a GPS golf gadget that was defective. I ran the battery to zip, recharged it, and it was an effective reboot. It now is finding GPS signals again.
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