The craftsman class
I have been, and will always be, a member of the craftsman class. I have done a great deal of different types of work, from carpentry to cabinetmaking, from machining to manufacturing. I am very, very good at what i do, and I take a great deal of pride in my work. There are a handful of people like me in the world, and not a solitary thing exists without us. We make the things that make everything else, and by definition, we understand how they all work. I’ve met a half-dozen men like this, and the seven of us could, I believe, accomplish anything. We each have skills in a wide variety of disciplines, and we have the ability to adapt quickly to new disciplines. The educational system stifles the ability in people like me, and most of us barely get out alive.
The inventiveness and ingenuity of people like myself made America. The industrial revolution proceeds apace, but nobody knows it. Every day I’m called upon to solve problems that never existed before. Every day I develop solutions that nobody has ever imagined. People like myself are making it possible for you to drive your car 200,000 miles without changing the grease in the wheel bearings, for instance. Twenty years ago, bearings of that quality didn’t exist, lubricants with that lifespan were unheard of. All those improvements in quality and durability and design are due to men like me working away where nobody knows what they are doing.
Except other people.
Like me.
Tomorrow as you go about your business, look at the guy in the Carharts getting a coffee at the gas station. He may be out there changing your life without you ever knowing it.
20 comments Og | Uncategorized
HAR HAR HAR!!!
Ummmm…Og? R&D like you are talking about is done by techs and professionals, not tradesmen with grade 8 educations.
It’s guys like me telling guys like you what to do that produce the results.
:)
Sorry, jim. You’re wrong. You don’t know me and you have no idea what I do. And I will put my skills up against everyone you know, and I will win. You have worn out your welcome here by “knowing it all” you obviously do not. I make my bread and butter by repairing the damage done by people like you, and I make a pretty good living doing it. And my father had a fifth grade education, and you are not fit to tie his shoelaces. Darken my blog no more.
Amen bro.
On the post and the bitchslapping.
Applause from Casa d’Alger
swmbo
Fantastic post!!
And Jim can kiss my hairy brown… What you wanna bet he’s mid twenties and has never had a callis (sp?) or a blister?
Well said Og, well said.
Jim, off all the other places in the world you could be at 9:24 am and you decided to come into Og’s house and make an ass out of youself.
Fuck you, and your mother for raising your sorry ass.
Oh Og, 103,000 miles and I haven’t greased the front wheel bearings yet.
Dick, you may never need to. The bearings on that behemoth have no service life- in other words, they are meant to last forever.
I worked with a lot of engineers and technicians when I was younger; most of them hadn’t a clue what they were doing. It seems they would come up with a new design, and then those of us who had to implement it ended up re-designing/re-engineering it half the time in order to get it working.
I dunno guys.
Go down to Workman’s Compensation and look around and then lecture me on the brilliance of tradesmen.
And Og…I won’t ‘darken your blog’ again.
Not much to darken these days, if ya ask me.
Adios.
Jim? I was prepared to let you slide, but you clinched it. Tell us, what brilliant things have YOU done?
I can remember when sealed bearings weren’t worth a crap. I sure think the quality of lubricants has greatly improved. However, cost vs performance can put a lube out to pasture. The grease we use on our trucks went to well over $300/case. That is a lot of u-joints in a year. We went to a lower grade.
Og? Is this the same guy who used to run this blog?
Look, I’m probably one of “your†type of guys… I can make almost anything out of what I’ve got. I’m the “goto†guy @ my manufacturing concern & I’ve been doing the manufacturing thing since 1972. And I’ve been a top dog always.
Am I the guy who all should worship?
Am I next in line for the civilian version of the Medal of Honor?
Nope.
I do my thing, as I expect, you do yours. Without complaint, & with distinguished service.
With respect for what we do.
That’s all we need ask, a returned respect.
Methinks the self-elevation to one of seven of all of humankind is a bit presumptuous, IMO.
Regards…
That’s all we need ask, a returned respect
Double, I’m not getting any from jim, so pay attention to what follows.
Jim,
You’re a bore at best, and a moron when you’re better.
Hmph. Jim must have one of them fancy educations. We probably ought to bow down to him.
[/sarcasm]
[…] Og (Neanderpundit) works for a living. […]
Um oh Jim you make og mad og have tools.
An Automation Engineer who can speak barbarian.
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