One of our senior guys
retired a month or so ago, last night we had a little get together for him. An inspired mechanic and at 67, a bloody hard worker, he had just had enough. I hope he comes back to do contract work, from time to time, I like the guy a lot and he has a lot of knowledge he could impart.
I enjoyed being around older people, when i was young, and i fear I may have made something of a pest of myself, from time to time. But I learned a good deal and I had a good deal of tribal knowledge rub off on me.
I suppose in some ways I have become the quintessential old grouch, bitching about kids and the lack of repect they have for their elders. Still, the ones who are the most vocal about “Old people” are the ones who will invariably be the sort of bluehairs I detest the most. You see a guy with a face carved out of walnut, he might just have something useful to impart to you.
We have a few young guys who do actually respect and learn, and they will do extremely well. I hope for their sakes they learn the other lessons early- the ones about doing dangerous shit. I mean, do it all you want, but survive, dammit. Even if only to pass on the wisdom you have acquired.
I don’t know anyone like that. In my military “tribe”, anyone who outranked me was unapproachable. They still are. Ensconced behind an impenatrable wall of formality, superiority, and hubris. And to the people below me, I was the “old guy”.
It was/is the old timers that had what I wanted. The experience to speed me along. I didn’t have to slog around making old mistakes, and man, was it a joy to learn from someone else’s experience. Some were none too kind. I had a journeyman that fought the Japs in Alaska. He was perpetually mean, but he’d teach if you’d listen.
I have about half the scars I should have, and all my digits still work. Mostly due to learning from the OT’s.
What really sucks is sitting around in the lab teaching a new guy the ropes and realizing that you are the old geezer.