I got offered a job immediately after college.
I asked for two weeks to unwind so I showed up for work
in the middle of the month 16May1983.
It was my first job . . . and only job until I early-retired
exactly 30 years later. It was for three reasons:
01 I was the first person in the company to have a heart attack.
02 The job and stress and the environment was getting toxic
and I reckon I would have died on the job within a year.
03 The country just increased the retirement age to 60
so the trap was closing. Get out now before the company
followed suit.
What was my job?
I repaired computer equipment - a wide range so I got
to see what worked and what lasted and the various
troubleshooting techniques.
I invented a method for adjusting a duty cycle that used
a multimeter instead of an oscilloscope. The takeaway from
this is I dared to implement this despite only majoring
in physics and mathematics while my colleagues held
electrical or electronic engineering degrees. Basically I
applied what I knew from Class D amplifiers. I guess they
did too but why did nobody try it before I came along?
This was for those tape drives you see in the movies
with the two spinning spools.
I also invented a tool that could power on a string of
mainframe disk drives and UN-INVENTED
that when in a stroke of genius, I cupped that connector
and poured a handful
of coins to short out all the contacts in that 24V circuit.
DON'T breath a word of this to my employer.
Getting back on topic, I had the skills to do a diverse
amount of repairs. Our mainframes were water cooled
and the electricity cable took 150 Amperes which we wired
into the junction box. Inside, the DC travelled through
metal bars instead of cables. It was like the wild west and
nobody called in a qualified electrician. We did everything.
Let me recount two stories:
A We needed more electrical outlets for the house so we hired
an electrician.
Two showed up and completed the job. Guess what? I plugged
in my OKI tester and discovered that live and neutral were
reversed. They didn't check their work. I got them to correct
that before paying them.
B I was supposed to install a server and rack. The customer hired
their own electrician. Claims he had a Masters in Electrical
Engineering. I checked and told the customer no way I was going
to power on the server. It turns out he followed the colour code
and also didn't check his work - did live go to live, ground to ground
and neutral to neutral? While he might not know the exact wiring
inside the power distribution unit, both ends should match.
Both were too confident and too lazy to check their work.
NO due diligence. Sad but true. It also happened within my
company but that is another story.
When I buy a trailing socket or other electrical plug or adapter,
I always open them up to check how they did things. Some
brands I would trust, some never despite the sticker from our own
standards body. Bad crimps, bad joins. I recently saw a YouTube video
on how to check the electrical flex. Strip some insulation and fan
out the wires. Apply a lighter flame to the ends. copper will glow.
Copper covered aluminum will shrivel. Good to know.
Plumbing beats me. We got a plumber to change out the water tank.
The smaller stuff like faucets I can handle although the washers are
now superseded by ceramic cartridges.
I fixed one obstinate blockage.
The tap at the rear of the house reduced to a trickle. I couldn't
figure it out. it was attached to the rear toilet which was fed from
the front bathroom which then went to the tank under the roof.
I had a hunch. The house is 53 years old.
I connected the tap to the kitchen sink tap which
was fed from the mains. then I opened the faucet in
the front bathroom.
What I ended up doing was reverse flush the pipes in between.
It worked. Now I get a decent flow at the rear tap. Not great.
Not good enough to shower with but enough to do the dishes.
Air conditioner, washing machine, table fan, dripping faucets,
roof tiles, gutters, refrigerator, computer equipment,
fluorescent lights, sewage pipes.
I've had a go at all of them. Unlike the professionals who
do not have to live with the consequences, I have to answer
to my customer which is me.
Oh I almost forgot my car. I do all the belt, hose filter and oil
changes. I can strip the distributor down to the individual
ball bearing ball. I even patched a leaking vacuum advance
diaphragm. I doubt you can find a mechanic who is willing
to go this far especially when parts are no longer available.
There are exceptions like this guy but even he depends on
available parts.
I am not as thorough as this guy.
Here are the reasons I choose myself to do the repair.
I don't lie or fake it.
I guarantee the repair. No extra charge to fix it again if I botched the repair.
I use the best quality parts available.
I go above and beyond. My wife's car had corrosion on the gearshift
shaft at the seal and gear oil was leaking. The mechanic handed me the shaft.
I cleaned that out, filled in with steel laden epoxy and sanded the blob until
that was level. It never leaked again until the day the car was scrapped.
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