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A customer's question about his old dryer made me stop and think
I was at a job in Akron last week, pulling the drum on a 15-year-old Whirlpool dryer. The owner, an older guy, watched me work and asked, 'Is it even worth fixing something this old? I can get a new one for 400 bucks.' I gave my usual spiel about parts cost and labor, but he cut me off. He said, 'I don't mean the money. I mean the stuff. It's all just gonna be trash someday, isn't it?' That hit different. I've been in this trade for 12 years and I always just saw my job as fixing machines. Now I'm thinking about it as keeping things out of the landfill, at least for a few more years. It's the same work, but it feels heavier. Has a customer's offhand comment ever shifted how you see the job?
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henry1897mo ago
Man, that's a deep cut. It really changes the weight of the work, doesn't it?
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the_sarah7mo ago
Yeah, it totally does. I felt the same way when I first heard about that detail, @henry189. It makes the whole thing feel so much heavier and more real. You go from just seeing the finished piece to understanding the real cost behind it. That kind of context sticks with you. It really does change how you see the work forever.
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