A Mechanic's Lesson for Life
Posted: Friday, September 03, 2010
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
It was in the mid-70's that I moved to Milton, Florida to become the business manager for the Santa Rosa Mental Health Facility. At that time, convenience stores were still growing in popularity and were steadily, apparently, taking business away from the old-fashioned, and slightly more expensive, filling stations.
Now, this was a sad thing for me in a way. After all, I had grown up riding with my father as he pulled into Mr. Allday's Pure Oil station in Warrington, Florida. Slim and Skippy would come out to the car, beginning the ritual, "What can we do for you today, Mr. Baldwin?"
Although they knew the answer perfectly well, one would ask, "How many pounds you use in those tires, Mr. Baldwin?"
While one filled the tank (no automatic shut off), the other would check the tires and the oil. They would also check the water level in the radiator, check the fan belt (only one back then), take a long look under the hood and then discuss anything of importance with my dad.
"You're almost a quart low, Mr. Baldwin. No need to do anything right now. You still got about 1,000 miles to your next oil change but the next time you drop by, you might want us to put a quart in for you. That right rear was a couple of pounds low. Skippy didn't see nothing wrong with it, but you might want to keep an eye on it. We'll check it for you the next time you're in."
Of course, at some time during all this, Mr. Allday himself would come over to see what was going on and to get a report.
So, as I stood outside Red's Shell Oil station in Milton, watching cars pull in and out of the convenience stores on two of the other corners, the awareness that only a very few cars were pulling into Red's for gas made me think that the filling station was on the way out. I watched Red and his boys play out the ritual in their own way, and it was still pretty much the same as I remembered from the 50's.
Red came over to let me know how the work was going on my car.
"Red", it looks like these convenience stores are taking away all your customers. What can you do about that?"
Here's what Red explained to me.
All those people who wanted to save a couple of minutes and a couple of cents a gallon chose the convenience stores. However, he told me to watch some people across the street as they pulled in, gassed up, and drove off.
Then, he explained that not a one of those people had checked their oil, the pressure in their tires, or the coolant in their radiators.
"I won't sell gas to those people, but I get a lot more customers for engine repairs, radiator repairs, tire sales, and towing than I used to."
Got the point?
People were not doing the maintenance which prevented more expensive repairs later. Cars which were maintained properly lasted longer, performed better, and had a better resale or trade-in value. In the long run, people actually could save time and money by going to a full-service station rather than a convenience store, or at least by regularly doing those small, but important things themselves.
I love the subjects of health, fitness, motivation, mind-body connection, and relationships. I enjoy following how these subjects tie into so many aspects of life; career, marriage, parenting, financial planning, retirement, etc. I began looking into these subjects as a teenager at Pensacola Catholic High in the 60's. I haunted the High School library and the Pensacola Public Library. I took out subscriptions to magazines such as Psychology today, and bought books and magazines on health and fitness.
Over the years, my interest became an avocation. I cannot say that I became an expert, but I regularly renewed, refreshed, and increased my knowledge and understanding in these areas.
In the years since Red pointed out this little tidbit about people, their cars, and convenience stores, I became aware of how much this little scenario related to life in general.
YOU have got to be willing to do the little daily maintenance items: physical, mental, emotional, educational, and personal in order to keep your life at the optimum level of performance. Simply waiting for an emotional tire to go flat and then trying to figure out how to fix it, or how to come up with the money to pay to have it fixed, is going to cost so much more in time, effort, emotional pain, and often even money.
This is true at work, when raising kids, in your relationship with your loved ones, and your life in the world in general.
As Red said that day about people choosing convenience over regular maintenance, "I guess that's just the way people are sometimes."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old accountant, amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has posted a series of articles on the Law of Attraction , and other self-improvement issues at xtramoney4me.net/internetmarketing/reviews/law_of_attraction_articles/index.html .
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