Forum Replies Created
- Replies
You are totaly right Eric, the best way to handle frustration is simply just to step back and be honest both with yourself and the customer – I screwed up, and my obsession will simply affect both my judgement and the quality of my work and of course in a worst case scenario you end up with both wasted time and a great economic loss due to that all i did was to screw it up even more.
I know from how i react to frustration i often starts to think a little to advanced, i might get creative in my pursuit of dealing with the problem, often waaay to creative. “I just want to get it fixt NOW”. I believe one of the most important reason why you should “escape” from the problem is to protect the personal aspect of it, when you starts to get mad, beginning to think unfair on what a idiot you are etc then you need a timeout.
Some time ago i was going to do a relatively simple job, a timing belt change on a Ford with a Duratec engine. I had locked the crankshaft with a pulley holder and did what i always do working with my impact drivers, breaker bars, then when it happends – the camshaft pulley holder tool moved a little bit and suddently i heard a loud bang from the engine. I was thinking W**!? What in h*** was that!? Jupp, i had forgot to remove the camshaft locking plate after i checked if it did fit!
The grove where it locks on the exhaust cam had simply snapped. Where did that metal pieces go!? And what of the two cams is in its correct position relatively to the crankshaft now? I cant tell enought how mad i became at myself! How could i be such a idiot?. From experience i know that when i begin to get personal, thats it – then its time to turn away. Im done with this car for today…
When i woke up the next morning i was eager to continue on the car, my frustration had turn into a urge to fix it. This day i could not wait to get out of my bed, fit to fight i found all the metal parts who i yesterday was more or less 100% sure had dropped into the engine. I removed the cams, got the crankshaft bolt removed, timed the crankshaft, installed a new exhaust cam, reinstalled the intake cam, got the belt on, Installed the pulleys, torqued down a new bolt, breaked in the new cam and from there i was back on track!
To screw up ruins your day, but fixing what you screwed up is some of the best days!
You are totaly right Eric, the best way to handle frustration is simply just to step back and be honest both with yourself and the customer – I screwed up, and my obsession will simply affect both my judgement and the quality of my work and of course in a worst case scenario you end up with both wasted time and a great economic loss due to that all i did was to screw it up even more.
I know from how i react to frustration i often starts to think a little to advanced, i might get creative in my pursuit of dealing with the problem, often waaay to creative. “I just want to get it fixt NOW”. I believe one of the most important reason why you should “escape” from the problem is to protect the personal aspect of it, when you starts to get mad, beginning to think unfair on what a idiot you are etc then you need a timeout.
Some time ago i was going to do a relatively simple job, a timing belt change on a Ford with a Duratec engine. I had locked the crankshaft with a pulley holder and did what i always do working with my impact drivers, breaker bars, then when it happends – the camshaft pulley holder tool moved a little bit and suddently i heard a loud bang from the engine. I was thinking W**!? What in h*** was that!? Jupp, i had forgot to remove the camshaft locking plate after i checked if it did fit!
The grove where it locks on the exhaust cam had simply snapped. Where did that metal pieces go!? And what of the two cams is in its correct position relatively to the crankshaft now? I cant tell enought how mad i became at myself! How could i be such a idiot?. From experience i know that when i begin to get personal, thats it – then its time to turn away. Im done with this car for today…
When i woke up the next morning i was eager to continue on the car, my frustration had turn into a urge to fix it. This day i could not wait to get out of my bed, fit to fight i found all the metal parts who i yesterday was more or less 100% sure had dropped into the engine. I removed the cams, got the crankshaft bolt removed, timed the crankshaft, installed a new exhaust cam, reinstalled the intake cam, got the belt on, Installed the pulleys, torqued down a new bolt, breaked in the new cam and from there i was back on track!
To screw up ruins your day, but fixing what you screwed up is some of the best days!
Hello Eric and thanks for the response! Yes i have seen that video and i could not agree more, you are totaly right – but it covers mostly the morale dilema between the employee and the employer.
I was thinking more about that dilema between you as a technician – shop owner (or a DIY) and friends and family members that expecting your help as a friend rather than a professional. Or from the other perspective, maybe you do not work with fixing cars, but simply are a skilled DIY friends or family members turn to when their cars needs repair.
Its more like when your will to be kind, and wanting to help turns to unreasonable expectations.
The reason why i mention this topic is by the way since i guess many of us needs to learn to handle this at some point. Me for example, in my early days i wanted to help as a DIY, but was way to kind when it came to the economical perspective – later on i began to demand more, and demand more (for example that i wanted the car delivered at a given time. As a DIY you often need to take both your own family into concideration and the people you want to help. “I come over with it something during the day” is for example a freedom that a friend MIGHT expect and you are walking around for hours waiting for this friend to come waiting with other things you could have done.. and maybe he/her never shows up.
This is a question about demanding what you think this work is worth, and to expect and demand the assumptions that makes you able to help as smooth as possible without affecting your own morale, respect, time and needs. – I really did suck bigtime when it came to this before, so i know how frustrating it can be! :blush: Give someone a finger and they take the whole hand 👿
Hello Eric and thanks for the response! Yes i have seen that video and i could not agree more, you are totaly right – but it covers mostly the morale dilema between the employee and the employer.
I was thinking more about that dilema between you as a technician – shop owner (or a DIY) and friends and family members that expecting your help as a friend rather than a professional. Or from the other perspective, maybe you do not work with fixing cars, but simply are a skilled DIY friends or family members turn to when their cars needs repair.
Its more like when your will to be kind, and wanting to help turns to unreasonable expectations.
The reason why i mention this topic is by the way since i guess many of us needs to learn to handle this at some point. Me for example, in my early days i wanted to help as a DIY, but was way to kind when it came to the economical perspective – later on i began to demand more, and demand more (for example that i wanted the car delivered at a given time. As a DIY you often need to take both your own family into concideration and the people you want to help. “I come over with it something during the day” is for example a freedom that a friend MIGHT expect and you are walking around for hours waiting for this friend to come waiting with other things you could have done.. and maybe he/her never shows up.
This is a question about demanding what you think this work is worth, and to expect and demand the assumptions that makes you able to help as smooth as possible without affecting your own morale, respect, time and needs. – I really did suck bigtime when it came to this before, so i know how frustrating it can be! :blush: Give someone a finger and they take the whole hand 👿
Yeah i agree, a powerpack starter is a great solution but you have to rely on that it is maintained and it capacity. Specialy in coold climate it can be challenging. My experience with battery-based solutions is that it needs to be warmed up inside the jacket for example to get sufficient output. I do not know how that Microstart works when its realy coold outside, but in general coold batteries is not a great power source 😛
Yeah i agree, a powerpack starter is a great solution but you have to rely on that it is maintained and it capacity. Specialy in coold climate it can be challenging. My experience with battery-based solutions is that it needs to be warmed up inside the jacket for example to get sufficient output. I do not know how that Microstart works when its realy coold outside, but in general coold batteries is not a great power source 😛
Brands and models can quickly turn to hate due to maybe more or less unfortune reasons. I often experience people that only prefer cars from a given brand, maybe a specific modell or a part of the world. Then they get a car that possessed by a demon or something – they got a issue with that car again, again and again. And suddently, that brand is the worst in the world.
Another thing about brands i often experience is related to where you live, climate etc. For example here in Norway Volvo is popular – ok, it is well known for being a car from our swedish neighbors people often prefer them for “it is made for our climate, in our own climate”. Here in Scandinavia typical american brands is rare, i guess a typical perception here is that “american cars is expensive to use” or “american cars is known for having overpowered engines” etc. OK, where i live gas is expensive (about 2.34 USD / litre) and our typical cylinder volumes is around 1.4-2 litre so i guess it is many reasons why where you live is important. The truth is, whatever you hate, someone loves it somewhere else – lets face it, if a brand was hated by everybody then you would never have heard of them 😉
I love SUVS, i want high torque – but also a cheap car to use, i want all-wheel drive, ABS, intense rally headlights etc. Somebody else wants the perfect opposite, it is also a question about preference.
Brands and models can quickly turn to hate due to maybe more or less unfortune reasons. I often experience people that only prefer cars from a given brand, maybe a specific modell or a part of the world. Then they get a car that possessed by a demon or something – they got a issue with that car again, again and again. And suddently, that brand is the worst in the world.
Another thing about brands i often experience is related to where you live, climate etc. For example here in Norway Volvo is popular – ok, it is well known for being a car from our swedish neighbors people often prefer them for “it is made for our climate, in our own climate”. Here in Scandinavia typical american brands is rare, i guess a typical perception here is that “american cars is expensive to use” or “american cars is known for having overpowered engines” etc. OK, where i live gas is expensive (about 2.34 USD / litre) and our typical cylinder volumes is around 1.4-2 litre so i guess it is many reasons why where you live is important. The truth is, whatever you hate, someone loves it somewhere else – lets face it, if a brand was hated by everybody then you would never have heard of them 😉
I love SUVS, i want high torque – but also a cheap car to use, i want all-wheel drive, ABS, intense rally headlights etc. Somebody else wants the perfect opposite, it is also a question about preference.
Special during the winter months who can be coold and slippery here at the polar circle in Norway i make sure i am able to resolve as many potential problems as possible on my own. At some points we also got poor phone coverage and relatively long distances between houses. In addition to what you mention i carry a basic “workshop kit”, snow chains, hand winch, spare fuses, tire punkture plugs with compressed air capsules, pocket lights, a small garage jack, ropes, a small assortment of bolts and nuts, a butane/propane mix hurricane burner and extra warm clothes for the kids.
Fortunately it is not often i need any of this, but i has happened a few times – and when it happends it is during the cooldest period (-25 celius for example) and dense snowy weather so i have learned to stay prepared – it takes up some space, but it has saved me from a lot of frustration!
I have however often needed my emergency kit for helping others.
Edit: Ohh.. and by the way, no i do not carry spare engine parts 😛
Special during the winter months who can be coold and slippery here at the polar circle in Norway i make sure i am able to resolve as many potential problems as possible on my own. At some points we also got poor phone coverage and relatively long distances between houses. In addition to what you mention i carry a basic “workshop kit”, snow chains, hand winch, spare fuses, tire punkture plugs with compressed air capsules, pocket lights, a small garage jack, ropes, a small assortment of bolts and nuts, a butane/propane mix hurricane burner and extra warm clothes for the kids.
Fortunately it is not often i need any of this, but i has happened a few times – and when it happends it is during the cooldest period (-25 celius for example) and dense snowy weather so i have learned to stay prepared – it takes up some space, but it has saved me from a lot of frustration!
I have however often needed my emergency kit for helping others.
Edit: Ohh.. and by the way, no i do not carry spare engine parts 😛
