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Mike Chance in Iowa
05-20-2018, 7:38 PM
My LOML and I were talking about lifelong habits we learned from our teachers (and not from family). What are some daily or regular habits you have held with you because you learned them from a teacher?

Here are 2 of mine I would not be doing if not for my teachers.

Freshman year: A teacher had a daughter in Senior class who was captain of cheerleading. He talked to us kids like he would his own daughter and we all looked up to him. He sat on his desk one day while bad stuff had been on the local news and told all the girls to never leave a building and go to a parking lot without their car keys in their hand. To never rummage through their purse for keys while standing at their car. He told everyone to keep their car keys separate from their house keys so that if you lost one, you didn't lose them all. Last, was to hold your car keys in your hand when you shut the car door so you didn't lock them inside. To this day I can zip my car keys in my coat pocket with the intention of closing the door, but cannot close that door until I put the key back in my hand! :o

Sophomore year: Some sort of mandatory Home Ec/Adult Living class. Marvelous teacher. At some point the class topic was grocery shopping and cooking basic meals. During the baking lessons, we made stuff like scones and yellow cake from scratch. She was very firm that once we mixed the ingredients and put them in the oven, we had to clean up our mess and wash the dishes and put them away while baking. (I know the real reason she had us do this was so the classroom was ready for the next class but ...) From that time forward, I feel compelled to clean up immediately when I do any baking, yet I can let the breakfast skillet wait until it's time to wash evening dishes.

Bruce Wrenn
05-20-2018, 8:59 PM
Mama taught to wash up dishes as you cooked, so only the last used was left to be cleaned up after a meal. Still do that. Can't stand to leave a dirty kitchen when taking food out. Couple years back, while visiting SIL, she commented how she missed our MIL washing and drying dishes and talking as she cooked. Reminded her that now I was was doing the same for her.

Jim Koepke
05-20-2018, 9:13 PM
One of my pre-teen habits was nail biting. A friend's father told me he would give me a quarter as soon as he saw my nails had grown out. This was like 1958 when to a young boy a quarter meant five chocolate bars or some other sweet treasures.

Over the years we drifted apart, but my nail biting habit was broken. The lesson has been worth more to me than a quarter ever could be.

Another was in a summer school study class. The instructor told us it is best to start with the hardest tasks and work toward the more pleasant or easier tasks. This has helped me many times.

jtk

James Pallas
05-21-2018, 7:59 AM
At 14 I went to work as a plumbers helper. The mechanic I was assigned to was a stickler for the proper tool for the work. You never used the wrong tool. The worst dress down I ever got from him was because I used my channel locks to tap a pipe over to get through a stud. I was told I was a lazy abuser of tools and a few other things. And then the lecture, "You will injure yourself or me. You will damage the tool. You will damage the work. Because of your laziness." To this day I instantly feel the guilt if I even think about hitting something with anything other than a hammer or something similar. The right tool for the job no matter what the task, working, cooking cleaning etc. etc. No turning screws with a butter knife around me because I will show you some kind of crazy.
Jim

Carlos Alvarez
05-21-2018, 12:14 PM
At 14 I went to work as a plumbers helper. The mechanic I was assigned to was a stickler for the proper tool for the work. You never used the wrong tool. The worst dress down I ever got from him was because I used my channel locks to tap a pipe over to get through a stud. I was told I was a lazy abuser of tools and a few other things. And then the lecture, "You will injure yourself or me. You will damage the tool. You will damage the work. Because of your laziness." To this day I instantly feel the guilt if I even think about hitting something with anything other than a hammer or something similar. The right tool for the job no matter what the task, working, cooking cleaning etc. etc. No turning screws with a butter knife around me because I will show you some kind of crazy.
Jim

Wow, what a terrible thing to "teach" someone. Sheesh. It's really lazy to just jump on absolutes like that instead of teaching you when it actually is reasonable, such as tapping in a pipe with a set of Channel Locks.

I think one of the things I remember well from my dad is putting my left hand in my back pocket while reaching into anything that *might* have electricity in it. He ran a TV repair shop when I was young, and I worked on all kinds of electronics as well as general electrical work in various places. The normal instinct is to hold onto the chassis (grounded) or box (grounded) which would complete a circuit if you made a mistake. It's like gun safety; you only get hurt by electricity if you screw up multiple precautions, and this was one of them.

Mike Chance in Iowa
05-21-2018, 12:58 PM
Great stories.

I agree Jim, the quarter was great incentive to get you on the right path that no one in you family had changed yet.

James, that's a very valuable lifelong lesson you learned. The first time I had a kidney stone I had to ride it out alone on a gurney in the ER hallway while everyone attended to some guy that nearly severed his thumb while using garden shears to try to open a padlock. By the time they finally checked on me, I had already gone through the worst of it. My LOML was taught a similar rule as a teen working in a manufacturing shop where employees were breaking tools all the time because they were using the wrong one. You use the right tool for the job; and if you have to borrow a tool from someone 2 times, the 3rd time you need to borrow it, you buy one for yourself.

Dave Anderson NH
05-21-2018, 1:22 PM
Lots of habits from several sources.

After using a tool it gets cleaned, sharpened, and put back where it belongs. My Dad's penalty for not doing so was banishment from the shop for a week up to a month depending on the seriousness of the offense.

All firearms are loaded regardless of what anyone says until personally proven otherwise. Courtesy of USMC Recruit Depot Parris Island SC 1968

In dealing with a bureaucracy three rules: never take a low level no, there is a waiver for everything, and it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Ken Combs
05-21-2018, 3:16 PM
Lots of habits from several sources.

After using a tool it gets cleaned, sharpened, and put back where it belongs. My Dad's penalty for not doing so was banishment from the shop for a week up to a month depending on the seriousness of the offense.

All firearms are loaded regardless of what anyone says until personally proven otherwise. Courtesy of USMC Recruit Depot Parris Island SC 1968

In dealing with a bureaucracy three rules: never take a low level no, there is a waiver for everything, and it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Similar to that, one of my instructors put it this way: Never accept a no from a person who isn't enpowered to say yes. In other words, escalate the issue to the correct management level.

James Pallas
05-21-2018, 9:08 PM
Wow, what a terrible thing to "teach" someone. Sheesh. It's really lazy to just jump on absolutes like that instead of teaching you when it actually is reasonable, such as tapping in a pipe with a set of Channel Locks.

I think one of the things I remember well from my dad is putting my left hand in my back pocket while reaching into anything that *might* have electricity in it. He ran a TV repair shop when I was young, and I worked on all kinds of electronics as well as general electrical work in various places. The normal instinct is to hold onto the chassis (grounded) or box (grounded) which would complete a circuit if you made a mistake. It's like gun safety; you only get hurt by electricity if you screw up multiple precautions, and this was one of them.

strange to me that you would say that Carlos. The man was by far the best mechanic in the shop the cleanest work and the fastest to boot. That lesson was learned that day and it has lasted a lifetime for me. My tools are clean in good repair always and I always try to use the proper tool for the work. I started buying tools at that time and I just gave some of my heavier tools to son in law that I bought at 16 or so because I remember buying them. Some of the shine was worn off but they weren't hammered on rusted. I am greatful to have had such a teacher.
Jim

Carlos Alvarez
05-21-2018, 9:14 PM
Interesting. I guess we all look at things differently. I have no qualms about intelligently using the wrong tools. And coming from Cuba, we had to learn to intelligently use a lot of wrong tools to get things done. I think it's more valuable to know when to or not to violate "rules" than to just follow them.

Frederick Skelly
05-21-2018, 10:02 PM
An old, kindly, utterly dedicated teacher taught me that I could learn almost anything if I was willing to work hard at it. She was right. And I've proven that over and over and over again. She died a few years after I had her for class and I never got to tell her so, or thank her. But I remember the lesson well.

Frederick Skelly
05-21-2018, 10:07 PM
I think it's more valuable to know when to or not to violate "rules" than to just follow them.

Good point. Until you said this, I never fully understood our Tasmanian friend Wayne's signature here, which reads "To bend the rules, you must first master the rules". I think I get it now Wayne. Thanks Carlos!

Carlos Alvarez
05-21-2018, 10:15 PM
Hah, never noticed that, but it sounds like something I say: I like to know what the rules are before I ignore them.

Charlie Velasquez
05-21-2018, 11:16 PM
Mike, I learned what I think is my most valuable lesson from a college professor, but in a negative way.

In the last weeks of my last semester of my elementary education degree, a math methods instructor was waxing philosophically on the importance of getting to know your students personally. He stated we should have a home visit with each student's family and maybe a dinner/snack -that we should bring. And, we should try to complete this within the first quarter of the year. Besides the knowledge we gain of the students' home life, the personal touch builds a parents-teacher bond that gets the parents more vested in the child's education.

I asked, if we had a large student population, say 60 or more, if a social gathering, like a potluck might be an alternative. He became very agitated, and ridiculed my question with something like, "Sixty?! Why not make it eighty?? Why not a hundred?!" and a more words that I can't remember because I was so embarrassed. Then he ignored the question and went on with other topics.

See, in the 70's in elementary school, classes were self-contained. One teacher taught all the academic subjects, and class sizes were usually 20-25 kids. He did not know that I had just been offered a job upon graduation in an elementary that was going to departmentalize in the upper grades. I would teach all the math classes in fifth and sixth grades, plus the identified gifted fourth graders (plus some science classes), about 80 different students.

That stuck with me. I have never put a student down for a question or comment. If I think it doesn't make sense, I remind myself that while it doesn't make sense to me; it probably makes perfect sense to the student. So, I ask questions till it makes sense to me.

Sometimes the comment/question really doesn't make sense. That is when I have to work even harder, asking more questions till the student starts to see, then the light goes on and they say something like, "Oh, wait, I meant to say ..." or similar.
Never leave them hanging in front of their classmates.

Getting the students to the point they are not afraid to give a wrong answer in front of classmates was probably the single strongest teaching technique I had going for me. It opened insights into the minds of how the students figured things out.

Marc Jeske
05-22-2018, 1:22 AM
I did not totally thoroughly read all above posts this time......But the end of day results are... Our young years are DEFINITELY our Formative years.

I had two new to me carpenter type fellows working here today, both were "young" in experience.... every time I gave a very valid suggestion, one of them said "Yessir"

I told him "You don't have to call me Sir"

He said, with his extreme Southern accent "My Daddy would always slap me if I did not say "Sir".

I felt very bad that he had this apparent rigid upbringing.

I told him..even raised in MN, NOT in the South... AND never been in The Service, that I, MYSELF,do that often also..address another Man as "Sir" usually, at least usually.

And a Lady as 'Ma'am".

It is out of genuine loving "My Neighbor" as commanded (I view it as "Asked" by the WAYYYY smarter than myself Father")respect in my mind, especially for an older man,.. but ALSO for a younger Man to show Respect.

AND to all Ladie's.

Anyway, as psyco educated people know.. We all ALL formed in our early years...and then act on that our balance of life.

Like TOTALLY, FEW exceptions.

Somewhere ( I won't say where for fear of being deleted.......it CLEARLY says the "sins of the
Fathers will carry to the young'uns.)

PLEASE, PLEASE READ THIS - See, I originally thought The Big Guy meant that to punish US for previous Sins.

THEN, as I got older, ....I re understood it's NOT that at ALL....Not at ALLLL.

What it meant was our Parents and upbringing instilled all GOOD AND BAD they had.

And BOTH carried on in ALL of US.

And BOTH TOTALLY affect how we THINK, ACT hence LIVE... the entire rest remaining balance of our lives.

ALL the re playings of recordings in EVERYONE'S mind, both Encouraging , or DISCOURAGING (as I mostly had)

Steer Us ALL if we accept them.

Marc

Lee Schierer
05-22-2018, 10:05 AM
When I was in cub scouts, I won a pocket knife for selling them most of some product that we sold for fund raising. After receiving the knife at a later meeting the leader taught me how to sharpen my knife. ( No this is not a sharpening thread :eek:) He taught me that a sharp knife is much safer than a dull one. I still carry a pocket knife, not the one I won, nearly every day and is is kept sharp.

In the Naval Academy a leadership professor taught me about delegating work to another person, that I should explain the task to the best of my ability, emphasizing the desired end result and due date. Then when the task is completed, don't look closely at how it was accomplished, but to pay close attention to how well it meets the desired results. Just because it wasn't done the way I would have done the task does not make it wrong.

He also taught me to praise in public and reprimand in private and to praise more often than criticize.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 1:01 PM
Then when the task is completed, don't look closely at how it was accomplished, but to pay close attention to how well it meets the desired results. Just because it wasn't done the way I would have done the task does not make it wrong.


I've never really thought about it exactly that way, but oh, yes, so much this times 100. I had so many issues in school with teachers who wanted the answers derived using THEIR methods, or whatever methods were deemed by the books to be the One True Answer. I have always been able to do math in my head using methods similar to common core; it's just instinctual. But they wanted me to show my work, which was hard to do to begin with since it was graphical in my head, not numeric. And then would say I did it wrong, even though my answer was correct. Silly. It's a big reason why I'm a high school dropout. Today, I use my methods in my head, not theirs.

Lee Schierer
05-22-2018, 3:55 PM
Step into that teachers shoes for just a moment. Without you writing down how you got the answer, how would she know you didn't peek at someone else's paper?

Learning is class is different than delegating. When you delegate, you are somewhat confident that the task is within the capabilities of the person you are asking to do it. For example when changing a tire on a car, I might believe that the best way would be to loosen all the lug nuts before I jack the car up, then finish jacking, remove the lug nuts carefully place them in the hub cap, remove the wheel and reverse the procedure to put the spare on. If I gave the task to you you might alter one or more steps to the procedure but still end up with the spare tire on the car. That is the desired result so that is what a leader must look at not how it came to be there. In a learning situation it is always best to learn how from the instructor before attempting to do it your own way so that you don't create problems due to inexperience.

Here is a test a teacher gave in a class I was in once:

* Name ____________________________ Score ______

Follow Directions

1. Read everything carefully before doing anything.
2. Put your name in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
3. Circle the word NAME in sentence two.
4. Draw five small squares in the upper left-hand corner.
5. Put an “X” in each square.
6. Put a circle around each square.
7. Sign your name under the title of this paper.
8. After the title write, “yes, yes, yes.”
9. Put a circle completely around sentence number seven.
10. Put an “X” in the lower left corner of this paper.
11. Draw a triangle around the “X” you just put down.
12. On the back of this paper, multiply 703 by 66.
13. Draw a rectangle around the word “corner” in sentence four.
14. Loudly call out your first name when you get this far along.
15. If you have followed directions carefully to this point, call out, “I have.”
16. On the reverse side of this paper, add 8950 and 9305.
17. Put a circle around your answer and put a square around the circle.
18. Punch three small holes in the top of this paper with your pencil point.
19. If you are the first person to reach this point, LOUDLY, call out, I AM THE FIRST PERSON TO REACH THIS POINT, AND I AM THE LEADER IN FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS.”
20. Underline all even numbers on the left side of this paper.
21. Loudly call out, “I AM NEARLY FINISHED. I HAVE FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS.”
22. Now that you have finished reading everything, do sentences 1 and 2! Keep busy so that others will continue to read without disturbance from you. Do not make any sign to give a clue to your having completed the assigned task.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 4:07 PM
Step into that teachers shoes for just a moment. Without you writing down how you got the answer, how would she know you didn't peek at someone else's paper?


First off that's irrelevant. Teaching people to succeed in life shouldn't be bound by your own challenges. But the answer is because several teachers saw me do it, and knew I could. Some chose to then allow it, and some chose to be obstinate and say it had to be their way. Even if I wrote it down, it was wrong because it was not THEIR WAY. We obviously ask our people to document what they have done, but not how they did it or why, unless it's relevant to future work or troubleshooting. Remember that half of my complaint was that they wouldn't let me show my work done my own way. I excelled in classes where the teacher was concerned about outcome and not process.

Was step 22 supposed to say "do ONLY sentences 1 and 2?" Doesn't make sense otherwise. Well, that whole silliness is nonsense, but even more so.

Mark Bolton
05-22-2018, 4:14 PM
These are all funny and I think of this subject on almost a daily basis. I have worked in the construction industry for nearly my entire life. All you hear when you see a mistake is "well thats just the way Ive always done it". To which I reply, why? if its not working? But man oh man. You definitely have them. I have many from working with a dear friend and mentor getting a business off the ground where we saved shipping boxes and packing material. It becomes an obsession to break down a shipping box and flatten it and put it in the stack for future use. I find myself in a bit of a panic attack thinking of lean manufacturing where you have your own branded boxes and throw all the good, usable, incoming boxes and bubble wrap away.

Also remember a young employee who was a computer nut talking about having to overcome the oxford comma and double space after a period in the coding/computer world. Something that was beaten into him as a student simply doesnt apply for so many today.

I have made a career out of eliminating ritual from my life. We all have routines, we put underwear on under our clothes. But ritual becomes one of those Rainman-type-events where you simply can not deviate/grow without stress or meltdown.

My SO is extremely ritual based as is her family. Its a major major issue. I believe in forcing myself to be dynamic. The ritualistic see that as being wreckelss. lol. I strive to be in the happy medium.

Lee Schierer
05-22-2018, 4:15 PM
Sometimes the method is what is important not the final answer. Try baking a cake by dumping everything in the cake pan at once and setting the temp anywhere that feels good.

You would be amazed at how many people try to cheat by doing each step instead of what it says to do. Print it out and try it on your friends. It's even funnier if you say they only have 5 minutes to complete the test.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 4:25 PM
I have made a career out of eliminating ritual from my life. We all have routines, we put underwear on under our clothes. But ritual becomes one of those Rainman-type-events where you simply can not deviate/grow without stress or meltdown.


Man, I like that a lot, well said. I too do things differently all the time just to see if there's a better way, or just experience some change. Ritual is not only boring, but dangerous. Change is good. I guess I have reverse OCD.

Mark Bolton
05-22-2018, 4:34 PM
Try baking a cake by dumping everything in the cake pan at once and setting the temp anywhere that feels good

I couldnt agree with you more Lee. Phenomenal example. I love baking. It requires precision and a sense of deliberateness. Its a concept that I use a lot in the lowly construction world. So many people build a shed, or a birdhouse, and then start building their house and want to tamper with the system. They will argue with you endlessly to leave out that stud over there, or why do you need that here, and so on. Its one of those things where you dont start tampering with the "math" until you have a very in-depth understanding of the equation.

I look at it as a perfect example of where so many people confuse routine and ritual. Routine is necessary for all of us to exist. Ritual is detrimental to all of our existence.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 4:44 PM
The final answer on the cake is the only thing that matters. If you dump everything in and bake at a random temp, and it tastes good and doesn't kill anyone, you succeeded. The process is irrelevant. If it tastes like crap, then you go back to an established set of rules. In either case, how you got to success shouldn't matter to anyone.

Mark Bolton
05-22-2018, 5:00 PM
In either case, how you got to success shouldn't matter to anyone.

For many (Im one), and Id guess including many in this forum, it actually does. Its why we use bread board ends, five piece door construction, balance lay ups, and so on. Of course someone can build an odd piece or an odd cake, and share only the result. But when you really understand the formula it can become interesting. Even in chef-ery just seeing the end result gives the experienced observer the answer to the puzzle.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 5:16 PM
For many (Im one), and Id guess including many in this forum, it actually does. Its why we use bread board ends, five piece door construction, balance lay ups, and so on. Of course someone can build an odd piece or an odd cake, and share only the result. But when you really understand the formula it can become interesting. Even in chef-ery just seeing the end result gives the experienced observer the answer to the puzzle.

Ok, then let me try saying it differently. How you get there has no bearing on the quality or correctness of the result. How you got there is interesting so that others can duplicate it, or further refine it, or just for knowledge and interest. It does not matter in the sense of judging success or a grade, other than cases where someone wastes a huge amount of time/resources getting to something that could be done more easily.

Mike Chance in Iowa
05-22-2018, 8:02 PM
This comment sticks out.

I had so many issues in school with teachers who wanted the answers derived using THEIR methods, or whatever methods were deemed by the books to be the One True Answer. I have always been able to do math in my head using methods similar to common core; it's just instinctual. But they wanted me to show my work, which was hard to do to begin with since it was graphical in my head, not numeric. And then would say I did it wrong, even though my answer was correct. Silly. It's a big reason why I'm a high school dropout. Today, I use my methods in my head, not theirs.

Like Lee said, step into the teacher's shoes. Just because you had that answer in your head, it doesn't mean you have all the answers. What happens when you don't have the correct answer? You didn't allow the teacher to show you the foundations of deriving that answer.

I did this when I was in school. My whole life, I have music playing in my head. Any music from symphonies to jazz to hard alternative rock. I never had piano lessons but could watch someone play it once and then play it. (It was a great party trick for my parents visitors who had new instruments I had not seen yet.) My school music teacher wanted me to learn sheet music and once I showed him I could read which note was A vs F, I skipped reading sheet music because I could already play it. My downfall? You can give me sheet music with no name on it and I can't play it because I have no idea how to read the timing of those individual notes. If the sheet music had a name on it and I had already heard it once before, I could play it flawlessly and just skim the notes.

Charlie,
The fabulous part about your story was that you chose to turn a negative incident into a positive habit. You could have easily repeated that behavior and treated your students and peers with same negativity and closed-mindedness.

Carlos Alvarez
05-22-2018, 8:37 PM
You didn't allow the teacher to show you the foundations of deriving that answer.



I'm curious why you assumed that. It's an honest question, not trolling or anything. I said specifically that it applied to multiple teachers, not "a teacher" as you and others said. I didn't say I refused to learn the documented way, but that I didn't normally use it in practice. I said that I had my own method to derive the answer, not that I just happened to know all the answers without a method. It just happened to be MY method, which like I said, now has this "common core" name given to it. I was way too early I guess. I also said that some teachers realized that not all students learn the same way, and were reasonable about it. The primary objection is that forcing me to take tests using their method was counter-productive and nonsensical.

Until fourth grade, I was in advanced programs that didn't just allow thinking on your own, but encouraged it. Then we moved to an area with no such programs and a strong by-the-book attitude. But it did teach me the life-long habit of always questioning everything and all authority, which is a good outcome I guess.

Mark Bolton
05-23-2018, 10:55 AM
Charlie, The fabulous part about your story was that you chose to turn a negative incident into a positive habit.

Agreed. What a great story and example of great teaching and interaction.

I was also someone who always felt like I learned my own way and somehow made it through just fine in "alternative" ways. I did realize as I got older (even in my 20's) how big a mistake that was in that had I learned and fully understood the standard/traditional ways, in combination with "my own", I would have been much farther ahead. It was a painful lesson having to acquire all those standards when I was older, and on my own time, and at my own expense, when I had the opportunity to absorb it all for free on schools (and my parents) dime. Major mistake.

It is now one of those "pay attention to what your mother told you" situations with most every employee who has every line in the book, they learn with their hands, they dont learn by reading but rather doing, have all the answers straight out of the gate, blah blah blah. Want to re-invent the wheel when they have never successfully built a single wheel to begin with. It puts me in Charlies spot and I just say well. Ok.. theres the stuff over there, build the wheel. Hours and hours later they come back with tails dragging, ready to do some old school learnin. I was the same way.

Great thread.

Jim Koepke
05-23-2018, 12:50 PM
First off that's irrelevant. Teaching people to succeed in life shouldn't be bound by your own challenges. But the answer is because several teachers saw me do it, and knew I could. Some chose to then allow it, and some chose to be obstinate and say it had to be their way.

The problem is schools have a difficult time having a program for people who are more advanced than the grade/class they are in. In school my teachers caused me to become frustrated with math because of their rules of how it was to be done. This led me to avoid taking math classes later in life. Turns out, my maths are pretty good. One of my abilities is being able to multiply 3 and 4 digit numbers in my head.

Standard school programs tend to frustrate those with advanced abilities, herd together the middle of the roaders and do very little for those who struggle.

jtk

Steve Rozmiarek
05-23-2018, 3:26 PM
Standard school programs tend to frustrate those with advanced abilities, herd together the middle of the roaders and do very little for those who struggle.

jtk

Wife is a teacher, it's worse than that. Everything is based on standardized testing, especially funding, so the teachers are to teach to the test, nothing else. She teaches on a reservation, the kids are behind because of other problems, but they get compared to all other schools in the state, test scores are bad. The state then assumes they need "help" and changes curriculum, which just makes it worse because she is then reteaching or skipping subjects, so the score obviously don't improve again. Point is, at least in this case, the teacher knows whats wrong, but they are being forced to "teach" a different way. Wife is a good teacher, and I'm afraid she is about to walk away from the career because of the mess.

Kids who think differently turn into adults with new ideas, which drive our civilization forward. The system as it is today though sure tries to stop independent thought. Maybe by accident...

Back to subject, I do have a habit, I make my bed every day. No matter how wonderful or terrible the day was or is expected to be, that little bit of routine of making or crawling into a made bed, bookends the chaos and defines the work day.

Rod Sheridan
05-24-2018, 8:35 AM
At 14 I went to work as a plumbers helper. The mechanic I was assigned to was a stickler for the proper tool for the work. You never used the wrong tool. The worst dress down I ever got from him was because I used my channel locks to tap a pipe over to get through a stud. I was told I was a lazy abuser of tools and a few other things. And then the lecture, "You will injure yourself or me. You will damage the tool. You will damage the work. Because of your laziness." To this day I instantly feel the guilt if I even think about hitting something with anything other than a hammer or something similar. The right tool for the job no matter what the task, working, cooking cleaning etc. etc. No turning screws with a butter knife around me because I will show you some kind of crazy.
Jim

James, I also had similar experiences in my early days, it developed an appreciation for safety, accuracy and performance that have stayed with me to this day. Yes you hack some stuff, however there's no substitute for proper tools and procedures, especially in my field.

Another was a German instructor who had a folk saying in German that translated roughly to "check that the cow is brown on the other side". It has been a lifesaver working in technology, many many times it prevented me from charging off on a tangent.

Most other instructional moments are not individually significant enough to remember, however they made me the person I am today, and many of those characteristics are positive. I wish I could pinpoint the moments and thank those responsible........Regards, Rod.

Carlos Alvarez
05-24-2018, 11:11 AM
I thought of this thread while standing on a ladder needing to push a thing into another thing, as I hit it with the back of my hammer drill's battery. Nothing broke, shockingly, but I felt searing shame. I was working with someone who builds highways and traffic control systems and told him about this thread. He had a good laugh. "When you're 60' in the air, you do what you gotta do, just be smart about it."