Helped a guy get his wiper blades off today

[AMCRambler]

Still surprises me when people don't know how to do simple things with their cars. Went to Advanced Auto today to put new wipers on my wife's Elantra. After I finished and was throwing away the packaging a guy with an Impala asks me, "Hey are these easy to replace?"

He was struggling with them so I came over and helped him pop them off. The Mrs came out with the counter fellow and a new set as we finished and he goes "Look Honey, I got em off all by myself!" jokingly. She laughed.

I try and help my friends out with their cars when I can. I've got a lot of the tools necessary to do the simple jobs and a garage to do it in. Just last month a friend from work came over and we did his rear brakes. Took us an hour and half and saved him $200-300 bucks at a shop.

Moral of the story, it feels good to help out the mechanically disinclined.

 

[Bignate603]

Still surprises me when people don't know how to do simple things with their cars. Went to Advanced Auto today to put new wipers on my wife's Elantra. After I finished and was throwing away the packaging a guy with an Impala asks me, "Hey are these easy to replace?"

He was struggling with them so I came over and helped him pop them off. The Mrs came out with the counter fellow and a new set as we finished and he goes "Look Honey, I got em off all by myself!" jokingly. She laughed.

I try and help my friends out with their cars when I can. I've got a lot of the tools necessary to do the simple jobs and a garage to do it in. Just last month a friend from work came over and we did his rear brakes. Took us an hour and half and saved him $200-300 bucks at a shop.

Moral of the story, it feels good to help out the mechanically disinclined.

Typically, if I help out I make sure they do at least half the job so they learn how to do it, even if it takes longer. I don't mind teaching people but I really don't want to become their unpaid mechanic.

 

[BlackTigers]

Ill help people when i can...if its things like wiper blades ive helped the, by doing one and walking them through the other, i think its something they just need to learn.

For other things, i dont usually charge if its a close friend or a family member...but most of the time id rather do the actual work alone, on fixes like brakes (i refuse to explain drums again to another person) or the like.

 

[T2urtle]

i help if i have the time.

I helped one guy the other day change a flat. As i walked into Jewels, he was changing a flat. As i was coming out he packed away his stuff with the flat tire still there. I had him do all the work and i kicked the tire off.

It was one of the cases where he knew what to do but the rust on the hub to wheel kept the wheel from coming off easily. This is mainly because he problay never rotated the tires but yea i helped him out.

I let my friends change their oils at my place because they dont have tools. Sadly i normally work on cars by myself. As i dont know many people personally with decent mechanical know-how.

 

[Ronstang]

I help people all the time, even strangers. One afternoon after work I was in O'Reilly Auto Parts doing something and there was a woman with her young children talking with the idiot at the counter about her Yukon that was overheating. Something didn't sound right to me so I offered to go next door to the Walgreens and take a look to see if I could spot anything obvious. By this time two of my friends had pulled up and were checking it out with me.

It was something simple. Her idler pulley bearing had disintegrated and the belt was shredded. I told her the parts to buy, borrowed a few tools from O'Reilly's, and had it fixed in a fairly short time. Her husband pulled up and it looked like he left work early and came straight there to get them as he was in a suit. His wife explained what had happened and he was shuffling around in his pockets and came over and tried to hand me a wad of cash. Looked like about $120, but I refused. He kept insisting. One of my good friends that had shown up stepped in and said "I know him really well and he is not going to take your money". The guy shook my hand and thanked me several times. That was all that I needed.

A simple rule in life is to help others when you can. It always comes back on you in ways you may not even notice or understand.

 

[T2urtle]

A simple rule in life is to help others when you can. It always comes back on you in ways you may not even notice or understand.

While I agree 100% on this, out ethics on money isn't on the same page. I would of never asked but if they offered I would of accepted what I would of deemmed fair. Idler pulley and belt, $50-75. But I would of treated my buddies for round of shots or drinks.

But I do understand your thoughts.

 

[Ronstang]

While I agree 100% on this, out ethics on money isn't on the same page. I would of never asked but if they offered I would of accepted what I would of deemmed fair. Idler pulley and belt, $50-75. But I would of treated my buddies for round of shots or drinks.

But I do understand your thoughts.

I am not quite sure what you mean by "deemed fair". I do not help people expecting something in return. I help people when they are truly in need and I have the capacity to do so. I did not expect compensation so to me the fair amount was zero, regardless of what was offered. This woman was stuck in the heat with two young children, an idiot counter person at O'Reilly's, and some vulture mechanics right next door who at the time were the biggest rip off artists in the area. It took me no time and I kept the crooks from stealing her blind.

 

[SandEagle]

i don't know how to replace wiper blades. i just take them to the dealer and have them do it for free * shrug * i don't even know how to change a tire. got AAA for that. oil filter, air filter, brake fluid, steering fluid? who cares. dealer does all that. i put in gas, and drive. why make driving any more difficult?

 

[hanoverphist]

Typically, if I help out I make sure they do at least half the job so they learn how to do it, even if it takes longer. I don't mind teaching people but I really don't want to become their unpaid mechanic.

this is what i do as well. also, if it is my daughters boyfriend, he does most of the repairs to my truck and car for free, as well as gets all the dirty jobs. he hasnt complained yet.

 

[kornphlake]

i don't know how to replace wiper blades. i just take them to the dealer and have them do it for free * shrug * i don't even know how to change a tire. got AAA for that. oil filter, air filter, brake fluid, steering fluid? who cares. dealer does all that. i put in gas, and drive. why make driving any more difficult?

You really don't know what you're missing. I get it though, some people are better off paying someone to do a job right than paying someone even more to fix the job they did wrong.

 

[foghorn67]

I generally try to help out close friends. Or if a mutual friend of someone close is in need.
Most of the time it's brakes. I yelled at my friend who paid several hundred dollars to replace the pads and rotors. (didn't really yell, but I gave her hell).
Now her timing belt is at EOL, and she is putting it off. It could turn her engine into a lump of aluminum, but chicks...what to do with 'em on logical decisions on their cars.

 

[steppinthrax]

Still surprises me when people don't know how to do simple things with their cars. Went to Advanced Auto today to put new wipers on my wife's Elantra. After I finished and was throwing away the packaging a guy with an Impala asks me, "Hey are these easy to replace?"

He was struggling with them so I came over and helped him pop them off. The Mrs came out with the counter fellow and a new set as we finished and he goes "Look Honey, I got em off all by myself!" jokingly. She laughed.

I try and help my friends out with their cars when I can. I've got a lot of the tools necessary to do the simple jobs and a garage to do it in. Just last month a friend from work came over and we did his rear brakes. Took us an hour and half and saved him $200-300 bucks at a shop.

Moral of the story, it feels good to help out the mechanically disinclined.

Typically I find people who can't perform simple work like this fall into one of the many categories.

1. Women

2. A person who has never touched a hammer in their entire life. They call everybody for every simple thing that goes wrong with everything they own.

3. Person who feels mechanic work and any kind of work that requires you to fix something is "lower" kind of work and it will be below them to learn and/or touch it. They may also feel people who do this type of work are subhuman, uneducated and/or belonging to lower social classes.

4. People who feel it's not "professional" unless you call someone.

I usually always help out group #1. I have a B.S. and M.S. in Comp Sci and work in my field (100K salary). I still change my own oil, tranmssion fluid, brakes, coolant, plugs etc... I've done and still do drywall, doors, windows, cabients, framing, electrical and plumbing. I'm in the process of a basement rennovation right now. I used to always help people, but I find that once these type of people find out you are smart, they ask you again and again and again. I also find they don't make the effort to try to learn. The freindship may usually be based on the fact that you are "the computer guy" or the "grease monkey"....

 

[A5]

They may also just be people who prefer to do other things with their free time. To do all the stuff you do, you obviously take some pleasure in it, but not everyone feels that way.

 

[Jeff7]

Wipers threw me the first time I tried them.
Either I'm terribly incompetent, or else the tiny diagrams were terribly inaccurate. (I don't remember how it went anymore.)

Yes, it's terrifyingly simple to do - if you already know how the mechanism is meant to work. In my case, it was a slide-off arrangement. My interpretation of the hardware and the diagrams was that it was a pivoting clip. It took awhile to get the stupid thing off the car.


Stuff like oil changes: I don't have a garage, and I don't have space to store ramps, and I've never much cared for working on extremely dirty, sharp, rusty objects, and I don't have to worry about disposal of the old oil.
Fluid levels: Look for the bright plastic objects. Pull, dry, reinsert and remove. Check level of fluid. Add more if needed. I'd think most people should be able to handle that.

 

[slag]

i don't know how to replace wiper blades. i just take them to the dealer and have them do it for free * shrug * i don't even know how to change a tire. got AAA for that. oil filter, air filter, brake fluid, steering fluid? who cares. dealer does all that. i put in gas, and drive. why make driving any more difficult?

If you don't see any problems with it, then there's no issue for you.

For me, knowing how to do these things is part of being a man. Being able to take care of yourself and your possessions is part of what defines men as the strong and dependent type of person. When something breaks at our house, we dont pick up the phone and call someone or throw it out and buy another. I fix it. Whether its the washing machine (wiring harness had a short in it), broken faucet (had to remove part of the ceiling in my basement to get to it), my TV (resoldered half the board with new caps), or whatever, being able to fend for yourself and take care of your own is a large part of being a man.

What happens if you came across a lady who needs help changing her tire? Going to tell her you are too stupid to do it because you never learned? No, go figure out how to do it and help those who need it when you can. Be part of the solution, not the problem.