MY MECHANIC

It seems that whenever I need a mechanic, he is always busy. Mine has a habit of promising me a time and then falling behind a few days. The trouble is he is very honest, and since I trust him, I have to put up with his dishonest time assessments in order to get an honest price for his labor.

Once a few years ago I walked into his shop and he had a brand new computer sitting amongst his clutter and grease, right next to the grim, and asked me to give him my last name spelling, phone number and address, yes he was going high tech in the record keeping business. No more writing down phone numbers on his monthly desk calendar that sat on a counter that was inhabited by car keys. No more bills that looked like they were easy wipes for an oil stick; he was cleaning up his operation.

When I came to pick up the car, there sat the computer in his “Office”, with a shiny new printer, waiting to be used, someday. That was a few years ago.

Today I returned to his shop and described my auto’s problem and he took down my phone number and name, you guessed it, on his grease-ridden calendar, in a little box he drew to contain the info.

The computer sat under some auto parts catalogues, under a Playboy calendar of Miss February 1999, and an ad for wiper blades that also held a cartoon of some kind.

The bill usually comes with at least one of his fingerprints on it, and if I charge it, the card will be easier to slide back into my wallet.

But hey, he treats me like family after 25 or so years was using him, and he doesn’t steal.