I thought I would write about helpful advice that my father had given my older brother when he took over my dad's appliance repair business. There's an old adage out there Father Knows Best. That is most certainly true. My Father knew how to do things a certain way and could do it efficiently. He's been around the block a few times to know what to do and how to do it.
Now my father used to buy and use Snap-On Tools for his business. Snap-On Tools aren't by any means necessary cheap tools. They're quite expensive. Now when my brother took over my Father's business he got most of the Snap-On Tools that my dad bought over the years. My brother probably doesn't know what a Snap-On truck is or how to exchange a broken tool or for the most part what they cost. He learned this the hard way when my dad pleaded him to park the work van inside the back yard countless times. My old house had a huge backyard with a concrete basketball court that was fenced in to a certain point. The fence never extended out to the back alleyway. There was a light on the shed back there that illuminated the basketball court. My dad said that would deter thieves if you park the van inside the basketball court. Did my brother ever listen to my Father's helpful advice? Nope. He didn't listen. One night some thieves broke into my brothers van and stole all of the Snap-On Tools that my dad bought over the years.
Another helpful piece of advice my Father gave to my brother that could have maybe prevented this was to leave all the seating in the van. My brother was using what I believe was a 1991 Chevrolet Beauville passenger van before he bought the 1989 GMC Vandura 2500 conversion van that would eventually get broken into. Anyway my brother was going to take the Beauville to the junkyard and before he did that like a fool, he removed all of the seats from the GMC. This was a stupid mistake according to my dad. You see the GMC conversion van's back bench seat would fold down alongside the 2 captains chairs to make a bed. My dad said he could have laid down all of the seats into a bed configuration and put the toolbox and all of the parts bins under the makeshift bed. This way would be thieves wouldn't be able to see anything. Did my brother take my dad's useful advice? Nope. What my brother did do was unbolt all of the seats and threw them into the Beauville and off they went to the junkyard.
Now when my father would go on a service call to a gated community he knew that they would watch your speed there. My father always told my brother to slow down in these types of places so you wouldn't get a nasty speeding ticket from the security guards there. I recall my dad telling me that he went to the gated community on a call with my brother and my brother got a ticket for speeding. My father would try not to laugh at my brother for getting a ticket for speeding. He eventually stopped telling him to watch your speed in those places. I think my brother got at least 2 tickets in that gated community.
One of the most biggest pains in the ass in the appliance repair business is changing a compressor on a refrigerator. It takes hours to do and can slow your whole day up. My father had a method of changing a compressor that was very efficient and time saving. He tried to tell my brother to do it his way but my brother insisted on doing it his way that took longer. I remember when my dad and my brother would return home from work saying we had a compressor to change today. They never liked changing them. I do believe my brother eventually took my dad's advice on how to change a compressor more efficiently.
So in the long run Father Knows Best when it comes to helpful advice.
