Thanks.
Thanks to the people who show up to work.
Some jobs need doing.
Employers are hunting for workers. "Help wanted." "Come join our team." I like seeing those signs.
Yesterday I needed help. The right front tire on my car looked low. I bent down to look at the tire and the problem was right there, visible. A screw just like this was stuck in the tread.
The tire was full enough to drive three miles to the tire store I have patronized for years, a store called Ed's Point S. I know Ed--Ed Miller--from Rotary. A nice guy. A civic benefactor, the kind of guy who owned a small local business and who got hit up by 4-H kids and Boy Scouts for donations. I don't know if he always said "yes" but be said "yes" to me when I asked him to support a Rotary project. I am grateful to him and to local businesses with local owners, not some corporate office in Kirkland or Bentonville. Thanks, Ed.
Ed recently sold the business, but Ed's name is still on the place. I am hopeful Ed keeps getting paid something for the "goodwill" he developed over the decades. He earned it.
They fix flats for free. They do it right then and there and they don't ask if you bought the tires from them, although I did. I suppose their business model is to hope people like me feel grateful. It works. I do feel grateful.
My car jack is the small cheap thing that comes with the car and it is mostly included for show, but I suppose, with real effort, I could get the tire and rim off the car on my own if my car were on flat, firm ground. Then, again with real effort, I could probably get the tire off the rim on my own. It isn't easy with a heavy tire and light tools and I might get stuck at that spot. I have not patched a tire since I patched a bicycle tire at age 11 and possibly I would do it correctly, if I had a patch with me, and if I could get the re-inflated with a bicycle pump. I wouldn't feel safe driving at freeway speeds until a pro looked it over.
It was way better for me to take it to a shop, if one were open.
Yesterday at 3:30 p.m., the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the shop was open and a dozen or so guys were busily repairing flats, rotating tires, putting snow tires on cars, removing old tires and installing new ones. Whew! The place has car lifts and hydraulic wrenches, plus guys who know what they are doing. I am grateful.
Working in the open bay of a tire shop is not glamorous or easy work, but I was sure glad they were on the job. I hope they get well paid. I needed those guys. I say "guys" because everyone doing the work was male, and it took at least two to do the job. A second person rechecks the five lug nuts tightened by the guy who puts the tire back on the car, and each of them independently sign the clipboard saying they did it. It is safety check. I am grateful for that.
We have full employment. A lot of Boomers retired early, a lot of people--mostly women--left the workforce to deal with kids at home due to COVID, and we have reduced immigration. Working people have more market power than usual. I am OK with that, and if it causes some inflation I am OK with that as well. If we want people to do hard jobs well--and we do--then we need to pay them enough so that can afford to live good lives, even if it means working hard on the afternoon before Thanksgiving. I needed them, and they were there.
I am grateful.