The "M" word

Timbeck2

Timbeck2

Final Approach
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Timbeck2
I'm sure when I was younger, there were older people around that rolled their eyes at what my generation was saying and doing. I get it. Having said that...

One of the guys at work drove to San Diego over their long weekend. I say "their" because they (the controllers) got one, the watch supervisors didn't, we worked alone. Anyway I overheard him tell another "M" that he got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere in between Tucson and San Diego and they didn't have cell service in that area. He didn't know how to change a tire. He said, "I bought the car new and I know it is supposed to have a spare and a jack but I didn't know where they were."

My girls are younger than he is and they know how to change a tire. I don't blame the M's entirely but I wonder about their parents.
 
I remember my first flat tire away from home, as a young sailor also in San Diego, and didn't know what to do.
There I was, 1,500 miles away from home with no access to an air compressor, tire machine, floor jack, tire patch material, etc ... oh yeah, I guess I have to go pay someone to fix it.
 
Well to be fair to the M, it might not have come with a spare. Some of the newer cars don’t have one. Just a compressor with fix a flat.

Sad that someone wouldn’t know how to change a tire though. I changed all my tires once just to paint the hub caps.
 
gkainz said:
I remember my first flat tire away from home, as a young sailor also in San Diego, and didn't know what to do.
There I was, 1,500 miles away from home with no access to an air compressor, tire machine, floor jack, tire patch material, etc ... oh yeah, I guess I have to go pay someone to fix it.
Click to expand...

I'm quite positive he doesn't know how to fix a flat. I was flabbergasted that he didn't know how to change a tire.
 
Lol that’s great. I like to reflect on this stuff both up and down. So the interesting thing to self reflect about is what did your generation do that the previous generation scoffed at???
So ppl,say 20 years older then you, would be critical of what???
Or what will this “M” say in the same vein about generations younger than them in 20 years??? What will be his disappointment?
 
Timbeck2 said:
I'm quite positive he doesn't know how to fix a flat. I was flabbergasted that he didn't know how to change a tire.
Click to expand...

I get it. I was being facetious. Not surprised, though.
 
Do Ms RTFM? I just downloaded the manual for a car my wife used to drive, one that might be popular amongst the Ms, an '07 Suzuki SX4. The manual made it sound pretty difficult. If I didn't already know how to change a tire, I would probably cry on to my super tight v-neck shirt and skinny jeans.
 
Velocity173 said:
Well to be fair to the M, it might not have come with a spare. Some of the newer cars don’t have one. Just a compressor with fix a flat.

Sad that someone wouldn’t know how to change a tire though. I changed all my tires once just to paint the hub caps.
Click to expand...
This.

Some auto rental companies in Europe and the U.K. Remove spare tires from all their cars. If you have a flat, you have to call them out for help (at added cost....)
 
Can't speak for all M's but this one doesn't RTFM as he has to have everything explained to him. I was his trainer and quite a few times I had to restrain myself from placing my hands around his neck and squeezing real hard until his freakin' eyeballs popped out.
 
This is how a lot of us older folks grew up:

Car-Maintenance.jpg


This is how a lot of M's grew up:

hqdefault.jpg
 
As stated previously, it depends on the parent(s). I can fix the computer or the car and introduced my son to doing both. Fact is, he prefers neither and that is OK, too.
 
wsuffa said:
This.

Some auto rental companies in Europe and the U.K. Remove spare tires from all their cars. If you have a flat, you have to call them out for help (at added cost....)
Click to expand...
Mine doesnt have one. "Weight savings", but it's still a 4000lb car
 
wsuffa said:
This.

Some auto rental companies in Europe and the U.K. Remove spare tires from all their cars. If you have a flat, you have to call them out for help (at added cost....)
Click to expand...

Once, while driving a rented Renault, I had a flat in Barcelona, Spain. No problem finding the spare - but the jack was nowhere to be found. Dunno if there was an Owner's
Manual in the car or not - but didn't matter (it would be in French). Ever try to read an Owner's Manual in French? Fugeddaboutit. Anyway, after a protracted search the
jack was found - in a well in the cowling forward of the windshield. Who 'da thunk it??

Dave
 
I taught both of my daughters (now 37 and 31) nhow to change a flat tire and how to drive a manual transmission. It has come in handy for both of them!

-Skip
 
You said the ‘M’ word... as an ‘M’ I’m offended!

:biggrin:
 
My brother gave me his 20 year old MG convertible and I told my son he could drive it to school if he helped me fix it up. He knows how to change a tire, tune a carb and shift gears. Sadly when he joined the Marines and I got recalled to active duty we sold it.
 
‘M’ is for mechanic, right?
 
I carry a plug kit and a plug in inflator for flats. I don't remember the last time I had to use a jack and change the tire.
 
cessna182b said:
Once, while driving a rented Renault, I had a flat in Barcelona, Spain. No problem finding the spare - but the jack was nowhere to be found. Dunno if there was an Owner's
Manual in the car or not - but didn't matter (it would be in French). Ever try to read an Owner's Manual in French? Fugeddaboutit. Anyway, after a protracted search the
jack was found - in a well in the cowling forward of the windshield. Who 'da thunk it??

Dave
Click to expand...

Well, lots of vehicles pre-1990s used to carry spare tire jack or components in locations under the hood so it’s not too surprising.
 
Lachlan said:
Hey, junior- what generation INVENTED computers? I think we’ll be just fine. ;)
Click to expand...

Bingo! Actually, the computer was "invented" before I was born, but the personal computer was first introduced in the January/February 1975 issues of Popular Electronics magazine (the Altair 8800). The beginning of the last semester before I got my BSEE. I kept those issues available for years just to wave under the noses of Apple Evangelists (yes, that was their job title) when they'd start claiming that Apple invented the PC. Where did they think Jobs and Woz got the idea?

Oh, and the last 20 years of my working career were spent at Intel. Those kids need to learn to change a tire, we already know how computers work.
 
Every generation makes fun of the next for not knowing things they knew because technology has progressed making the previous knowledge far less relevant. How often do flat tires occur nowadays? A lot less frequently than before due to improved tire technology (and as others have pointed out, many cars don't come with spares nowadays anyway). I bet that the parents of the baby boomers among us lambasted how kids didn't know how to dial an operator or start a car with a crank start, because it wasn't really relevant knowledge.

No worries, we "M" words will keep making fun of you old farts with your 30 toolbars in IE, 5 billion icons on the desktop, and inability to use your iPhones :)
 
A couple of days after graduating from High School, I packed up my VW bus and drove from the S.F. Bay Area to the Grand Canyon with my best Buddy. On the drive back home, my clutch gave up and I was able to buy a new disk in Las Vegas, but nobody would let me use their hoist or jack to swap the parts unless I paid them $100.00.

We made it as far as Beatty, NV and the old dude in the ONLY gas station in Beatty watched in amazement as we jacked up the car, pulled the engine and replaced the clutch disk in fewer than 20 minutes. Yeah, after rebuilding just about everything on that old Bus, I was really good at pulling the engine on a Volkswagen.

The proprietor didn't charge me a dime to use his lift and floor jack and was happy to have experienced the entertainment of watching us replace that clutch so fast he didn't think it was really happening...

My son, on the other hand...
 
You laugh at those unable to mount a spare tire, but I'd like to see what happens when you open the trunk and find one of these:

640X640
 
I don't laugh. I get sad. Plus I'd know the spare tire situation before I wrote the check for the car.
 
asicer said:
You laugh at those unable to mount a spare tire, but I'd like to see what happens when you open the trunk and find one of these:

640X640
Click to expand...

It looks like it runs on some form of electricity...
 
Or, just drive it on the flat till you get cell service. . .go slow, no harm done, except to the already flat tire. Local TV guy drove one 10+ miles to make a point some years ago.
 
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