mrvette
Phantom of the Opera
You have to remember that 80% of dudes and 99% of women know nothing about cars or anything mechanical for that matter. To them a belt being replaced is magic. Most of the time these shops just don't have to worry about anyone calling them on their abuses.
We won't even get into all the perfectly good parts that get replaced until they find a problem.
You are so right. I can't even begin to tell you the number of people I've run into lately that don't know a bolt from a light bulb. Just amazing. And the Mrs still to this day is amazed that I can put an engine together and it runs. Like the bozos on an assembly line are much more than trained chimps.
Then there are kids like my wifey poo here, older of the two daughters, she grew up being a daddy's little helper, so her first hubby never did shit, and so she took up what slack she could, after we dated/married, her oldest son learned a lot working with me in construction, my son too for that matter, like one job were the bathroom was so rotten out the joists are all toast and so my son was dragging 2x12's into the room as I am standing on the dirt cutting and laying them in working toward the bathroom door, then put down the 3/4 PTreated plywood...a year later, my son says he was nervous during that operation, I just laughed, saying I have jacked up entire wings of a house to plumb the thing up, huge PIA....
then thre is the electronics, me building a computer here on the kitchen counter while wife is cooking dinner, then wiring various house and auto projects, wife has learned a LOT just looking over my shoulder, she knows by instinct what tools to hand me for any task at hand, I have rebuilt about 4 auto trannies, fixed many a engine, replaced the one in her Escort, rebuilt the baths, kitchen, reframed, moved walls, replaced the breaker panel, at this point wife can do it all too, except the really heavy shit....I dunno, just grew up playing with stuff, electronics to mechanics, then home construction...never gave it a thought...:smash: