The old timer who showed me how to set a rivet right back in 2009

I was working on a horse trailer at a shop outside of Austin and this guy named Carl walked up, must have been 80 years old. He watched me struggle with a cold set for a solid 5 minutes before he said "son, you're fighting the metal instead of talking to it." He took my hammer and showed me how to use the ball pein to mushroom the rivet in 3 light taps instead of one hard hit. I still think about that every time I'm doing a trailer repair.

3 comments

3 Comments

val_williams17d ago

Was Carl a real person or a ghost mechanic?

the_joseph17d ago

My buddy actually had this happen at his uncle's shop once, except the guy wasn't a ghost just some old timer who'd wander in at 2am and fix things no one else could. He'd leave grease everywhere and never say a word, then vanish before sunrise like he was never there. Turned out he was just a retired mechanic with insomnia who missed turning wrenches, no ghost, just a weirdly dedicated guy you know?

jake98617d ago

@val_williams Half the "haunted" stuff in life just ends up being some lonely person with a weird routine. Reminds me of how my neighbor used to water my plants at 4am every Tuesday for six months before I figured out it was just the guy who couldn't sleep after his wife passed.