A Person I Am Grateful For

 

Today I want to talk about a person that I have learned a lot from. A person whose advice I always cherish. While we may not speak a lot or at all now, I think about him a lot and that would be an old coworker of mine.

Back in Germany I started an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, which was a lot of fun though I didn’t have the easiest time. Not because it was hard and I didn’t understand it, no that was not the case I enjoyed and thrived in it thoroughly. The issue was one particular other apprentice who tried to make my life a living hell, he often sabotaged me and tried to get me in trouble everywhere I could. I was lucky that then other mechanics knew about it and kept an eye on him and never let him be alone with me ha ha.  

This coworker of mine always had an open ear for me. We spend our breaks together; he always got coffee for the two of us and we just sat there talking. On days my assigned mechanic was out, I tried to get assigned to this coworker which often worked until I caught attention of the body parts guy.

I also hated working with him at the time because I thought he was incredibly strict but after I had to leave, I realized that he did all the things he did for a reason and that reason was for me to learn. He often let me work alone and figure things out, one day I realized he actually likes me, and my work was the day he gave me the keys to his toolbox so I could work on his cars while he was out. That was a lot of trust the guy had in me and I felt honored. He definitely had his reasons for the way he went about things. And today I am grateful for it.

Back to my coworker, however. This coworker worked on the bigger trucks, and I got to learn to work on them. He had a lot of tips and tricks for me that I got to put into my repertoire. But one big advice he always had for me was: “Don’t let everyone know how smart you are, don’t let them know how much you know. If someone explains something to you act like you have never heard of it.” Sometimes letting others know how smart you are isn’t the best thing and puts a target in many ways on your back.

This guy is also a martial arts instructor, still to this day, and just an amazing person in general. I get a lot of headaches to this day, and back in the day he would push on the pressure points that he knew would make my headaches subside, which helped incredibly much. He would turn off the lights for me when they were especially bad and we would just sit there quietly talking in the dark, the only light was the sunlight filtering in.

After I left, we stayed in touch for a while, and I still send him cards to this day. He got to meet my daughter, and she quickly grew fond of him as well. Sitting here just thinking about all the memories makes me tear up. I miss him a lot. He still visits my dad now and then and they keep in touch. He became a close friend to my family, and I have so much to thank him for.