Rag Times

I learned this tonight, and it can usefully be applied to more areas of life than just mechanics: A mechanic’s job is to tell you what’s wrong with your car, and then fix it, but a hardware store clerk’s job is to sell you parts. If you go to a mechanic, they’ll charge you a high price to find and fix the problem, along with the price of the part. If you go to an auto store, they’ll tell you what’s wrong for free, and just sell you the part.

It’s one of three pieces of advice that I’ll regularly consider.