A COOL STORY
Very close to seven years ago, in July of the year 2001, I was in my cubicle at work and had just started my first cup of morning coffee when I was tapped on the shoulder by a female supervisor.
“Got a minute?” she asked.
I replied, “Sure,” and followed her to a small vacant office out in the main the hallway. There was a strange man sitting at the desk in the almost empty room and another, higher-level supervisor standing in front of the desk with a folder in her hand facing me. They both had serious looks on their faces. My heart rose into my throat as I realized the man sitting behind the desk was one of the corporate “axemen” and I immediately knew what was coming. I was informed by this dour duo that I had been “downsized” that morning and my services with the company would no longer be needed.
Needless to say it was quite a shock. Maybe not as huge a shock as it could have been, as rumors had been flying around during the previous weeks that a “purge” was imminent and no one was immune. I had been a loyal employee with this large telecommunications firm for over 19 years, had been a survivor of a few previous employment downsizings and had been feeling pretty safe. Needless to say I was living in a dream world.
So there I was, in my mid-50's and looking for a job. It was a scary and humbling experience, as it had been a very long time since I had last been unemployed. My now-previous employer did allow the group of us who had been downsized that day to attend an 8-hour seminar on job seeking and I took advantage of it. My last corporate benefit. One of the basic precepts given to us in the seminar was that your new job, from that day on, was job hunting, and we should endeavor to perform that work with as much diligence as we would a “real” job.
For the next 12 weeks I spent from 4 to 6 hours a day job hunting. I personally visited every job procuring agency and headhunter within an hour's drive in all directions, talked to them all and phoned them regularly for updates. I registered at all appropriate web sites that could conceivably help me find a job. I networked with everyone I could think of who might possibly be instrumental in hiring me or might know of an employer looking for someone. I also went to the local library every day, read all the job want-ads in a half-dozen papers from nearby towns and cities and mailed resumes and cover letters to all of them that were even remotely applicable to any of my skill sets.
And did that five days a week.
One day, three months into my search, I received my first invitation to interview for a job I'd applied for in a town about 25 miles away. I accepted the invitation and visited with them the following week. Apparently I had the necessary skills and experience necessary for the job and was hired shortly after. Since my long-term previous job entailed a 100-mile-a-day round trip commute, the new one at 50 miles seemed easy.
What's so cool about this story? Hang in there, gentle reader, the cool is coming.
Since the new job was with a county government, the new wages that I would be receiving were considerably less than what I had been collecting at the nationally known telecommunications company where I used to work. So I decided to retain my present auto and use it for my new commute. It was an older Toyota, still in good mechanical shape, got great mileage and I figured it would be fine for a few more years at least.
Last year, during the summer, I noticed that the air conditioner in the Toyota was not doing its job as well as it used to. It would cool, but the air coming out of the vents was only mildly cooler than the outside air. By the time this was starting to become an annoyance, the summer was pretty much over and the air conditioner was no longer needed. But the fact of the slow failure of the a/c remained in my mind throughout the winter and into the following spring.
When the days grew warmer this summer, the status of the air conditioner and its ability to perform its function again grew in importance. It just wasn't doing its job. Only vague cooling was reaching my sweaty brow and the commute was beginning to be a chore. I'd experienced a failed a/c in a previous car and, when I had that system examined, I was informed it would cost several hundred dollars to repair. Money I did not have at the time. Money I didn't have at the present, either. I feared the same would be the story with my old Toyota.
As luck would have it, I have a friend who works in the same department in the County building where I work who I knew was extremely knowledgeable about repairing things. He had been a Sear's repairman for decades and had become an expert in how to fix almost anything. When I explained my predicament and my concerns about the horrific expenses that might be needed to fix my difficulty, he suggested a possible solution.
“Stop by my house next weekend and I'll take a look. If it's what I think it might be, your fix might be simple and inexpensive.”
The two words “simple” and “inexpensive” were music to my ears, so I drove the two miles to his house the following Sunday and we took a look at the innards of my engine. He took one look at the hoses and pipes and other “stuff” in there and said, “Yep, it's just as I thought. Let's run up to Walmart. We'll get a can of refrigerant and see what happens.” We returned from the mega-store 20 minutes later with a can of auto refrigerant. He hooked it up to a hose and meter he retrieved from his garage and attached the hose to a fitting on another hose in my motor. He handed it to me and said, “Press the trigger and gently wiggle the can as it fills.” I pressed the trigger, wiggled the can and watched as the cooling “stuff” flowed down the hose and into my car. In a matter of 5 minutes the process was complete and I removed the hose from the fitting.
It was fixed!
I thanked my friend profusely and drove home – washed in cool, refreshing air.
The total cost of the refrigerant was under $8. The time involved was, including the trip to Walmart, under a half hour.
On my commute to work Monday, which was a real scorcher, I had a hard time keeping the smile from my cool, dry, unsweating face. I was, once again, enjoying my daily drive.
I was again the owner of a cool ride!
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