Taking over the bike shop...

[tribanjules]

Ah, that's priceless!

What is German equivalent of “taking one for the team”?!!😄

 

[Pale Rider]

taking a fair stab at crucifying you.

Er, you can't crucify @Andy in Germany by stabbing.

However, I'm sure he's got plenty of tools in the workshop you could use to achieve either end.

 

[Jameshow]

You reminded me of a conversation today that could go in the book. Currently I have two clients in the workshop, both pretty quiet, and one (Hr A) is dealing with serious self confidence issues, and is just beginning to relax a bit. There's a running joke about the fact I don't really like working on the till. For various reasons this afternoon I had to take over at short notice, so I went to the workshop to tell my lads. What follows is our conversation:

AinG: Alright lads, I need to go to the till, unless one of you has some kind of serious problem that you can't fix
(Both look at their respective bikes and declare them problem free).
AinG: Oh, come on, there must be some excuse, I mean reason, I can't go to the till.
Hr A: Sorry, I'm doing fine. (perks up a bit) I could break something, if it'd help...

That one had me smiling all the way to the till...

Brilliant!

I had a similar client yesterday. Dad died when 16 misscarriages etc low mood self esteem said at the end "I don't know you existed and you've really encouraged me and supported me!"

 

[Andy in Germany]

Well, here's a boring photo:

Today was the day to sort out the monthly report (Cue much Schadenfreude from clients).

After doing some number crunching it's not looking too bad; we're beginning to reach a comparable turnover to before I started here, while fixing less bikes. We're still a bit wobbly but I can now at least make a good case for some better tools and stands.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I have a new client, who speaks Arabic but not a word of German. He's probably in his mid fifties, he's about 5'6" and is built like a rugby player.

When sign language fails we go to another client who -bless her- speaks the same dialect of Arabic, professional level English, and a little German, and is very obliging when it comes to translations, so today we had a complicated conversation about a bicycle in English and Arabic. I was surprised to hear, the occasional English word; whole sentences of incomprehensible Arabic were interspersed with occasional "bicycle" or "brakes".

I asked why this was. It turns out she also has a dry sense of humour. She explained that her home country was part of the British Empire for a long time so English words were adopted, or in her words; "You British turned up and stayed around for ages, so now we have your words. I think I'll fight you; that'll solve the problem."

I pointed out that as a dual national I'm legally only German here. She said she'll let me off.

In other news...

We have two new stands; a compromise between what I wanted and what the Boss wanted, so bikes don't fall on clients as much. We were supposed to evaluate them and I've reported back they're so good we need two more.

As mentioned above I have another client. He's a great guy and willing to work, but doesn't speak German and sometimes has too much power: his previous job in his home country involved working with metal but in big lumps. It's going to take time and a few more broken tools before he is able to adjust to bicycles.

I'm tidying up the "Short term storage" which has become a sort of bicycle graveyard because I keep forgetting bikes I've put there because parts are missing.

I recently achieved the fastest "unpacked to broken" rate for a new tool; about five minutes. I'd bought a cheap version on the basis I wasn't going to use it often; lesson learned.

Oh, and I've got a new project to start on Monday, which has nothing to do with bikes: we're taking on a packing contract for a local company, so we can occupy some of our least capable clients with a simple job. This is because I have so much spare time...

 

[HobbesOnTour]

At least your sense of humour is still intact

We speak English (in Ireland) because

"You British turned up and stayed around for ages, so now we have your words.

too!

 

[Andy in Germany]

At least your sense of humour is still intact

We speak English (in Ireland) because

too!

Thankfully, so is hers...

My ancestors are Welsh, and our surname was changed from the Welsh spelling because... you know the rest.

 

[Reynard]

Sounds like the fella must've been a blacksmith or something. Sledgehammer to crack a nut, territory.

Never a dull moment tho. I do like your updates @Andy in Germany

 

[Andy in Germany]

New workstation for my client. This is a big part of our work; finding meaningful work that people can do as independently as possible, taking their needs and abilities into account.

So far it seems to be working: my client is happy because he's doing something useful; I'm happy because he needs less supervision, and the other clients are happy because components are clean and shiny instead of grubby.

Everyone wins until we run out of cleaning spray.

 

[EltonFrog]

New workstation for my client. This is a big part of our work; finding meaningful work that people can do as independently as possible, taking their needs and abilities into account.

View attachment 695558

So far it seems to be working: my client is happy because he's doing something useful; I'm happy because he needs less supervision, and the other clients are happy because components are clean and shiny instead of grubby.

Everyone wins until we run out of cleaning spray.

You’ll need a big box of Daz to clean that sheet, look at the state of it!

 

[classic33]

New workstation for my client. This is a big part of our work; finding meaningful work that people can do as independently as possible, taking their needs and abilities into account.

View attachment 695558

So far it seems to be working: my client is happy because he's doing something useful; I'm happy because he needs less supervision, and the other clients are happy because components are clean and shiny instead of grubby.

Everyone wins until we run out of cleaning spray.

You have adequate air filtration and/or a mask for the person on that workstation?

 

[Gunk]

You have adequate air filtration and/or a mask for the person on that workstation?

Odd thing to ask

 

[classic33]

Odd thing to ask

Done at home, for yourself, yes,
Done at work, with others, no.

 

[Andy in Germany]

You have adequate air filtration and/or a mask for the person on that workstation?

That's part of the risk assessment we always do. The spray is fairly benign so there's no need for a mask. There's also currently a through draught because all the doors and windows are open. (In winter we may have more of a problem). I also rotate clients so they aren't working on the same thing for too long.

 

[Andy in Germany]

New stands being delivered.