Require assistance?

**Philip Davies** · Mar 18, 2020, 01:59 PM

Ever find that you need to ask someone to help?

I have always been a solitary craftsman. Occasionally, I’ve had a mate, and wow, do I miss them. To have a companion who does not NEED to be asked, who can get on without intervention! Not that I don’t enjoy teaching, I do.

There are three at work who volunteer to assist, and twice as many who are blithely unaware of what is entailed in bringing in stuff and taking it out again.

I decided my Shopsmith would be better at the warehouse instead of my workshop and I found that the cabinet was collapsing under the weight. The headstock is very heavy. Taking it off is tricky, especially in very limited space.

We had a socialist round to eat my wife’s cake, which is nice. Naturally, the conversation soon turned to the Coronavirus. “Solidarity,” he asserted, that’s what we’ve got to do. Solidarity!”

“I’m glad you said that, Dave,” I replied. “When you’ve finished your cake, I want you to help me move something.”

Unfortunately, I suffered a rebuff. He said he never got over helping me years ago, tamping down some concrete (like, 12 square yards) and no shovelling..

I really hate ASKING for help.

This bloke, Dave, has been round twice a year for 30 years for cake, and that was the only other time I’ve asked him for assistance. And all the (unpaid) jobs I’ve done for them!

Solidarity? My eye! Perhaps if I’d changed my union and joined his?

Apologies for the rant, but I would be interested to learn of others’ experiences.