Jack of All Trades

We all know people who seem to be a jack of all trades and master of none.

What you may not realize is that this group breaks down into two smaller categories. Some of them (let’s call them the Doers) can actually do a lot of things halfway successfully while the other bunch (Undoers) can’t accomplish much at all

Knowing someone from the Doers can come in handy when the sewer is plugged, a water leak is causing a flood in the kitchen or some other pressing issue that “the wife” needs done.

A Doer person has watched enough HGTV and made so many trips to the local hardware storethat they always know where to start on a project. Not only that, they also know when to quit and call in a professional. They are experts at taking an item apart and not putting it back together correctly.

An Undoer, on the other hand, is a person who “thinks” they are an expert on the matter and commence to mess things up even more than when they first started.

A small water leak for them ends up requiring a new sink to be installed due to damaging the threads on the old one during the repair process. Or a routine oil change results in needing to buy a new car because they forgot to add the oil back in after changing it.

Now, while one may be an Undoer for most of their life, there is still time to become a Doer.

Ol' Dutch can attest to the fact that the older I get, the more careful I am when fixing something. Gone are the early days when I was short of time and money so no matter what I fixed it never seemed to stay fixed.

Why, one time I built an entire house with a screwdriver, a hammer, a skill saw and a drill and that is no exaggeration. It’s what I had and it worked out although I had to go back and remodel several times over the years.

Still after all these years, I’m not sure if I had to remodel because of my inexperience at the time with construction, the tools I had on hand or just the normal “wife wants it different” syndrome.

You men know what I’m talking about. No matter what house you buy, the “perfect one” that she chooses will need a remodel in due time. She knows it from the moment she selected the house and at just the right time, she’ll let YOU know that it is time to remodel.

For someone in the Doer group, it’s no problem to tear out a wall, drop in some new fixtures, add an island and counter top plus tile the kitchen floor.

But for the poor man in the Undoer category, it’s quite a different story. Oh, he gets it torn out and a real effort is made the first weekend or two but suddenly elk season looms and with football also starting afresh the poor spouse finds herself living in what is known as “a mess.”

No amount of “encouragement” from the significant other can get the project moving again once it hits this stage and only with a great amount of persuasion does the man ever try and finish what he started.

Finally, the man will call in his buddy or some professional and just pay him to finish the job. This does not come about without a lot of thinking but the sudden realization that a plumber, electrician or A/C specialists is way less expensive than a divorce lawyer.

If you have a member of the Doer group around your house,count yourself lucky. Otherwise, if your man is like Ol’ Dutch and responds to the call of the hunting season, you will most certainly find yourself perusing the Yellow Pages when you need something done right.