The Kids In The Hall: The Outcasts Who Keep America Running

0:00Welcome to Repair Shop Reckoning: From Chaos to Control. Because too many shops today are running on chaos. Phones ringing, technicians frustrated, front counters overwhelmed, owners buried in problems with nobody to call. Kevin Brown has spent over 30 years in the trenches learning how to take that chaos and turn it into control. Shop owner, operator, consultant, leader. Through industry shifts, insurance games, bad hires, great hires, and lessons learned the hard way, This isn't theory.

0:29This isn't corporate training fluff. This is real shop experience, unfiltered. On this show, Kevin breaks down what actually works: running profitable shops, front counter control, training technicians, negotiating with insurance companies, building systems that make your shop run instead of burn, and the mistakes that quietly bankrupt shop owners every single day. No corporate scripts, no sugarcoating. And yeah, somebody might get offended. That's okay.

0:58Disney's 2 doors down. But if you want the truth about this industry, buckle up. This is Repair Shop Reckoning: From Chaos to Control. Let's get started. All right, welcome back. Today we're going to do a little bit different of a podcast, and this is something that's been on my mind for a while, my whole life. So, and by the way, I'm wearing my Meta glasses, everybody, with prescription lenses.

1:19A lot easier just to take pictures and Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like them with prescription glass. Well, I get to read— it reads my— I set it so it reads my messages when they come through. So I'm sitting there, it reads my messages or the phone calls or the— I don't have to walk around with the EarPod. Oh, that's great. Yeah, I'm on the phone a lot because I'm part Chaldean now.

1:38The good type of Chaldean, like the ones that own gas stations, not the lazy Chaldeans that don't own gas stations. Is that racist? Is that racist? Is that stereotyping? My friend Shane's a Caldean. I can call him up right now and be like, are you on the phone? I'd be like, all the time. So anyway, you know, they are the guys that are— they're on a phone and then they usually have a phone on their belt too.

2:06Yeah, they have another one. Yeah, exactly. They usually own a gas station or cell phone store. Cell phone store. Uh, cell phone store. They used to, right? Oh yeah. Cell phone stores. Talk about a business that's changed, huh? Oh my God, once they figured out they could dick all the distributors out of residuals and all that shit. And I saw that change coming, and that's why I jumped as quickly as possible, because I saw what they were doing.

2:26You know, I just said to Gracie the other day, I'm like, I can't imagine how any of these guys are surviving. Yeah, because I know that I was going to buy into a Nextel store right towards the end when Sprint and all that kind of went together. And I'm like, you know what, I really didn't like Sprint at the time back then.

2:40Yeah. And then they hooked up with Nextel and stuff. I'm like, you know what, I kind of petered out of that. I sold Sprint and Nextel at that merger and it was a disaster. Sprint was fucking horrible. Like, you'd be on customer service for 2 hours. You think the insurance companies are bad? Sprint was the fucking worst. It was the worst. So today we're going to talk about how some of us in the trades are wired different.

3:04What does that mean? Okay, so I had to literally go through and I did a lot of experimenting with myself and how I got on this particular thing is, uh, My one grandson is having problems. And I started looking at some of his tendencies and I started talking to AI about his tendencies. Then it kind of morphed into like, wait a second here.

3:23I think I'm different, which I know I'm different. So my mom and dad came over and I talked to my mom and we talked about me being put on Ritalin and how I was a zombie in school. Um, I always had problems acting out in class. I was like, a lot of people resonate. We were the kids that spent a lot of time in the hall.

3:40With our desks, we were disruption to the class. Well, now we are successful entrepreneurs. And some of the people that we went to high school with that were completely 100% invested in school, could function on an everyday thing, work for us. Yep. It's kind of crazy. That's crazy. But we are the different ones in school. And I kind of went through and I asked a bunch of questions to Grok.

4:00And I went through AI. I mean, went through Grok. I went through ChatGPT. And I asked all these different questions and I kind of boiled them down to some questions that we could ask online on this podcast to get people to think about what I answered or what it, what it basically meant. And this might answer some of the huge questions because when I was driving along, we were coming up from home from up north, I got the bright idea after we were talking about my grandson to start asking Grok these questions.

4:33Like I said a few minutes ago, it just morphed into me asking the questions about myself, and then my wife's sitting over there like, holy shit, it's literally talking about you. So I basically said, okay, now that you've explained yourself, ask me some questions. Let's go ahead. And it won't give you obviously a diagnosis, but it'll tell you this is my opinion.

4:56When you have— what was it, 22 questions? And yes, you answered yes on almost every single one of them. It probably does a pretty good job with the diagnosis. I think I answered 12, or out of 22 questions, I think I think I answered yes to 20. 20. Yeah, it was, it was almost all of them. It was stark. And here's the thing, some of them were like, absolutely, all the time, right?

5:17And here, I, you know, my thing is let's flip back and forth and you could actually say, Kevin, is this me? Is this like— when I read it, say, okay, Jason, what is your answer, yes or no? Because I read it to Jim and Jim's like, oof, yeah. Oh yeah, that's definitely— yeah, that's— oh yeah, that's really you. So it's kind of interesting.

5:36And what I'm starting to figure out, guys, this is some of the problems I have in everyday life that I don't necessarily believe I'm doing anything wrong in my head. It's like I am out here and I lost the book on social cues. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I was talking to you before this podcast, and I'm just trying to preface before we get into this, is I was talking to a client today and he's like, yeah, you know, I'm getting ready to have a baby.

6:00I'm like, oh God. Okay. In my mind I thought I didn't think to myself to say, stop and go, congratulations, this is gonna be the most exciting part of your life, your kids, your this. I thought, okay, let's get this shit done today, tomorrow, and Friday, 'cause if you're gonna be gone Monday, that's a problem. I didn't even think just to do the niceties.

6:15Yep. Till after the phone call and I read through the otter of the phone, I would read through so I could ruminate on the conversation. I'm like, oof, I could see why they think I'm cold. 'Cause he says something that was probably heartfelt, exciting to him, exciting for him and all that. And I'm like, yeah, right now let's go ahead and talk about this.

6:35This is a challenge. I cannot believe having a kid right now. We got shit to do. So, but you know, in, in, I think we're programmed of the niceties and stuff like that, and some people can be off-put, but you were hired to do a job. You were hired to come in and help him improve his business. And so your focus in, uh, on this is you're having a baby.

6:53Okay. That's a challenge to the job. That's a challenge. There's an obstacle to, we need to get this done now so you, you don't have to worry about it next week. And they say that's a ta— I have a task minded personality. My mind is one— everything in my life is a task. I finish this, I move to the next, I finish this.

7:09And they say a lot of people with some of my tendencies— we won't use the word autistic, but some of these tendencies are guys like me actually do. Like when you go home, you're like, okay, most people be like, oh, I'm gonna go home and cut the lawn. Then maybe that's Monday, maybe Tuesday I'm gonna weed whack, Wednesday maybe I'll rake. My mind is like, cut the lawn, weed whip, do this, dig a pond, dig a ditch, put a roof on the house, then go and eat dinner.

7:36Then after you're done with dinner, we got 35 more things to do before we go to bed. And we go to bed, we're completely exhausted. And they say that a lot of times that's from masking all day. You're actually trying to calm down your nervous system. You don't even know that you're doing it. And I'm like, this is interesting. That is interesting.

7:51Because the other day I'm sitting here talking to you on the phone and I'm like, sorry, I'm breathing hard, I'm digging a ditch. Like, what the fuck are you digging a ditch for? Dude, seriously, you're like, I'm digging a ditch. I'm like, what? Because I didn't like the way my gutters came down on the side of my house. I was digging ditches and burying them.

8:05My wife's like, you're so fucking weird. I'm like, ah, I just, you know, whatever. So, so let's get started with the old cold open, right? Have you ever felt, felt different your whole life but just couldn't quite put your finger on it and why? Okay, maybe you're the kid in school got in trouble for being bored and acting out. Maybe you were labeled hyperactive back in the '70s and early '80s and you were put on Ritalin, but Ritalin made you look like a zombie.

8:34And I have something to say about that. Maybe you struggled to make friends, always felt like an outsider, and struggle with social cues today. That's pretty much me. Now, I asked my mom, how was I on Ritalin? She said, you were a zombie and I hated it. And if you refer back to that podcast number 1, my mom talks about my struggles and Ritalin and everything like that.

8:54So keep that in mind. I was labeled hyperactive, but that— you were labeled hyperactive back in the earlier years, the '70s and '80s, because they really didn't have a lot of research on autistic people. Let me tell you guys this right now. Autistic is not a bad thing. Autistic is almost a superpower in most cases, because a lot of these people that are autistic— and I want to say artistic— autistic are the ones that can take a paint job in a car and draw flames and do all these crazy shit, draw beautiful pictures and stuff like that.

9:26It's almost like a superpower, right? Absolutely. It is, you know. So obviously there's different levels, you know. You could be a non-functioning, you know, high, you know, need help and stuff. Well, you talk about you being task-oriented, you know, like you were talking about today. Like you look at when you're talking to your clients, like, and they say, oh, I didn't have time to do that, or I didn't do this.

9:43And you're like, how didn't you have time to do that? Because you're like boom boom boom boom boom. But that's what makes you successful, right? Absolutely. Maybe you run your business like a machine. You see patterns, numbers faster than anybody else. You do everything 10,000% or not at all, and things need to be done a certain way. Maybe you say exactly what you think without sugarcoating, and people call you blunt or even rude, even though you're just answering their questions.

10:07Okay, if any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone. A lot of us in the trades— mechanics, electricians, shop owners— we're wired differently. Okay, we might not have been diagnosed with autism back when— back in the day, but looking back, a lot of the signs were there. The research just wasn't there to support the signs, so they said ADHD, hyperactive, whatever, right?

10:31I'm 55 years old. I own 2 companies. I do a podcast, and now I'm just starting to understand why I've always felt different. Here's what I went through, and I'm going to read some of the questions. My answers And what those answers actually mean. So what I did is I said, okay, I want to ask you— I sat at my desk. I said, ask me these questions, any questions to kind of give me a guideline.

10:51This is what I do. These are some of the struggles. Ask me the questions. I will give you the answers and then tell me what you think and why I answered that way. And I did that through '22. And I thought this would be a fun podcast because there's a lot of people. How many people have you seen over the years, Jason, that are just like so different?

11:10Well, and I was just thinking about this, but you, like, one, when we grew up, there was nobody autistic. We never heard of this word, this term before. And so it's like, did they just start popping up? No, they've always been there. But like, think about Einstein. You always remember hearing stories about Einstein, and Einstein was so genius, but he couldn't tie his shoes.

11:31Do you think that he was on the spectrum? You know what I mean? Like, there was different common sense things that just didn't— like, people always talked about he was kind of weird and didn't have common sense, but then he was so brilliant. In astrophysics and all the different stuff. And that's some of the things that, like, whatever captured his attention is what captured his attention.

11:50You know, he didn't give a shit about tying his shoes. He failed out of school. Yeah, they told him he was gonna be a loser. Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, you know, I had teachers tell me, you're going nowhere fast, you're on the train to Loserville. I had one teacher, I said, well, you're a fucking asshole already, so you've already beat me.

12:06Then, you know, I got to sit in the hall. Like, I used to get in trouble all the time with my mouth, but, you know, You get sick of it after a while. You're different. You don't fucking think you know you're different. How many of the people I'm talking to right now are gonna be like, oh boy, this is interesting? Yep. Well, in reading that, it made me think about all the kids that I grew up with that when they were on Ritalin and they'd be zombie mode because like Ritalin and it's supposed to will balance somebody that's actually ADD.

12:32But like if you're, if you're on the spectrum, if you're autistic, is what it's saying is it's putting you in that zombie mode. Do you think Steve Jobs was autistic? The more I read about this, absolutely. He was such a cold-hearted prick. Yeah. And he would walk by and say, I don't like the color of that freaking— that icon, we need to change it.

12:47Yeah. Like, he did not like any of that shit. And it drives the guys nuts out here when I walk by something and it's 15 feet away, I stop and go, why the fuck is there a run there? Or I— what's up with that? They're like, oh my God, how do you see this shit? Because it's just the way I look at the— look at everything a little bit different, I guess, right?

13:05Um, so let's start out with the questions. As a kid, were you bored in class and acted out by making jokes and being disruptive? What would you say my answer for me was? I already know you're 100% yes on that one. Means extremely common in ADHD and autism. When your brain isn't stimulated enough, you create your own stimulation, usually being the class clown.

13:28That was me. I remember a story about your mom talking about you, like you're grabbing a fish out of the fishbowl or something in class. Yeah, I just deal with my own shit, right? Were you diagnosed with hyperactivity in the '70s and put on Ritalin, but it made you look and act like a zombie? The answer is yes. Means back then they didn't understand autism.

13:47Ritalin works great for a lot of ADHD kids, but it made— it can make autistic kids emotionally flat and zombie-like. And I'm not saying I have autism, and I'm not trying to jump on the autism boat, but I'm sure thinking like, uh, There's something going on here, right? Did you mostly play with yourself growing up and kind of feel like an outcast that didn't have a lot of friends?

14:10That answer is yes. I had one friend when I was growing up. Um, that was pretty much it. One of the big— but biggest red flags for autism is struggling to connect with other kids and feeling like you fit in with a group. When you talked about in the last episode with Marilyn, like, like on your report card— no, it was, uh, when you're 3 or 4.

14:28Yeah, you're saying that he likes to play, be by himself and left alone. Leave me the fuck alone. That's what I told the doctor, right? Do you struggle with social cues? And this is something that I've really identified lately, and the answer is abso-fucking-lutely yes. Missing social signs or signals that other people pick up naturally is a core part of autism. Now let's get your perspective on that.

14:52Do I pick up social cues? Um, so when it deals with like emotion and stuff like that, no. You know, like, it's like with— you're talking about like the baby and stuff like that. Yeah, you know, you've been around me enough to know that certain things I just don't pick up on. Yeah, say shit and just like, I just— but it's not that you don't care, because once you find out about something— and you know, you told a story one time about, um, finding out when your guys' dad was dying or something like that, and like afterwards you're like, oh, you feel bad, but at the time it's not something you're noticing or thinking about.

15:21No, it takes me a few minutes to have it literally calculate. It's like my computer's processing here, then I'm like, bing, okay, the answer. Oh shit, I didn't even notice that. Yep, I have that a lot. It's really weird. I don't even know what to say about that. Do you reverse conversation in your head before talking to people? Do you think I reverse conversations?

15:42Yes, this is called masking. A lot of autistic adults have to mentally prepare what they're going to say just because it doesn't come naturally. I would have to say I'm 50/50 on this because I'm pretty quick on fucking answering a lot of particular cases. So I would have to say I'm 50/50 on that. Well, and you do these notes and that's helped keep you in line, staying on the topic.

16:07But you get on here and you could go for 2 hours and talk without rehearsing it. Yeah, absolutely. Then I get in trouble for saying the wrong thing and people are fucking— they get their little drums out beat them. Here comes the troll brigade, right? Do you like being around people? Do you need a lot of time alone to recharge? I like going home and being by myself a lot of the time.

16:29I, I— one of my favorite things to do, believe it or not, is drive to and from work because nobody's with me. Yeah. And a lot of times I just chill out. I let the Cybertruck drive me, and that's even better. I kind of veg out, look out the window, and think about stuff. That's pretty common. They say you, you know, you get socially exhausted.

16:46Sometimes I just get sick of dealing with the general public. I don't think that's an autistic thing. I think a human thing. I think we get sick of it because the human— the public nowadays is over the top. Well, you think about like cops, for example, and everybody's like, racist, racist, racist. No, cops are just experienced with like the population and human nature, and they see something over and over and over again, and so they, you know, they get sick of it.

17:08There's a pattern. There's a pattern, right? No doubt about it. You know, the numbers don't lie. Um, do you avoid chaotic, chaotic places like concerts, sporting events? Crowded areas. Absolutely. I absolutely asked my wife. She's like, he hates going to— I do not like going to concerts, sporting events. I don't even like going to the mall anymore, believe it or not, because it's just chaos.

17:29I do not like chaos. Yeah. And a lot of times there's so much uncertainty. You're like, okay, like for instance, you know, you go to Tiger Stadium. I absolutely positively hate going to Tiger Stadium. Now, if I could pay an extra $100 to drive up to Tiger Stadium, they open the gate and I pull in a parking garage, I get out, I walk into Tiger Stadium, sit in my seat, I'd be completely okay with that.

17:49But Tiger Stadium irritates me because now they've gone cashless. Okay, so the parking is always full, so you have to park in these lots way the fuck down the road. So that irritates me, stresses me out before I even get there. Where are we gonna park? What's gonna happen? A long time ago, they tried to rob me down there, and I had to pull up, you know, a pew pew out.

18:08And, uh, you know, that was a whole thing that stuck in the back. I just don't like that whole atmosphere. So the chaos— chaos for sure. I do not like it. Yeah, I just don't. And my wife's like, I don't go to concerts. I'm like, take one of the girls with you, you know, and park up front or whatever. I just don't go to concerts.

18:22I, I could care less. Like, I could listen to them on the radio. I am not the guy that wants to go see somebody in concert. I just do not give a shit. I don't want to be around the chaos. Yeah, you know, because my wife always liked to have the up front seats, so it's even worse for us. You're definitely like, no, right?

18:37Like, right in their face, you know? So, uh, I don't like that, you know? So Are you very direct and blunt when you talk to people? Yes. Yeah. Autistic people tend to communicate literally and honestly. We don't naturally sugarcoat things. We— so it comes across as rude in today's world. I would have to say that's probably the most true thing that I get myself in.

19:06That's true because I get myself in trouble how much by saying stuff straight when somebody asks me a question. And it's not me, I think it's the world. Oh, for sure. 5,000%. I think we have— everybody has to put on this fake facade that, you know, we're this, we're that, we're— we have to answer just a certain way. We have to say, well, that's really frustrating.

19:25It's not really frustrating. It's called it fucking pisses me off. Yeah, well, and it goes back to even like the, the formalities of like when someone says they're having a baby, that you're supposed to be like, oh, congratulations, it's the best time of your life. And like Everybody says that. Like, if you're just like, everybody's getting— giving that to you, do you want— did you say it just so somebody says that to you?

19:44Right, right. And, you know, um, it's just being direct has caused me a lot of problems. And my dad, you know, basically said to me a couple weeks ago, he's like, one thing you got to understand, because we were at, um, a function, I said something, they asked me a question, everybody's like— but it's like, well, you ask him, he gives you— you know, you've known him his whole life, he gives you the direct answer how he feels.

20:03He doesn't be like, oh well, you know. He's like, he told you how he felt. Yeah. He's like, so they get butthurt about it. Like, they ask you a question, you know, do you like this wall? No, it's kind of ugly. Like, I'm not gonna be like, oh, wow, I really love it. You know, am I being rude? That's just, I guess, a matter of opinion.

20:20Should I lie? Yeah, no shit. Yeah. And I told my mom, I go, like, we had that conversation. I'm like, okay, they asked me if I like the color. I said, no, I don't. And then they're like, she's like, well, you know, you didn't have to tell them that. I go, so wait a second here. My whole life you're like, don't lie.

20:35Now you're like, well, lie. What the fuck is this? Like, that's why people in the world get confused. I mean, I know that's a really weird analogy, but like, seriously, social rules are pretty crazy when you break them down like that. There you go. Um, there's a whole movie and I can't think of what it is called right now, but it's like these people live in a society where they tell the truth the whole time.

20:57Like, there's, there's no lying and stuff. So like, the guy goes to the bank and he's like, He writes a check and, uh, he, he learns how to lie. And he's like, he goes, they're like, uh, says you don't have any money in your account. And he's like, that's crazy. I have $2,000 in that account. And they're like, well, you must. It's like they gave him the money.

21:15Exactly. It's just a really crazy concept. Do you have a strong sense of justice and get really upset when things feel unfair? That is me to the T. I have a situation going on right now. A guy stuck me with his truck. Gave me the approval, gave me everything, and he is literally dicking me. It is driving me insane because there's lawyers involved now and stuff like that.

21:34And I literally have this truck sitting on my property. I'm paying storage, I'm paying, you know, paying taxes on the property that it's sitting on. I'm storing the glass inside and everything. And this guy sees nothing wrong with not paying me even though I have signed approvals. I did. I stopped halfway through it because he didn't give me the deposit. So it's sitting there.

21:53But he's completely okay having lawyers involved now for something that I literally did everything I said I was going to do. He didn't do it. And then he comes along, well, you didn't look at it. We showed where you looked at it. You know exactly. This is just driving me insane. There's nothing I do about it besides sit here on my hands.

22:08I think about at least twice a day how much it pisses me off. Think about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just weird, you know? Yeah. So, well, you talked about in the last episode about the guy that owed you $100 from how long, and you walked up and grabbed the $50 and said, now you only owe me How long ago? How long a time span was that?

22:2515 years. Yeah, 15 years. Talk about holding a fucking grudge. Fuck, you sucky that you only took $100. Like, this is like how much interest collected in that 15 years, right? It's like, my God, you know, you know, this is something that Shane always says to me. He's like, all right, I'll talk to you in 5 minutes. And I'm like, what the fuck is he talking about?

22:48When we have conversations, me and people do, I'll play the conversations in my head over and over again afterwards. It's called dissecting, and I do it a lot. It is called rumination. A lot of autistic brains get stuck on social interactions, and they can lead— they can't let them go. So, what I do in my head a lot of times, and I've actually done it to you.

23:09Oh, for sure. I call you back. I'm like, okay, the conversation we had, these are the points I'm stuck on. Boom, boom. I get clarification. How many times have I done that to you? Yeah, and when, and when you don't, that's when we usually have a blowup. Because like, you feel like— and a lot of times I think when you talk about the injustice, a lot of times you'll be like, something's unfair or something's happening, and then, and then all of a sudden we're in a blowup situation.

23:28Once we talk about it, there's clarification, right? I'm a lot of things, but one thing I am not is unfair. 5,000%. You know, I always like, okay, here, you know, whatever. Um, do you need strict routines? Do you do the same things every day at the same time? And the answer is yes. And I think a lot of people do because Jim said he does it.

23:46Yeah. He says you could pretty much look at a clock and see. So I told Jim, congratulations, you're starting to look a little retarded yourself. Like myself. And listen, everybody, when I say— Wapner's on at 1. We got to get— that's a word we use in the '70s and '80s. Like, that's not— today, that's social slur and all that shit that people hate it.

24:08But that's words we've used when we were kids. And, you know, whenever I've said retard, I've never sat and thought about Like somebody literally like on the spectrum or anything else, you know. I don't know. Right, exactly. Yeah, so it's just a figure of speech that we use and we think it's funny, you know what I mean? So do I have a strict routine every day or every night when I get home?

24:26The very first thing I do, I walk in, I set the coffee maker up for the next morning, and if I don't, I get irritated. And a lot of people that have routines like I do, one of the things me and my wife would get in huge fights about If I get home with her, I get home and I'm like, okay, she knows what I do every day.

24:45I start setting up the coffee maker. She's like, we need to do this and this and we have to leave right now. It pisses me off. I don't know why. Uncontrollably to the point where I'm in a bad mood instantly. She even better. She's like, I'm better off just letting you do the coffee and then we'll go. How fucking weird is that?

25:00But it pisses me off because it's like, okay, all day I'm like on the way home. I'm like, all right, when I get home, I'm gonna freaking, uh, take this coffee, uh, filter out. I'm gonna put in the garbage can. I'm gonna put the canter in the sink right there. I'm gonna turn it on. I'm gonna let the dog— I'm gonna go get the dog's bowls and I'm gonna feed the dogs.

25:18And then by that time it's gonna be overflowing clean. Like, in my mind, the whole thing's laid out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden somebody's like, timeout, you can't do this, you can't do— I'm like, it sounds really weird, but I wake up every day at a certain— between the 15-minute window I do the same thing. I get up, I go to the bathroom, you know what I mean?

25:35It's really weird. Yeah, I'm starting to really sound like a fucking nutcase. But do you have routines or not? Oh, absolutely. And, and I, I find the same thing when somebody interrupts that task. It's like, it pisses me off. My trigger is time. When somebody like overtakes time and like it's, uh, you know, like the Shane situation, right? You know, like it's, uh, it's one of those things.

25:58Like when I feel like somebody's like wasting my time, I I get pissed off, right? It's like we're not here to waste time, you know what I mean? So let me see. Do you feel like an outsider around your own family sometimes? Not my immediate family, but yes, extended family. Sometimes it's just a little bit weird. Like everybody, you feel like, is everybody looking at me a little?

26:15I'm definitely different than everybody else. I'm usually the loudest guy in the room, whatever. That one I could say yes or no. I don't really— here's the thing, I don't fucking care. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you would have to care to be bothered by that one. I don't care. So I guess that's just— you're sitting there thinking like, I feel so lonely.

26:30Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Do you take things very literally? Oh my God, yes. And a lot of times when somebody tells me something, I take it literally and I don't even question it till I realize they're fucking lying to me. Now, I'm not talking about like, I'm not talking about money things, checks or whatever like that. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes people say something literally.

26:49I don't think, okay, that's bullshit. I'm like, why would they lie? Yeah. Because I don't lie to people. Why would they lie? So, I guess the answer to that is yes. And We often process language literally instead of picking up on the implied meaning. So now it's like, in my mind, I'm like, do I have to have a fucking decoder ring? Like, I have to go to the mailbox like in the Christmas story, look for the Ovaltine decoder ring and figure out what people are saying?

27:13Do I have to sit there and spin it and figure— like, I find that a little bit weird. Yeah, yeah, but that's— I, I don't know how to answer about that, you know. Um, Do you have a hard time identifying exactly what you're feeling emotionally? The answer is yes for me a lot of times, because a lot of times I don't know what's bothering me, why it's bothering, how I should feel about it until I really think about it.

27:34I know that sounds really weird. I don't really know how to explain it, so hopefully people online can understand what I'm saying. Like, you— okay, so say your dog is ran over by a car. Yeah, you're crying, but you're like, oh, this kind of fucking sucks, but you're not like really upset, but like I've had situations in my life where I'm physically upset, but I'm not mentally upset.

27:54Like my body's like acting all weird, like trying to do the, um, speech for Steve. Oh, when I'm at, you know, his funeral getting ready to talk about in front of everybody, I started out with like, well, Steve used to always tell me, if you don't like public speaking, just picture everybody in their underwear. And some of you people aren't even wearing underwear.

28:12Oh my God. And then everybody busts out laughing. I say this at a funeral, right? And I was like, oh my God, awesome. But then I started shaking and I couldn't talk. Oh, like emotionally, my emotions got so messed up, but I couldn't tell you why. Or like, obviously we know why. Yeah, but I couldn't break down in my mind why I'm upset because my best friend's laying in a casket, blah blah blah blah.

28:31I know it sounds really weird, but like I, I got out there and sat down, I'm like, huh, that was really weird. So it was like the everything hit and like bottled up. And yeah, I almost hyperventilated trying to talk after I said that joke. It was really weird. My daughter Jordan had to take over. Wow. Oh, Cool Hand Luke. Yeah, I'll talk about this.

28:50All calm and said it, you know. Everybody's like, I'm just like ready to fucking die. And all my guys are sitting in the audience, they're like ready to fucking melt down too because I'm upset, you know. All my employees are out there going, oh my God, the guy we love. Yeah, you know. And, uh, it was definitely a really weird thing. But my wife's like, how did you feel?

29:06And I'm like, honestly, because we were sitting there, she's like, how did you— what was up with that? She's like, how did you feel? Like, I felt like you were gonna pass out. I'm like I really couldn't tell you how I felt. I know how my body was acting, but mine was like, why are you not saying this speech? Yeah, what the fuck is the problem here?

29:20Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, man, that was a really weird time— bizarre, I should say— in my life. Oh yeah, because you're up there and you're shaking. And we sit down, she's like, I thought you were gonna hyperventilate. Like, what were you feeling? I'm like, I know why I'm here. Yeah, I know why I'm upset. I know why my body's doing this, but my mind's going, you need to keep talking, just keep talking.

29:38But I couldn't. Wow, it's like just a physical— yeah, it was almost like a lockup. Yeah, and I don't even know, I guess that might be a— I don't know, I'd imagine that is a normal thing. Oh yeah, except for the, uh, you could just recite what was literally going on at that particular— why can't you talk? Well, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

29:57I'm just like, well, I had to think about it. Yep. It's just, I don't know, it's just really weird. And you know what, guys, you guys can fucking laugh and joke around. I'm just being completely truthful how I felt about shit. Because I kind of feel like some of these guys out here, yeah, that are like us, or like me I should say, not putting you in the freaking boat with me, but some of these people have the same questions.

30:19And how many people talk about this shit unless you're like, you know, doing a podcast and stuff like this? Like, I have definitely no doubt about have been different my whole life, you know, and that's just the way it is. Well, and to your point, I'd have to imagine you said it right at the beginning, a lot of guys in, in this field, in this trade, like, or, you know, um, electricians, like all of that kind of stuff, they're— they've, they've been the kids that were the outcasts in school.

30:46Like they were on, you know, like they've, they're— they've got pushed into these fields, right? Right. So you have a lot of people that relate. And there's guys like me, like I remember when I first started being a mechanic, technician, whatever, and I was at Hale's. I remember like Rich that worked next to me, he used to put, you know, his nuts and bolts in like different containers or whatever.

31:11And I always would just take intake bolts out and stuff like that, heavy engine bolts and stuff. I would just throw them in a, in a plastic Cough Folgers thing or whatever, or in the parts cleaner and just let the water run. I never ever considered like, okay, I need to make sure I take these valve cover bolts out and put them here.

31:29These, you know, the front pump cover brackets I need to put on. I would just throw the shit in a bucket. I never thought like how my mind worked. Like, I kind of— I'm sitting here taking apart knowing where these bolts go. There's people that can't do that. 5,000%. I would imagine most people can't do that, right? And then me and Jim were talking about that, like we were talking about taking stuff apart, and he's like, yeah, I've seen you like Shane's truck.

31:48When Shane's truck was here, I did that job on the Cybertruck. I just took all the bolts And I threw them away, or I threw them down into the container. And he's like, yeah, I gotta put the light bar on. I'm like, it's the 2 blue bolts, they have a bigger washer on them. He's like, looks at me like, you're fucking weird.

32:01But like, I just remember that, right? I'm like, they have to have the bigger washer on because the bracket, the weight. It's like, I go over this whole thing, he's like, you're fucking weird. Wow. But that was just— I look at that as a gift, right? Oh, absolutely. You know, and it's just like no different than— you ever see these guys that sit there and they like have tattoos all over them, their hats all flipped up, and they're like, yeah, I'm gonna lay out these flames on this truck with some thin line, and they're out there freaking— they draw it out of the pencil, then they do it.

32:26Or the pinstriping guys. Yeah, the guys that are pinstripers, they're like smoking joint, they're like— and they do this pit. Like, how crazy is that? Or can sit down and draw a beautiful freaking picture, but they can't tie their fucking shoes. Absolutely right. And you know, there's certain things that I, I struggle with. You're like, I cannot sit down So I might have ADHD or ADD, whatever the fuck it's called.

32:50I always get it mixed up. But I can't sit down and read a book. Like, I can't lay there outside on a blanket. Like, I see you and Gracie go to the park and you guys are reading books. I'm like, yeah, there ain't no fucking way. Look at that cloud. Boobs. Yeah, like, I could not— my mind does just not work that way.

33:11Yeah, but you put me in front of a back in the day, like, take this engine out of this car, do this, put it— redress a new engine, put it back in. Like, I had no problem doing that. You had complete focus. I had a complete focus. I could do that all day long. Maybe because I was making a living at it, great.

33:26But, but there was something that was keeping your attention too. There's something keeping his attention. I think that's a lot of these guys that were misunderstood in school. And here's the problem: they go to these— they go to these, um, shops and stuff like that, and the shop owner maybe doesn't understand it because If you really stop and think about all my guys, everybody in all my companies has a weird tendency or two.

33:47You talk to Nick, you know, he didn't do great in school, but he's, he's a fine mechanic, right? You talk to Jake, he was terrible in school. He was, you know, on ADHD medication, all that shit, Ritalin. He does fine here. Yep. Jonathan was hyperactive. They had him on Ritalin when he worked for me back in the day. My son-in-law runs around like a maniac.

34:06He doesn't work for me, but You know, um, my son Lincoln, he was a crazy man. Um, Phil. Yep. You can see Phil has weird tendencies. Jason Spencer almost didn't even graduate from high school. His mom, you know, helped him along. He's a great mechanic. He's an A-tech. You know what I'm saying? Like everybody, Jody, he didn't do very good in school.

34:25He doesn't like everybody that works for me. All these guys have these tendencies one way or the other of, I don't want to say, I don't want to keep saying everybody I know is autistic. That's not what I'm saying, but they're definitely different. Yep. Yeah. And the tradespeople are definitely different people. That's why tradespeople, we have a certain code that nobody talks about.

34:49Like, first thing I do when a guy's like, yeah, I work in the trades, I'm a manager, I look at his work boots. I had a guy here a few weeks ago that says, yeah, I'm in the trades, I know all about the trades and stuff like this, and you know, I, I understand your guys's world and stuff like that. When he came in for the meeting, I looked He's wearing fucking jeans that are like, look like they're brand new, like he bought them before the meeting.

35:08He's wearing brand new Red Wings boots that look like he literally just put them on, right? He's wearing a brand new fucking flannel shirt. And I'm like, he's been bought this costume. Wow. And I picked all that on. And, you know, he leaves and I'm like, fuck, look at the fuck this guy. He's walking around looking at his fucking soles. Like, we have an unspoken rule, like It's kind of like, you know, you look at the guys are like, yeah, I'm a technician, or I'm a tech.

35:34First thing we do is look at your hands. Yeah, yeah, your hands would be fucked. Yeah, yeah, dirty. Yeah, I'm the first— I've said 100 times in this podcast, I don't really work on shit a lot anymore, so my hands aren't dirty. Yep. But there's a lot of these guys that, you know, I'm a technician. You look at them, well, if you're a technician, why do you have fucking clean hands?

35:50It's like, what are you a technician of? Like, so we kind of pick up on all that stuff and, you know The trades are— everybody, if you think about it, tradesmen are definitely different than everybody else. Like, when they say blue collar, that, that they're like the roughnecks. Yeah, tech, electricians, plumbers, all these guys are all the same. They wear Red Wing boots, Brunt boots as they came out, whatever, you know what I mean?

36:13Carhartt and stuff like that. And the thing is about it, tradesmen get— tradespeople get dogged. And then we'll get back to this, but think about this. There was a Carhartt shortage because all the fucking yuppies were buying Carhartts. Think about that. Do you remember that? Yeah, fucking tradesmen that had to work outside and shit like that couldn't get their boots, couldn't get Carhartts and shit like that because all these fucking people were buying it to look cute with their fucking hats, their Carhartt hats and shit.

36:37Like, oh, look at me, I work. And guys had to switch gears and stuff like that. And then, you know, Carhartt— here's another thing, we'll go political. Carhartt came out and started freaking doing all that bullshit with the vaccination and all that shit. Remember that? Then all of a sudden they lose a lot of the blue-collar people who are like, fuck you, we're not doing it.

36:56Usually independent thinkers are in the trades. I've said this before, mechanics are independent thinkers, tradesmen are independent thinkers. That's why we can actually do something. We can make a decision on our own when we're working on something. We don't need to go and talk to a manager like corporate America. We like to be independent thinkers, if you think about it. Yeah. You know, if you're a tradesman, you're out there wiring and you're up there doing some wiring, you don't need to call your manager over to tell you which way to run the wire.

37:23You're an independent thinker. You can improvise. Like, I want to almost say, like, you're almost like not autistic, artistic. Some of the stuff we do. Yeah, absolutely. You know, like, you know, like it's problem solving for sure. And I think that's a big thing for you is like you're constantly solving a problem, even with this, when it's with clients or with Yeah, here in the shops or, you know, and everybody has to have an emergency guy.

37:44Jim Gray sent me a video, who's the emergency guy in your family? When something happens, who do they call to handle the emergency? There's usually one guy. It's usually the dad if he's got any balls, right? Yeah. But who's that guy have for emergency? So we just rely on ourselves. So let's go back to our questions. But that was kind of a, you start to see this picture.

38:03I mean, this is a pretty interesting conversation for me because this is a lot of things that I've thought about for my whole life and now it's all coming to light because of AI asking AI questions. Yeah. To try to get in Google and start reading all these dissertations or these freaking theology reports and all kinds of crazy shit that some guy writes and he's talking way over our head, we don't really understand it.

38:26Not that I'm going to mention it. I'm not going to sit down and read it. Yeah. But if I'm driving down the road asking back and forth, And my wife's like, holy shit, this is you she's talking about. Did you program this? And I'm like, no. So, you know, you're really good at mental health, finding details. You could answer this question. I want to answer it.

38:49Are you really good at, uh, at mental health, mental math, finding details and seeing patterns quickly? Well, it's so funny because like your, your wife's always called you Rain Man. I, uh, I, I've like, I've, I've said it a couple times and I was like, is that politically correct, like, because people always look at me funny because, like, obviously— and back then they didn't say he was autistic, right?

39:09Nobody said that. But obviously Rain Man was autistic. That was his thing. And he, like, counted the numbers and, like, you know, and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, uh, the first time going to TJ's and, uh, and you're, like, going through and he's, like, reading you some stuff off the paper and, like, you were doing the math and, like, you're like, so it's this, right?

39:24And I'm like, holy shit. Like, why? It was, it was so impressive. It was like watching the mental calculator going Yeah, but some of the weird little itty-bitty math, like Jim's like, oh, that guy makes this an hour. How much does he make a week? I'm like, I don't know. It's really weird. Like, I could do the complicated things, but the little itty-bitty ones, I'm like, let me get my calculator.

39:42But yeah, that's one thing I do. And it's like, I look at— I don't want to say it's like I look at the numbers and they float because that's not even it. It's just like I look at them like, okay, I logically figure it out. So I guess it's like logical thinking. Well, and then I think it also mentions patterns too, right?

39:57Like, it's not just even the mental math, but you recognize patterns, period. Yes, I do all the time. And like, now I will tell you, like, I sit there and I go through these numbers and I learn stuff all the time about what affects this or what affects that or why is this like this or like, you know, things that people don't even think about.

40:16And I take that for granted. I'm like, man, how could you not know that? Then I'm like thinking nobody, my wife's like, dude, nobody's like fucking like you. And you know, I was listening to, Did you listen to Dale Carnegie book I gave you? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Stressful. Talks about there's only one person like you and that's you. Yeah. You're the only— you're one of a kind.

40:37There's— your kids can be kind of like you, but they're not like you. Yep. And I was sitting there listening. That's a true statement. There's just— I'm one of a kind. Yep. Just like you're one of a kind. There's nobody's going to replicate us. Like, they've tried. Think about this. Henry Ford and all these guys that— the, the greats of the world, right?

40:54We'd go back to Abraham Lincoln and all these— I'd be willing to bet you if you looked at these people and found their grades, I bet you they were terrible students. Think about it. Yeah. Yep. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, all these great people were absolutely fucking horrible. Yeah. At school. But they had some tendency to make something really cool. Like Elon Musk.

41:18That guy's so fucking smart, he hurts to listen to. If you try to listen to a podcast, the stuttering, the stumbling, his mind is moving so fast it can't even get out of his mouth. Yeah. Elon is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's next level. But he starts talking about putting data centers in space because we won't have a real estate problem. We won't have electricity problems.

41:38We have the sun. There's a guy that just thinks, and I'm sure there's people on his team that he bounces his shit off of. They're just as smart, they just happen to be in the background. But I'm sure that people make a fuck ton of money too. Well, and you talk about how fast he talks, that's how fast his brain is processing.

41:54He probably has to work on slowing it down. He probably consciously slows that down. Yeah, because I have a bad habit of, um, I do it to you all the time. I try to get myself out of habit, you know. So I switch conversations. I'll talk about one conversation, I'll go 3 conversations ahead, then I'll go, oh, I'm back to this conversation.

42:12People are like looking at me go I don't even understand what you're saying. I do that to my wife all the time. What I'm starting to realize, guys, is if you start asking AI these questions, you're going to start to identify some of the problems you have in your relationships. Because I know that now I am the problem in some of my relationships.

42:30Not business relationships, because it's cut and dry with me. There's either right or wrong. There's no in-between with me. Like, okay. It's like today I look up 207. Jay says 207. Homeboy's gotta go. I know, I know. I looked at the clock. I'm like, well, you gotta go because you know. So yeah, you know. Do you take things literally? Do you have a blah blah blah?

42:52Yeah. Do you do everything ten thousand percent or not at all? Who's that sound like? You'd rather not do it than not do it ten ten thousand percent. I always try to do everything like to the T's, like. We fucking banged this podcast studio out in 4 days. 4 days. I was just telling this story today. Yeah, it's just like, okay, we're gonna have podcast studio when?

43:15Tomorrow. Tomorrow. My wife cannot believe I don't have a barn at my house yet. She's like, I cannot believe you haven't built a barn yet. I haven't got to it. Like, I only could do so much. I moved, you know, all the wood. I did the yard. Yeah, didn't you make a road? Yeah, yeah, I got a road around around my house.

43:33Like, I gotta go gravel, and I put topsoil down and plant grass and move the wood. I've done so much. There's just— there's not physically enough time left to freaking deal with. I have 50 hours on my tractor already. Oh my God. Yeah. And I think I've only had it a month and a half, so I've worked that tractor, you know, that's a lot of hours.

43:53Yeah, yeah, right off the rip, you know. So do you get frustrated when people interrupt you while you're focused on something? The answer is absolutely. I don't know about anybody, when I'm into something, I'm trying to do numbers or whatever, and I'm sitting there going back and forth. Somebody comes in for a stupid question, it pisses me off to no fucking end.

44:11I don't know if you've lived it yet, but I just get so irritated. Like, I got this shit to do and you're interrupting me. Yep, yep, yep. And, uh, so that's a yes. Do you feel like your brain works differently than most people's? Like you see the world from a completely different angle? The answer for me is 100%. Yep. Um, I— they're like that saying, guys, um, Is the glass half full or half empty?

44:33That is so true. And I'll give you an example. This is a sales thing for me. My daughter, we have our one house for sale and they said, oh, did they buy another house? Another realtor does. And my daughter says, yes, they bought another house and they have this house. Ooh, that has to be hard for them to have 2 houses. Cooper's like, yeah, it's not easy.

44:59She tells me, I said, why the fuck did you say that? She's like, well, I wanted to know it wasn't easy. I go, what you signaled to me is let's go ahead and give them a lowball offer. That's why they asked that question to me. That's what I'm thinking. Right. So I thought, okay, what you should have said is they don't give a shit.

45:14Yeah. They don't owe on this house so they can sell it whenever, which is the truth. Yep. I would look at it as completely different now. She thought she was doing a good thing to get an offer. I think you did the wrong thing. That's her opinion. I have an opinion. Was what? Well, which one was right? She's trying to spur an offer thinking, okay, maybe they can give us an offer a little bit lower.

45:37We come back and counter it, and it wouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking, fuck that. So let's not play the game. Let's not play the game because I don't need to play the game. Yeah, and that sounds arrogant, but it's just the fucking truth. I made smart. Decisions in my life so I don't have to play the fucking game. Yep. You know, so I just think about shit completely different.

45:55Like, I remember one time, and I'm trying to paint a picture to everybody, like, how my mind works, or how most of these guys' mind works that people don't understand. I— my wife pulls up and it's a windy day. I remember she got her Lincoln Navigator. She pulls up and the garbage can is right in the middle of the driveway where Lincoln lopped it.

46:14And it has moved already because it's windy. She pulls up, gets out of her car and walks in. I'm like, what are you doing? She's like, what do you mean? What am I doing? You need to move the garbage can. Why? Because the wind is blowing right now. It's going to blow and hit your car. I thought about what was going to happen.

46:31She was obtuse. She just walked on by. And that's not necessarily a special thing. That's the way a guy thinks versus a girl thinks. Yeah. We see what's coming down the road. They're like, well, bye. Yep. Yeah. You are playing out the next steps though. We always have. I always have. I don't know if you do that. Yeah. You see it coming.

46:49It's like, oh, here we go. And they're like, what? Oh my God. Seriously. And, you know, so that goes in with everything in life. And that's when you're in the tradesmen, you can kind of see, okay, if I do this, this is going to happen. That's where I think we're tradesmen are completely different than a lot of different people. And I want to call us the kids in the hall guys.

47:09We were the guys that spent a lot of time in the hall. We knew the hall monitors. We were like, yo, what's up? Oh, you run your mouth again? Yeah, that fucking bitch kicked me out of class again. She didn't think I was funny. But there was a lot of kids that spent a lot of time in the hall if you think about it.

47:24Yeah, I was a hallway kid. Exactly. Congratulations, right? We all have business. I found humor was my first self-defense mechanism. So, there you go, right? So when you're done with the phone call, do you just hang up or say goodbye? I know we've talked about this one. I freaking have gotten in trouble several times by people going, you're fucking rude, you just clicked to hang up.

47:48You're like, okay, click, goodbye. I've had people call me back and say goodbye. I'm like, goodbye? Why do you call me back? You didn't say goodbye while I was done talking. Apparently that is a task-minded Uh, we often don't see the point in social rituals. Once a conversation is over, to us it's logically over. To others, it can seem rude. Mm-hmm. It's again, those social things.

48:14Like, uh, I've never thought about it when you said, when you just hung up, it's like one of those things, we're done talking. I don't necessarily need a goodbye. You know, like I'm not thinking like, oh my God, Kevin didn't say bye. Like he, the call must have been interrupted. I knew the call at the end, the call was ended. I knew we were done talking.

48:30You know who I could tell the people it irritates? They don't say bye. My wife does not say bye anymore. She won't say it. She just hangs up like, okay, click. She does that to me because she bitched at me for so long. Uh-huh. She decided to fucking do it to me, and I, I'm cool. You're cool with it? Good. Does anyone say bye?

48:54Here's one that— this is nothing with anything about being different. My wife said to me, you know, it really gets fucking irritating that I have to put the toilet seat down. You know what my answer was the other day and defreezed her? I said, you should appreciate that I don't leave it down and piss all over it. I think as much for you.

49:12I think about you so much, I leave it up so I don't pee on it. She looked at me, she goes, you're a fucking asshole. She's like, that's good. And she walked away. But how many guys would have been like, I don't know what to tell you, or they run it? I'm like, yeah, I put that up so I don't piss on it.

49:29I pee on the floor, you tell me all the time. All guys piss on the floor, so— oh my God, dude, there's nothing you can do. Do you get bitchy? Oh my God, yeah, exactly. In the middle of the night, I'm like walking, fuck, floor's all wet from last time I was here. Like, literally, as you get older, guys, trust me, it's worse.

49:46Right now, when I, you know, I, I look at freaking my grandson goes outside, pisses next to a tree, And I see him pissing like a stream that goes 30 feet. I'm like, enjoy it while you can, Junior. I said, right now, I can hardly not piss on my boots. I mean, at 55, you know what I'm saying? It's just like, oh my God, it's so funny.

50:05The most awkward conversation I've ever had in the bathroom was a few months ago. I went into the bathroom and I was like in and out. And the guy at the urinal was like, man, I wish I could pee like that. And I was like, that's a— I didn't know it was a special trick. Right, exactly. So let's see. Okay. Do you sometimes feel like you're missing the social rule book that everybody else got?

50:30Absolutely. Like the social cues book like that everybody else got. Like, I'm like, yeah, I've often found myself like saying shit and then going, why is everybody mad? Now is everybody all butthurt all of a sudden? Like, so that's happened. And I think that a lot of these guys that are in these shops or in these trades, they come up and they say something to the foreman.

50:51They're not being hostile, they're being truthful, because that's the way they're wired. This is my problem, you're the guy I gotta tell, this is what's going on. They're like, you're fucking rude, you're aggressive. No, you're probably a pussy. That's probably why you're some kind of superintendent with a clipboard and stuff, because you're too big of a bitch to actually make it in the trade.

51:08So, you know, man, in, in like, uh, being in like leadership, in leadership I would much rather know where I'm at with somebody and they, they speak bluntly than having that person that's like, hey there, Mr. Tracy. Like, you know, like that, you know, is a fake-ass motherfucker. Yes, I agree with that. And, you know, do you have to constantly explain your intentions?

51:31Like, I wasn't trying to be mean. I was just trying to be honest all the time. That happens with my wife. Me and her speak 2 different languages because we do not communicate very directly. People often misread our intentions. We end up explaining ourselves a lot. I don't explain myself a lot in the business world with the employees and stuff like that.

51:48I don't have to because we— I talk on the same wavelength as them. Like, I understand. So when I say, hey, you need to fix that freaking run in the paint, it's direct. They understand fix around the paint, right? Yeah. If I walk up to a guy and I say, well, you know, you don't do this and you don't do that, but I never really intentionally say fix it, they might not understand it.

52:075,000%. Absolutely. Like, there's, you know, Jim Gray used to always say to me, like, when I would mention something, we probably go ahead and take care of that like today or tomorrow. He's like, okay, he wants it done today or tomorrow. Yeah, he said probably, but you can take that out, right? You can take that out because sometimes certain people, guys, I've learned that I have to say it certain ways.

52:29Yeah, I don't— I, some people I can't be 110% direct all the time. I've masked myself to learn to say, okay, if I say that to this guy, it's going to cause me a huge problem, so I have to say it this way. And that's where I have to think about it. I have to think consciously, think consciously, think about saying different things to different people a different way.

52:46So what does that tell you? Absolutely. You know, I do care about people's feelings. I'm not saying I'm this cold-hearted prick that just fucking spits shit everywhere. So certain people in my life, I handle things certain ways, you know. Like, I try to always bring you up to speed on every client we have so you know exactly where we're at. You do the same with me.

53:04I've learned that because what I'm trying to do is negate negate a problem that's going to come like, Jason didn't know that, or Kevin didn't know that. So we know what's going on with every one of our clients all the time. Absolutely. You know, I think that's something that's very important to me, and I always try to get ahead of problems. It is so nice.

53:20And, uh, you know, like, uh, um, the other morning, uh, when talking to Colin, he was like talking about like something, and I was like, oh yeah, Kevin was telling me about this. And like, it's just one of those things. I think it communicates, and it's like even what we're coaching around, that control. And we're communicating that this isn't something like— and you're not going to play one side and the other.

53:41This is something we're all working together. The communication is there. Right. And we haven't had any clients yet that have tried any bullshit on us, but it's coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's coming. Because usually sooner or later they're going to be like, well, Jason said this and Kevin said— wait a second. That's not what happened. Because we record our meetings. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

53:58I could send you the transcript, you know. Um, do you sometimes feel like you and your wife are speaking 2 completely different languages, often, uh, though you're using the same words? And the answer is yes, extremely common. Neurological— neurotypical marriages, they often— the way they process information, emotions are generally different. Now, I don't know if this right here Is an autistic thing, an ADHD thing, a hyperactive thing, or a man and a woman thing?

54:29I know, I know. I did not agree with this one 100% because I think a lot of the times nowadays, guys, what ends up happening in our life— and I'm not a fucking coach of life, I'm not saying— I just did this podcast because I found it interesting. I figured it could answer a lot of questions. But I think that women and men inherently are on 2 different fucking levels.

54:53And what's made it worse— I don't know if this happens in your house, tell me if it does— I'm trying to talk to her and explain something to her, she's on her motherfucking phone. Oh my God. And she's not paying attention. I'm over there talking, I look up and she's on her phone. Did you hear a fucking thing I said? What? What?

55:09What? No, you're on your fucking phone. So when you're done fucking around— and you can say that I didn't say anything to you, but you're on your phone when I did say it, so you never even acknowledged it. Yeah, we'll pull it up on the cameras, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, or recorded phone calls. Like, I think that's a guy and a woman thing.

55:26And anybody who sits there online and has a, um, a TikTok or anything that sits there and says they get along with their wife 100% of the time, all the time, no matter what, is fucking lying to you. Oh, I don't think that's even possible. I don't think it's possible. Unless you beat your wife into submission so bad she doesn't say anything, then what kind of relationship is that?

55:49Does your wife see it as you're getting along? Right? I mean, me and my wife, we think about 2 different things. I mean, I am a literal guy. Like, I see my kids do something, she might stick up. I'm like, no, that's fucking bullshit. And she gets mad. Well, you're so harsh. You're this. I mean, it's either no, they're pregnant or they're not pregnant.

56:07Like, why do we have to say they're kind of fucking pregnant? There's no such a thing. Like, it was just an example, but yeah, I think that's where men and women have problems. So let's go ahead and move that, move that into the workplace. Women are emotional, guys are factual. Yeah, there's books that say it. Yep. Okay, when you bring women into the workplace, it can cause different problems.

56:27I'm not saying every workplace, everything, but think about it, guys. You know how many guys have lost their job over in our trade over the last several years because they don't like the way that they talk. Got talked to— a woman complained about them the way they talked when technically it was not even a problem. It was just a guy being a guy.

56:47You've had to have that in your stores and stuff back when you had them. Oh man, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's walking that line for sure. It's tough because they do take it— they take it differently. Yeah. And, uh, so I don't think that's a freaking autistic thing, ADHD. I don't think it's any of that, you know. But, you know, like I said, I just want to do this podcast talking about the trades and talking about different people.

57:08And guys, it's okay to be different. You don't have to think there's something wrong with you. It's almost like I almost think that these people, some of these people, there's no doubt about it, people have mental health nowadays like they don't even know what they are, right? I get that. That's a— I hate even using the word a mental health thing, but let's face it, they're crazy.

57:25Yeah. Okay. They have mental problems, right? Yeah. But it almost seems like they try to hide the way they are, how they're different, by dyeing their hair blue, putting gauge earrings in, get all these tattoos and act completely different because they feel completely different on the inside. So fuck, why not be completely different on the outside? It's almost like they're trying to make the other half of the mold.

57:43I feel so different inside, I fuck it, I just might as well be different on the outside. That way everybody can see I'm different. Does that even make sense to a lot of people? Yeah, I thought about that the other day. Wow, that makes a lot of sense. That's how fucking weird I am. Yeah, you're ruminating. Yeah, but I think about shit like that.

58:00Like, why do these You know, but I guess it just— it's like they're matching the internal, like they're projecting externally. Yeah. And, you know, and I think nowadays, I think the answer to having a kid that's maybe, um, very creative— I don't want to keep saying autistic— like creative. Yeah. Or have— has a personality that doesn't fit into the system that the schools have put in place.

58:21So if you get 10 kids that are acting completely great, you got one kid that's, you know, that's got a personality or whatever. And I'm not saying your kids a kid with no manners that's a rude little fucking asshole because their mom and dad don't, you know, correct them. I'm not saying that. I'm saying the kids that are just different, struggle with their reading, writing, arithmetic, whatever.

58:41Yep. And they, they go out and talk out in class, we put them in the hall. I don't even know if that's even a thing anymore, do you? I, I don't know. That's a good question, you know, because, you know, I used to have that problem with some of my kids. With, uh, Lincoln and Jordan never really got in trouble in school.

58:55Bo and Cooper did. But I was like, well, you know, they would call me and they're like, well, you know, their kid did this. I go, yeah, but You're the professional, deal with it. Why are you calling me to freaking correct my kid? You deal with it. You're the perfect— you have the card at the parent-teacher conferences. Okay, I'm a professional educator.

59:11Okay, I'm a professional mechanic. Do I call the fucking customer and go, yo, your water pump is leaking and one of the bolts is broken off and I'm gonna probably have to drill it out, helicoil it, uh, can you give me some advice? Professional means, in my— you're a pro. Yeah, you should handle it like pro ball. Pro football. I get we have coaches, right, that are above the players, but you don't— they don't call the freaking fans.

59:36What should we do, right? So the fans would like to give them advice, but yeah, yeah, exactly. Especially all the Joe Blow, uh, armchair quarterbacks or whatever. But it makes me wonder, like, our system has no room for these kids. If you really stop and think about our system, really has no room for these kids. And when I start talking to people with kids with special needs— now I'm talking about another level, guys, right?

59:59With special needs, they can't even get these, these, this help. The idea with society right now, give them medication. Yep, give them medication to get them through school so they miss school, so we'll just send them to the trades. Then all of a sudden they go to the trades and they fucking kick ass, dude. So the, the client project I just worked with is, uh, the organization is called Life on Purpose Detroit.

1:00:21And they work with these kids that are between 14 and 17 that most of them are either on the spectrum, all of them are in special ed or have IEP plans. And it's like a work-to-training program. They pay them $15 an hour and they partnered up with the Detroit Wildlife International— Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. It's a lot to say. They're a federal organization, so they can't make social media and market themselves.

1:00:46And so this organization, Life on Purpose Detroit, has these kids like creating social media. So they— I came in and coached the kids on creating intentional, purposeful social media. And, uh, it's fucking awesome because like these kids have superpowers. And like once you find like the different things that they're really good at and help them like develop their confidence, it was incredible the stuff they did, right?

1:01:08And you know, stop and think about what society did in the last 10 years, because I'm 55, so last 25 years They've gotten rid of all the shops, wood shop, metal shop, welding, whatever classes, auto shop, right? Because society told everybody, okay, we don't have enough managers, so computers are the future, so everybody needs to go to college to be a computer programmer or get a business degree, right?

1:01:38Yeah. So when everybody does that big shift, they start taking these programs and taking them down. The metal shops, the diesel mechanics— like, I went to diesel because they, they had vocational schools, right? So they took them all down. So where did these kids go? Yeah, a lot of them went to fucking jail. Yep, juvie. Okay, I could tell you when I was in school, some of the best freaking places I could go to— auto shop, metal shop, wood shop.

1:02:02It was fucking awesome. You get to use tools and just— that was me. You work with your hands. You work with your hands. And I flourished in them things, right? I kicked ass in diesel mechanics and all that stuff like that. In auto, I remember doing brakes on my Blazer in auto. It was just like, oh my God, this is crazy, right?

1:02:18Um, but all them programs got closed. Yeah, they got defunded or whatever you want to do it, right? The schools got rid of them. Yep. But now guess what's happening? Now the society is saying— Mike Rowe gets on there and goes, okay, we have a real problem with tradesmen now. We don't have enough tradesmen. Now tradesmen should make 6 figures. Now we need to hurry up, put the vocational programs back together.

1:02:38We need to put auto shop back together. We need to put this back together. We'd not have funding even when they were funded towards the end. They weren't funded towards the end. They didn't have the latest scan tools, right? Yeah. But now we need it. Now we have a shortage of tradesmen. And now nobody's talked about this. Here comes the data centers because of AI.

1:02:54Who is going to make the data centers possible? Let me tell you guys, the kids in the hall. Yeah, the kids in the hall. That may be the episode title. That's phenomenal. Yeah, the kids in the hall are going to freaking make the fucking— all this shit happen. We're the tradesmen. We're the guys that were different. We're the guys that they said they're going to be losers.

1:03:14But how many people do you know— I got goosebumps— how many people do you know that were kids in the hall that own heating and cooling businesses? We all kick ass. They all make a lot of money. And we live in the same subdivisions, neighborhoods, as doctors and lawyers and plastic surgeons. Think about that. Okay, over the years I've been— I've been— I've owned shops.

1:03:31I started out as a tradesman. I own shops, I own businesses. Okay, I don't have 17 college degrees. I tell you the other day, like, my wife, she's got more degrees than a thermometer, right? Okay, but you know, the thing is, great, she does very well when she was in the workplace, but I don't have a college degree. And I'll say what Magic Johnson says, I hire people with degrees to do shit for me.

1:03:52Okay, I have enough money to hire people with degrees. I didn't have to go sit in college, but I went out, made enough money nowadays that I could live the life I want and live in the neighborhood I want, you know what I'm saying? So anybody who told you you're gonna be a fucking loser, just ignore them, okay? Nobody kicks a dead horse.

1:04:07Nobody fucking picks on the people that, you know, the people on social media, you're this, you're that, you misspeak. So fucking what? Yeah, I'm passionate. Yep. But I was— the kids in the hall are the guys that are going to make America great again. We'll use a Trump thing because data centers and everything, whether you want to admit or not, data centers are here to stay.

1:04:24Oh yeah, you can't stop making your AI pictures. You used your AI photo to make this no data center in this community. I'm posting— fucking people. Here's the problem we have. These are college-educated people. They're not even fucking smart enough to realize when they're making an AI picture of a data center how they hate data centers, they're using a data center to make a fucking AI picture.

1:04:46They're— they are the fucking problem. I actually put that in some of the Facebook groups. You do realize you're bitching about all this stuff, and you're using data centers. Data centers store likes, they store all the comments, they store all that. And now AI came and it supercharged everything. Yep. And the kids in the hall have to put all this shit together, and they're the kids that are all going to be like— now is the trade's time to make a lot of money.

1:05:09And with closing, I'll tell you this, that last, uh, it wasn't last week, the week before last podcast got me more freaking messages of guys going, holy shit, Our managers would take us in there and say, you guys aren't working fast enough. You are not doing this. You are not doing that. And these are college-educated managers, guys. Okay? The guys in the white shirts at the dealerships telling the technicians, you guys aren't working fast enough.

1:05:32Look at the report. Look at your hours. And the guy sends me a picture of the report. I've had it happen 3 times. And I go, yeah, well, your guys are not even— you guys are selling 3— your service writers are selling 3 out of 10 jobs. Your fucking college-educated manager does not even know how to read a fucking report. And that's his job.

1:05:49He's in there giving you a pep talk about working faster and doing more, and you should turn more hours when they only sold 30 hours each for you last week. They want you guys to do 50 or 60. There's a guy that's got a college education that is a poser in my book because he can't even read a report. He doesn't realize that his service advisors need to be trained to sell shit.

1:06:11His mechanics are not the problem. That's happened on 3 different occasions. Okay, but the kids in the hall are the problem. The kids in the hall are the problem with America. Bullshit. Okay, we're just different, and a lot of us don't put up with the bullshit. So we went to the trades, and we've done very well in the trades. And guys, if you're an auto mechanic and you're on flat rate, you don't like it, make a fucking change.

1:06:36Make a change, or go to the manager of the dealership, or whoever your— whoever title du jour is that day and fucking tell them, listen, all of us are walking out. If everybody walked out of Michigan dealerships, these dealerships would have to change their pay plan. But the problem is a lot of these people have not made a lot of smart decisions.

1:06:54So a lot of them are broke and they're stuck paycheck to paycheck. So they're stuck. They just want to get on social media and complain about it. But on the other hand, Jay, when we talk about it, there's a lot of guys that do really well on the flat rate in the dealerships and stuff like that. So it's not 100% one way or the other.

1:07:09But at the end of the day, the trades are where it's at right now. They're saying the trades are going to freaking— are exploding to the point where there's not enough tradesmen. Well, and I think it's all depending on your belief system because like you look at everything you're doing as a superpower and you don't make excuses. And, and you, you know, I think the people that are successful don't make excuses and they find a way to make it work.

1:07:30And then the other people are like, oh, I'm different, you know, I'm, I'm a loser. And they believe that. Whatever you believe, you're going to prove yourself right. Yeah, I told— I, I like basically said it a couple weeks ago to that podcast that I do very well in the environment I'm in with my personality. Meaning I've been in these shops my whole life, so I know the language, I know everything about these shops.

1:07:51I don't know a lot about my— I know everything about my shops, not about everything in the world, right? So I don't want people flaming me, but you take me and put me somewhere where I'm not 100% good at. I've not done it over and over again. I struggle. The Corvette driving school, I struggled at that. My reaction time was fucking slow.

1:08:09Like, I'm like, yeah, this is really hard. Lincoln, young guy, fucking right. I just didn't do good there because I didn't do it over and over again repetitively and not to get good at it and be confident at it. Yeah, that doesn't make me a failure. It means me a guy that fucking went to Corvettes, had enough money to buy a Corvette but couldn't fucking drive it, so he went to spend a bunch of money and went to the school and learned how to drive it somewhat.

1:08:28I'm still better off than what I was. Yeah, yeah. But you're probably not getting on the track and driving though, right? Right. So, you know, that kind of stuff, you know, um, I struggle with stuff I don't know. But I will tell you, AI has kind of leveled the playing field with a lot of things in my beliefs. Well, look at this.

1:08:46Yeah, I was going through this and reading them out loud to Gracie and going through the stuff, and it's, it's, uh, that's a really good— it's a lot of insight. Yeah, what I do a lot of the times, I'll fucking put a contract in. I say, take this contract point by point, and if there's a word I don't understand, like, what does that word mean and what are they trying to say?

1:09:03And then I'll spend an hour, hour and a half sometimes on some of these contracts, you know, and it'll point by point, I could actually figure it all out. Because my problem is I sit down, try to read a contract, and you don't think they do a contract 18 pages for a fucking reason? So you just say fuck it and sign it?

1:09:20Absolutely. So now you can scan it in AI and say, okay, where am I going to get myself in trouble? Okay, let's take this point by point. And you can actually give a good response back and keep yourself from getting screwed if you take the time to use it. Wow. Yeah, I've done that several times with, you know, with LOIs, all kinds of stuff, even frickin uniform stuff like the uniform contract.

1:09:41I dump it and I dump it all and go, okay, give me the Cliff Notes here. That's awesome. Like I went to do something a long time ago. I told this story and then I'll end this. That I would have had AI, I would have known about it. It's called a venue clause. When you sign a contract, they say if we have litigation, our company is from California.

1:09:57If we have litigation, you don't like this contract and you want to dispute it, you got to come to California. California. So now I look for venue clauses. First thing I do in contract, I fucking tell Grok or AI or chat, like, look for the venue clause. Boom. We're not going to go to fucking Delaware. We're not going to fucking Connecticut. This business is in Michigan.

1:10:14That's where we'll freaking do anything. Yep. Wow. But you learn it from experience. Yeah. So now the AI— my point is, my superpower on top of that is like, okay, AI, this is going to be— is this going to be a problem? Yes, it is. You know, so it saves a lot of time is what my point is. That's amazing. And you know, it's going to help a lot of people if they would just take the time to do it.

1:10:34Yep. You know, where's AI helped you? Uh, countless ways. I mean, just looking at the COVID art, and, uh, and it's fun because it's like Looking at the one— oh, last week, thinking about it and thinking about the stories that you told. And so I was like, all right, I had a picture of you standing up, a full body. And I was like, all right, I had this image of you standing there with the bat beating a customer.

1:11:00And then we had you and Marilyn and Jordan. But being able to— my mind doesn't work. I'm not very good at doing graphic designing if I'm sitting down and doing that versus is being able to plug in my thought and my idea and, and say, AI, make this. And it fucking does with all the right colors and everything. Everything. And it nailed that, that one.

1:11:19It nailed it on the first try. Sometimes you have to take a couple times, but man, just, just that alone is a— boy, the graphic designers got fucked. Fucked. The logo people. You're like, chat, give me 75 different flavors of this logo. It's like, blink. Oh my God. And, and it's great because, and again, if you just take the first result, yeah, it's gonna— you're gonna tell it's AI, you know?

1:11:40But like, if you— once you with it. It looked good. I agree. I— one of the most exciting things for me is like, now I'm gonna see freaking The Kids in the Hall. Yes, the COVID art's gonna be Kids in the Hall. I'm excited, you know what I'm saying? Because like, that's literally what we were. Yep, we were the kids that it's like, okay, they have to be here, they're interrupting my class, I don't know how to deal with them even though I'm a professional educator, they're robbing everybody else from their time, put them in the hall.

1:12:06It was a sacrifice. Yep. We're gonna sacrifice him for the other 10 that society says these are the way they need to act. Look at all the little angels. Then we got the monster out in the hall. Yep. Yep. Some of the biggest visionaries in the world have been the kids that sat in the hall. We need to research that. Yeah, that's, that's, uh, yes, absolutely we do.

1:12:25That'd be awesome. So, all right, thanks for watching. And are you autistic or are you not? All right, that's gonna do it for this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning. If this helped you, please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. We drop real conversations, real systems, and real solutions every week. We'll see you back here next time on Repair Shop Reckoning.