Ep.13: John Deere Technician of the Year, John Shondelmyer

EP 13 — John Deere Technician of the Year: John Shondelmyer

In this episode of The IronCast, we sit down with a true heavyweight in the world of field service: John Shondelmyer, John Deere’s 2024 Technician of the Year and a 35-year veteran of the industry. From Doyle Equipment to Murphy Tractor to GT&E, John has seen it all... the evolution of machinery, the rise of advanced diagnostics, and the changing expectations of customers and technicians alike.

John shares stories from the early days of mechanical linkages and dry steering clutches, all the way to today’s computer‑driven machines and remote diagnostics. He opens up about the lessons learned from decades in the field, the importance of communication, and why patience is one of the most underrated skills a technician can have.

We also dive into:

• The moment he thought he’d be fired on day three
• How technology has transformed the technician’s role
• Why younger techs need accountability and mentorship
• His unexpected adventures on tugboats, racetracks, and even a near‑cult recruitment
• What winning Technician of the Year meant to him
• His passion for cooking
• The legacy he hopes to leave behind

John’s humility, humor, and hard‑earned wisdom make this one of our most insightful and entertaining episodes yet. Whether you’re a technician, a customer, or someone who loves a good story, you’ll walk away with a deeper appreciation for the people who keep the machines, and the industry, moving.

“Keep plugging along. Be patient. Good things will happen.” — John Shondelmyer

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Ironcast podcast. In this corner, we have John Shondelmyer. This is the Harmony Edition, and we have here a heavyweight in the field service technician whose career spans over 35 years across Doyle Equipment, Murphy tractor and equipment, and now GTE. Yes, John is known not only for his technical expertise, but also for his dedication to communication, his passion for the future of the industry, and his deep commitment to family. He's a technician of the year reward recipient, and that's why we call him the heavyweight, a devoted family man, a racetrack regular, and as many are surprised to learn, a genuinely skilled cook. That's right. We're cooking it up today. Welcome to the Ironcast, John. How was that in wow? That was a bit much.

Speaker 3 0:58

Was that too much? Nah, it was pretty comical.

Speaker 1 1:01

John, we've been talking about doing this episode for a year. Like 13 or 14 episodes ago. You've been working on John Deere's for a while, huh?

Speaker 3 1:12

Yeah, quite some time. So you know a thing? I've been around the block a time or two, yes. Yes. It's like All State. Yeah. I don't have my khakis on the that's state form. That's state form. That was cars. Yeah. What's the difference?

Speaker 1 1:27

I don't know, Jake. How long have you been with GTE? Three years. Coming up on three. How long have you been with Murphy? Uh 12. How long with uh Doyle?

Speaker 3 1:37

Twenty.

unknown 1:38

Wow.

Speaker 3 1:38

Some on the counter time too. Back in the beginning when it was Doyle's, I had to uh prove myself. So I worked like a year. Full-time, part-time pay, because you know I had to prove myself.

Speaker 1 1:52

What was it like back 35 years ago working on John Deere equipment?

Speaker 3 1:56

Different. Times were a little bit different. People were a little bit more understanding, not so demanding as they are now. Technology wasn't like it was today compared to yesterday. When I first started out, that's what I was telling Rachel earlier. We didn't have a lot of the hydrostatic systems that we have today, all the computer controlled machinery. Everything was old school. Dry steering clutches, mechanical linkage. So basically, you know, a handful of wrenches, start out your day and everything was good. Now, 30 plus years later, it's like a mortgage payment on a snap one truck. That's right. Yeah. But it's been it's been a fun journey. It's uh been unique. Got to see a lot of changes, a lot of developments. Pretty slick how people think and build what they're building. Not always agreeing with some of the engineering, you know, when it comes to working on it.

Speaker 1 2:48

Yeah.

Speaker 3 2:48

You know, it's a little tight quarter sometimes, but for the most part, it's been been a nice journey.

Speaker 1 2:53

And so folks, no, you've always have you always worked out at the new Stanton location?

Speaker 3 2:57

No, no, no. We first started out, I've always been to uh was a little shop in Delmont. Oh, okay. Yeah. Spent 30 plus years there, and then uh they actually had when it was Doyle Equipment, they had a store up in Cranberry.

Speaker 2 3:10

Yeah.

Speaker 3 3:10

And then once uh everything, and they were both, you know, family owned, and then before I moved into that shop, I worked for a small borough that had an old, old, old Jaundere high lift. And I'd go out there to get parts, and at the time it was still Petrie Jaundere, where my boss originated at.

Speaker 2 3:29

Wow.

Speaker 3 3:29

So after Petrie was being bought out by Doyle, then they had a guy that was in the shop that got hurt, bad back, and I applied for the job. And here we are later on in life. You know, I got that job. But uh turned down a lot of different jobs over the times. Yeah, a couple times I could have gone to work for the Turnpike, the railroad, places like that. And I thought, nah, I want to be a heavy equipment. At the time, we called each other mechanics. Now everybody's a technician.

Speaker 1 3:56

It's technical now.

Speaker 3 3:57

Yeah, it's very technical. Yeah, you have to you definitely got to bring your A game.

Speaker 1 4:01

Well, tell me about that. What and that's I'm I'm I'm assuming that's what you're talking about. And I'm sure there's a lot of people out there listening to this uh that can resonate with that, that we're working on equipment in general, uh, not just John Deere, but the industry was different. I mean, and that too, like back in that's go back to the nineties. That was the that was a heyday, would you say for equipment?

Speaker 3 4:22

Yeah.

Speaker 1 4:22

No, I heard the stories. I mean, I was in the early nineties, I was, you know, getting out of diapers, but really I wore diapers for a while, yeah.

Speaker 3 4:30

Well, we start out wearing diapers and we end up wearing diapers, so it's all weird. I I I no, I wasn't wearing diapers at night.

Speaker 4:37

I was gonna say you were wearing diapers when you were what, seven?

Speaker 3 4:39

Seven or eight. I figured. Six or seven.

Speaker 4:40

Six or seven, okay.

Speaker 3 4:42

But no, there's uh there's a lot of unique changes. And I can remember like when they first started introducing some of the hydrostatic machinery.

Speaker 1 4:49

It was all give us a model.

Speaker 3 4:52

Uh the old 655. Straight. Mm-hmm. Straight 655 was all mechanical.

Speaker 1 4:57

Yeah.

Speaker 3 4:58

When the first time I got to see that, I was at the factory when they used to do the factory training. And you're like, wow, that was insane.

Speaker 1 5:06

Yeah.

Speaker 3 5:07

The technology, you know, back then. And then when everybody started coming out with all the computer controlled, and the first time that I had to power up a laptop and learn all that, I thought, oh man, I'm never gonna get this. But here we are 35 years later, and I do pretty decent troubleshooting wise. You know, I'm not I would imagine. I do, I do okay. Yeah, you can't have the reputation. No, BS only gets you so far. Sooner or later you're gonna be able to do that. It always catches up, doesn't it? It does. Yeah, you can separate the people that know from the people that just basically, you know, blow smoke.

Speaker 1 5:43

Yeah. Well, there's a time and place for BS, and that's after the machine gets fixed. Absolutely, absolutely, and everybody's happy.

Speaker 3 5:48

And a lot of these customers, too. You know, back in the day, it people were could work on their own stuff, you know. Now, a lot of these guys are smarter than what we're giving them credit for. That's true. You know, and now we have Google, so there's a lot of Google mechanics out there.

Speaker 1 6:09

Oh, that too. Now, um with on the customer-facing side, with John Deere service advisor, you know, customer could have their customer-facing version of it. And um, it was kind of expensive if you had a small to mid fleet because it was like, you know, however much it was, whether you had one machine or you had a hundred. But now with everything integrating into John Deere Operations Center, um, that's kind of like the platform for our customers to dive into. And with the integration too, to upgrade that to Operations Center Pro service. Um, this is fairly new. It's only been out for a little bit when it when it got released. Um, and I've been getting customers familiar with that um over the last couple months. Uh, you can buy it per machine. You know, it's you know, a couple hundred bucks per machine or whatever it is. Uh and and so a guy that has, you know, 10 pieces and he wants to start working on his equipment and he's got a good guy that knows what he's doing, um, it's a great tool.

Speaker 3 7:10

Well, I do like our own uh in-house D-Tech. I think that was uh whose ever idea that was, I think that was a very good idea because you got guys that are familiar with machinery, but then can sit behind and I don't want to say the term like they're just sitting there doing nothing, but basically behind the city.

Speaker 1 7:27

No, he gets up and goes to the water pool. I s I seen him.

Speaker 3 7:30

You know, they can give you some answers, you know, before you go and talk to one of the engineers from Deere, because you know, and that was the that's the connected support team that we had uh Tyler Schollenberger on here uh some episodes ago.

Speaker 1 7:42

Um, and we often mention you know him as the unsung hero, but even more unsung to like what our customers know is is that guy you're talking about who we mentioned before, Brandon Ulrich. Um, you know, I've I've worked with Brandon for a number of years, and and yeah, he gets it. And and you're right, he he does not sit behind um a you know computer at a desk. He's often getting up, going into our shop, checking another machine or something to see where, you know, what something is. And uh but no, it's it's it's a great thing.

Speaker 3 8:15

Yeah, because when everybody talks, and it's nice too, because if you went to put in a conversation with Deer from one of the DTAC, it's not like we can talk now. You can speak to these guys because they're on the same level playing field, you know. Ask a question because they could either go and figure it out themselves or maybe one of their guys in the shop ran into a problem like that. And it definitely speeds things up. And of course, you still have that machine that everybody inherits one that drives you crazy.

Speaker 1 8:44

And I think the the training, that in-house training, we get to tailor it, you know, to what fits our needs. Yep.

Speaker 3 8:52

Yeah, or in trying to give you J.

Speaker 1 8:54

Cole, we're trying to give you some props.

Speaker 3 8:56

That uh that gentleman is uh he's unique. And I mean that in a good way. He's a he's a good boy. Oh yeah, he's a good boy, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:03

Unique in a couple different ways.

Speaker 3 9:05

I mean he's uh he's very knowledgeable. Yeah. And it's nice that you can call him up. Oh yeah. Even I've been around and things are different now compared to you know what he gets to see, so it's nice that I can call him up, you know, because he's of the younger generation. These guys are more technical oriented, so you don't have to feel insecure because here I am at my age calling a guy up that's a lot younger than me, you know.

Speaker 2 9:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1 9:30

It helps, it works. You know, um, pool cleaners, they don't need any training, they just dive right in. Uh huh. Actually, a friend of mine was abducted by mimes. They did unspeakable things to him.

Speaker 3 9:49

I'll let you know that one.

Speaker 1 9:51

I'm just feeling out your humor here.

Speaker 3 9:53

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:54

Actually, John, this is the first day we ever met and talked to each other.

Speaker 3 9:56

Oh, I thought you were gonna say this is the first time you saw me laugh or smile.

Speaker 1 10:01

He's got his own jokes. Yeah.

Speaker 3 10:03

No, I got I got I got jokes. It depends on how far you want to take it. We have to keep a PG, though.

Speaker 1 10:10

That's true, because we do have some younger listeners like J. Cole.

Speaker 3 10:13

That poor guy, and he's not even here to defend himself.

Speaker 1 10:17

So let's look back further here. How would you describe the evolution of your role over the years?

unknown 10:23

Oh, well.

Speaker 1 10:23

Let's pick up, you know, we were we were there at the straight 655. Let's pick up from there.

Speaker 3 10:28

My role. And actually, getting back to the 655, when I first started when we were Doyle, that's when I started learning all this. And I'll never forget that day. I think I was there maybe two or three days, and I had to go and move a 655. So I get out there, you know, you're young and you think you know everything. So I'd start this thing up, let it warm up a little bit, and then I started backing it up. Hit to kind of rotate, the pedal sticks, it kind of rotates, and I wipe out the whole side of a brand new office trailer because we used to rent office trailers. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I destroyed it, and I thought I was gonna get fired. I go in to tell my boss he comes out, he's laughing so hard I thought he was gonna pee his pants. He was laughing. He was laughing, yeah. That's the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 11:18

Do you think like everybody that starts in this industry as a technician probably has a story? Maybe not Oh, I have stories, not a whole office side of an office, you know, but they probably all because I had one. I was I I didn't start in this industry, and we talked about this about motorcycles. Um, I remember the first time I had a whoopsie, and it was a brand new bike. I was taking to get prepped, and the guy was coming in to pick it up. And uh, you know, tires have uh a coating on them, and you know, you got to be a little easy on the throttle. Yeah, and this was a thousandcc sport bike, and I I'm there trying to pull out in traffic and to go fill the thing up with fuel. So the guy had a full tank when he picked his brand new flashy bike up, and I let her flip. I read, oh man, it ripped. You lay it down. Oh, I let yeah, it high-sided, laid down. Nice, and I just remember walking that bike because I, you know, tip sensor sent things off. And I remember walking that bike up behind the shop to uh to the owner who's back there working on his race bikes, you know, Friday afternoon, and like I had my tail between my legs.

Speaker 3 12:27

So you were doing a walk of shame.

Speaker 1 12:28

It was definitely a walk of shame. And I remember the the first words out of my mouth were probably the best words I could have said right then. It wasn't my fault. That's what I was thinking of saying, but I just I knew just be straightforward. And I just said, I messed up. And he yelled at me for a little bit. It all came, you know, you had to regurgitate that stuff a little bit, get it out. And he said, All right, let's get this fixed up.

Speaker 3 12:56

Yep. He respected you more because you told the truth.

Speaker 1 12:59

Yeah. That was a that was a hard lesson, but yeah.

Speaker 3 13:01

Yeah, you were humbled.

Speaker 1 13:02

Oh my goodness, real, real bad. In a good way.

Speaker 3 13:06

Mm-hmm. You learned from it.

Speaker 1 13:08

Yeah. Those are things you don't forget.

Speaker 3 13:10

So now you have a tricycle.

Speaker 1 13:18

So what keeps you motivated? You know, after such a long, successful career, what keeps you going?

Speaker 3 13:25

Owing the bank money. No, just kidding. I like to see how things are gonna pan out. It's just one of those things where we've made it this far. What's it gonna be like in the next 10, 15, 20 years? It's gonna be very interesting to see where we end up.

Speaker 1 13:44

So decade one, what what was your thoughts back then with that?

Speaker 3 13:49

To see the old original machinery?

Speaker 1 13:51

Yeah, to where it got to, let's say, that's what I'm talking about, like going from the straight, straight 655 up to the 655.

Speaker 3 13:59

Well, I think I think it was nice for me because I got to see how that came to. So, like the old mechanical fuel injection systems. So up to present day, now that everything's high pressure comb and rail, some of the younger guys have never seen mechanical injected engines. They're like, oh, what is that?

Speaker 1 14:18

Well, they're generally not coming through the dealership anymore, we can say that.

Speaker 3 14:21

No, we still have a few out there floating around, but yeah, some loyal customers that yeah that haven't took the leap and modernized some of their fleet. Yeah.

Speaker 1 14:31

Yeah. Well, at times too, you have that push-off machine. And that's where I see most of those. Now I'm seeing it more like the C series. It was the B series. Yeah. When I I mean, I'm I've been in since 2013. Um, I seen a lot of change. So when did you think the most change happened in the John Deere world where you had just made your head spin? And if the answer is now, I can I can believe that too. But you you've been around a lot longer than I've been.

Speaker 3 14:59

I'm gonna say right around a development like the C Series crawler.

Speaker 1 15:03

Yeah.

Speaker 3 15:04

That's where it started. I think me personally, you know, just based on what I got to see and what I've got to work on.

Speaker 1 15:09

So late late 90s, early 2000s.

Speaker 3 15:12

Yeah, I'd say it's early 2000s, yes. Yeah. Yeah, they um they came a long way. And, you know, a lot of times you're looking for hydraulic problems like back in the earlier ones that didn't have any computers on it. Now you're tracing wiring problems. You know, and it's just once you learn how they want you to troubleshoot things, which actually has been better now over the years, because back in those models, there, there were certain things that you couldn't do with either a laptop or you know, the TCU that's on the machine. Now you can sit in sit in the cab and everything is right there if you know where to look. Yes. And then you get a phone call, you know, the guy's got a check engine light on. Now you can log on to that machine and look at it at your computer before you even drive what could be hours to go and do something relatively simple.

Speaker 1 16:09

You know? You got a half a truck full of parts ready to go.

Speaker 3 16:13

Yeah. It's definitely working. Sometimes I think things get a little bit too, too complicated, you know.

Speaker 1 16:20

You know, I think in this industry, communication is one of the biggest challenges. For you, John. What what does being on the same page look like in your day-to-day work?

Speaker 3 16:31

Well, starting out the customer, like I said, at the end of the day, our goal is to make sure that he's happy. But when you got a customer that's having maybe a hard time communicating with us as to what his problem is because they haven't kept up with the times as far as technology, whether it be on the injection pump side, the hydraulic control side, trying to learn all the terminology. But if you can speak to the customer and kind of reassure them that, you know, you're in good hands, you know, speak. Speak freely. Yeah. You know, we're all adults, you know, we can handle some criticism where, you know, if you don't like what I'm saying, you know, just tell me. It's constructive, right? Exactly. You know, we're all adults. So I think as far as the communication thing goes, you know, we got really good guys in our shop, technician-wise, parts guys, do an excellent job. They're still learning. They didn't come from the background where I came from or my previous boss who retired. He was in the industry for almost 40 years. So he got to see a lot of things. But, you know, what's nice about our people in New Stanton, you got parts guys that are a little bit uncertain, so they'll come out and say, Hey, can you come out and look at something? And I'm like, Yeah, I know what that is. Let's help the guy out. Well, then the customer's happy. Same way with our service manager. You know, we help her out a lot because she came from an ag background and she's unfamiliar with a lot of stuff, so we help her out a lot. So I think communication for all of us to function as a whole, I think we all need to be allowed to speak freely and openly and help each other out. And I mean, if you look, if you look at a parts breakdown, you know, I feel bad for those guys because not everything is the same as what we're used to calling parts.

Speaker 1 18:22

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 18:22

And it doesn't matter what you're looking at. I've even noticed that. Some of the simple things that we take for granted, you know, the the parts side of it, they're not labeling it the same. And then the parts guy's like, where do I find this? And then if you look, depending on what you're working on, you look at the breakdowns on a lot of that stuff, yeah. My heart goes out to those guys.

Speaker 2 18:39

Yeah.

Speaker 3 18:40

Because it can be very frustrating. Sometimes it looks like they want to go sit in the corner and cry.

Speaker 1 18:46

But you almost had to cry, you almost have to cry, yeah, and and get through it and find it. But the problem that there's crying is very soothing. Yeah. It's a part of healing. Yeah. So how do you think companies, let's just say companies in general, obviously in the construction industry, can improve communication, let's say between their teams, their departments, or even their customers from a service, a field service technician point of view.

Speaker 3 19:13

Me personally, I think sometimes maybe uh, and I don't know, I'm just gonna say it, basically sometimes maybe let some of the egos and think that you're smarter than you really are. And basically, you know, listen to these people because you know everybody's got a story. Think before you speak. That's what we were all talking about. That's tough for me sometimes. I I'm an extrovert, so I'm thinking as I'm talking. Well, a lot of these customers, they're not they're not stupid. No. They're very they're very smart. I mean, you spend that kind of money, you didn't get to be where you're at by being dumb.

unknown 19:47

Yeah.

Speaker 3 19:48

You know. Just talk to the people because you know, they got deadlines to meet like we all do. And be a little bit more forgiving. Help people out a lot more. Yeah. And don't just look at 'em as, you know, as another dollar, two dollars, whatever it is. Wow, that's profound.

unknown 20:08

Yeah.

Speaker 3 20:09

Well, at the time, you know, two dollars maybe more, a couple hundred thousand, give or take. Because, you know, not don't take away the right for somebody to speak to the customer, because, you know, that's what a lot of us technicians do. Talk to the guy. Make him feel reassured that you know you're there to help him at the end of the day. Put all of the other stuff aside and you know, speak to the guy, see what he's after. It may turn out that what was everybody thinking may be a great big giant problem turned out it might be something simple, you know. But talk to him, listen. Tell him what he wants to know and not what he thinks he wants to hear.

Speaker 1 20:51

And that's uh that's what I was gonna even get to here. Do you think the issue might be just my machine's broke, it's the end of the world, I have blinders on, I can't see past my nose. And do you think sometimes they're trying to convey stuff and we're not listening?

Speaker 3 21:10

Yeah, well, it's always the end of the world, but you just have to be patient.

Speaker 1 21:14

How do you do that?

Speaker 3 21:15

Well, you can't teach patience, it's something you have to learn. You know.

Speaker 1 21:18

When did you learn it?

Speaker 3 21:20

At a very young age. I've always been a very patient person. Growing up in the family that I have, you know, with that many siblings, you you have to be patient.

Speaker 1 21:33

So our our team here, let's say we have some younger younger folks. Um obviously they've probably worked alongside of you. How do you how do you how do you show that?

Speaker 3 21:47

Just basically I gotta tell them that this isn't all about you. There are other people and other factors at play, and you gotta be patient. This certain generation that thinks everything needs to happen now, if that What you think, then you might want to go somewhere else and work because this kind of stuff doesn't happen overnight. You got to pay your dues, you got to put your time in. Everybody needs to be told what to do. Yeah. And sometimes these younger guys have been told things that you got to get inside their head, scrub out all the BS, and teach them the right way of doing things.

Speaker 1 22:22

Wow.

Speaker 3 22:22

And they they need good leadership. There's a lot of good guys out there. There's a a lot of very good technicians in this company.

Speaker 1 22:29

I would agree.

Speaker 3 22:30

Yeah. And I think sometimes a lot of them get overlooked because, you know, not everybody speaks what they really feel because, you know, everybody's afraid of having their feelings hurt or, you know, they're afraid of repercussions from management, which I don't think that that should come into play unless you're just a blatant foul mouth person, you're not going to get any kind of help. But if you present things to your boss or to the people that's signing your paycheck and say, hey, you know what? How about let's try this? Let's do this. This doesn't work. Well, maybe we can try this, you know.

Speaker 1 23:02

So would that be your encouragement to our team? Because a number of them are be listening to this.

Speaker 3 23:09

Yeah, listen. I I mean I'm not going to say anything that uh I don't feel. I'm not going to lie about what I feel. Because if we're speaking honestly and openly, just maybe take the time to get to know people. Listen to their stories and, you know, listen to what bothers them work-wise. And I think at the end of the day, I think if that comes about, I think everything will be better. But I mean, looking forward, I think we're heading in the right direction. Like I said before about the younger generation, I think that maybe they just need to be not so much hold their hand, but I think they need to be held a little bit more accountable. You know, the world doesn't owe you anything. It's what you make of it.

unknown 23:54

Wow.

Speaker 3 23:56

I'm learning so much here, John. I doubt that. You're reading from a script.

Speaker 1 24:01

I'm shooting off the hip. That's what I like. I I I'm reading from a script because I I want this podcast to be less than the 10 hours of runtime I have on.

Speaker 3 24:11

Well, I tried studying for this test. I couldn't do it. There is none. You already have you already did it. Yeah. 35 years of it. I figured, you know what? I don't want to say it is what it is, but I figured, you know, ask the right questions, I'll give you the answers that I think are pertinent to our conversation. I appreciate that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 24:30

So are there any changes or innovations that you hope to see in the next decade?

Speaker 3 24:36

With the company or with machinery? Both.

Speaker 1 24:38

Both and.

Speaker 3 24:40

I don't know. I think sometimes maybe some of the engineers should uh listen to some of the mechanics, the way they design things.

Speaker 1 24:47

We'll send this to the deer.

Speaker 3 24:49

Yeah. They're not going to listen. Some of the machinery out there, you're you're a little bit challenged as to how much stuff they pack inside that little machine, and then when it comes time to work on it, you're like, wow, who thought this was a great idea? Sure would like to meet that guy.

Speaker 25:09

Can you give an example of something?

Speaker 3 25:11

Skid steers are the worst to work on.

Speaker 25:13

Why is that?

Speaker 3 25:14

Because if you open up the compartment back where the engine's at, and then some of the sensors. I actually, and everybody laughs in New Stan because I've actually diagnosed some machinery, skid steer-wise, one particular sensor that needs changed. I know where it's at.

Speaker 1 25:32

I can't get my hands down in there because a little bit of a disadvantage because, well, you got some Paul Bunyons on your paws, buddy. When you shook my hand, this time I'm like, whoa.

Speaker 3 25:46

And it's it's funny. I mean, it's a blessing and a curse at the same time. You know, but it's all it's it's all good. Talked to a couple of the guys from John Deere one day, and I told them when I had to go change out one of those sensors, and it took me way longer than what the flat rate was on it. So he was actually at our shop one day. He was a warranty guy. And I took him outside and I said to him, I said, You I'll give you the tools. I said, show me. He didn't know where it was at. I'm like, okay. You want me to change out something in say half an hour. Yeah. And I said, when the engine come through from the factory, everything's painted. So all the paint's down inside that Allen head bolt. I gotta use two fingers to get in there to feel around a little pick, and I'm like, yeah, you need to redo your thinking. Yeah. But it's like falling on deaf ears. They don't listen. They keep piling more stuff around it.

Speaker 1 26:48

More stuff to pile around. It's that's a that's with the technology. I mean, you keep adding more technology, it requires more sensors, which all these things work together. Yeah. Which for our customers, it's a great thing that we can diagnose these machines out there in the field. But um, you know, somebody has to work on it too.

Speaker 3 27:08

Yeah, and it's always wait until we're done with it. So you show up on a job site, it's not so bad in the wintertime, but when you show up on a job site and it's already 89 degrees out, you go to work on an engine with an after-treatment problem that's already got done going through a regen. It's like, okay, yeah, well, God didn't give me skin that's fireproof or fire retardant. I burn just like the next guy would do. Yeah. You know, you're gonna have to wait a little while.

Speaker 1 27:37

John, let's get to know you a little bit. But you just did. Uh, even more than that. Let's dive deeper. Let's let's let's humanize you a little bit.

Speaker 3 27:46

I am human.

Speaker 1 27:47

I am human.

Speaker 3 27:49

Um, even though my wife says I'm a gift from a god, I'm an angel, but I I am still human. It's great. She's a good girl. She just turned uh well, I'm not gonna say her age, had a birthday yesterday.

Speaker 1 28:01

So 25?

Speaker 3 28:04

22. Okay. Yeah, she just turned 22. Yep. So I can finally not legally take her out to drink. There you go. Yep.

Speaker 1 28:12

Um, well, speaking of family, um I know one thing you you mentioned before is uh you could talk for hours about time at the local racetrack.

Speaker 3 28:23

Mm-hmm. I have uh an older brother and one of my older nephews that um do a lot of racing up at the local you know drag strip. Yeah. And uh some of the best uh moments we've had up there is like during the Halloween classic, that's like their big It's quarter mile Super Bowl. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, actually now it's eighth mile. Eighth mile. Yeah. But uh it's like their Super Bowl at the end of the year where everybody gets together and you know, you drink, you laugh, you drink some more, you eat, you drink some more. Of course, you're not racing when you're drinking, you know, that's forbidden. Yeah, you probably don't want to do that. Yeah, no, no drinking and driving at that speed. But yeah, my uh my nephew's uh son, his daughter both, you know, they had uh junior dragsters, did very well, and then the uh the boy pursued to do it more because you know that's what he does. The daughter, she went off to college. The uh nephew's son, he goes and doing very well with the dragster, and I actually sold him my old dragster, so he's doing very well. And it's nice to go up there and see.

Speaker 1 29:29

You had a dragster?

Speaker 3 29:30

I did have, yeah. Before that I had a pulling tractor.

Speaker 1 29:33

You did pull.

Speaker 3 29:34

Oh man. I did. Yeah. It was some fun times. Spend a lot of time with the fairgrounds, which I've always loved the fair, you know. Who doesn't like uh hot sausage sandwiches, got a little sweat dripped in there on your peppers and onions? It adds a little flavor.

Speaker 1 29:51

Yeah, a little salt. Yeah. I do like to cook. Do people not know that or something?

Speaker 3 30:00

Because I I don't really broadcast that. I'm I'm pretty humble. I uh, you know. Years ago when we first moved into Newstand, they at the time they were having their uh employee appreciation. So one of the guys that I work with down there, when they were raffling off all the prizes, he said, I never win anything. And I says, Well, I want that blackstone griddle. He said, Well, if I win it, he said, I'll give it to you. He ends up winning it. I get to Blackstone, and that's I do all the cooking on the Blackstone griddle. You like that thing, huh?

Speaker 1 30:32

I do like it. I have one as well. I love I also love cooking. That's why when I heard about your your cooking, I was like, Oh, we're gonna talk a little bit here.

Speaker 3 30:41

So after I get to Blackstone, and of course, you know, I like to do things a little research before I delve into cooking, and started going on to uh Blackstone's website, started watching and learning, and one of my favorite ladies on Blackstone is Blackstone Betty. What is that other one? Old Black Betty Wamble Lamb. Wamble Lam, I'm yeah, or Ram Jam.

Speaker 1 31:09

Ram a jammer, yeah. Yeah, something like that. Uh so let's say we're at your house, it's summertime, it's obviously not right now, it's pretty cold out. Um, but uh let's say we're out there in your backyard and you got that black stone, what would you cook for your favorite?

Speaker 3 31:24

One of my favorite dishes is halushki. All right, yeah, you're above my level. I like halushki, huh?

Speaker 1 31:30

Tell me about that. What is that?

Speaker 3 31:31

Basically, it's uh cabbage and noodles.

Speaker 1 31:34

Really?

Speaker 3 31:34

And then if you want to dress it up, put a little bacon in it.

Speaker 1 31:37

Oh, you know, uh bacon bacon helps everything.

Speaker 3 31:40

Yeah, we get our uh and I like the purple cabbage, so chop it up, you fry it up on the griddle. Yeah, but then the noodles, of course, you can't fry them on there because you know you gotta boil them.

Speaker 2 31:51

Yep.

Speaker 3 31:51

So yeah, I mean, watching my mom when she was cooking, because she's pure polock, polish. So that was one of her.

Speaker 1 31:59

You gotta be technically correct here. Yeah.

Speaker 3 32:00

Well, I'm a polo, I'm okay with that. You're allowed to be. So other than that, I just kind of the wife actually, she was the one that turned me on to the uh the red cabbage. It's kind of like a burgundy color. Yep. But yeah, once uh she came home one day and she's like, Oh, what's that smell? Well, it was a good smell. I just want to point that out there.

Speaker 1 32:22

Let's be let's be specific here, yeah.

Speaker 3 32:24

I was cooking cabbage and noodles on the blackstone, and that's gotta be one of my favorite. Yeah, I love pasta. And then when you mix cabbage and butter and bacon, yeah. Butter. Butter. But real butter, not margarine, not stuff that you scoop out. Yeah, yeah. It's gotta be real butter.

Speaker 1 32:42

I think it's funny with like I can't believe it's not butter. Yeah, no. Like, why even mention that?

Speaker 3 32:47

Yeah, butter, that kind of stuff, margarine crisco. Yeah, you won't find it.

Speaker 1 32:50

It's either butter or it's not.

Speaker 3 32:52

And now a friend of mine turned me on to uh beef tellow. Oh, that's game changer. Is excellent.

Speaker 1 33:01

You ever cook you ever cook potatoes on your black stone with beef towel?

Speaker 3 33:05

Well, no, but I will be.

Speaker 1 33:06

Well, talk to talk to Jay Cole about that next time and he'll he'll hook you up.

Speaker 3 33:10

With beef tellow. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 33:12

Well, he's a soap maker.

Speaker 3 33:13

Oh, really? Well, I can't cook with soap.

Speaker 1 33:16

Yeah, but with some of the ingredients you can. Yeah, the beef tellow part. Yeah, one of the ingredients you can. You probably don't want to cook with lye. No, no. That'd be bad.

Speaker 3 33:25

No, lye would be bad. Use it to clean your drain. Yeah. Not to clean your pipes up. Beef towel and a little sweat. Yeah.

Speaker 1 33:34

Yep. Mixed with a little bourbon. John, one thing I'm I'm really interested in when we get somebody that has the experience you have, especially out in the field, what's your most memorable experience, like the most difficult situation that you were in out in the field? Wow.

Speaker 3 33:59

Yeah, that's uh memorable. I don't uh that's a long list. One of the most memorable times was when I was working up along a turnpike. Uh, operator swung an excavator into the front of my service truck. And tried then tried blaming me. He said I drove into him, and I'm like, yeah, no, that didn't happen. So I had to fill out this little accident report, and then for the longest time, boss had it on file. I'm not an artist. So I'm drawing these little stick figures. It was it was terrible. It looked like a fourth grader drew these pictures. But yeah, I mean, we've uh worked on some other places where got to be not friends' friends. I mean, the guy that I was doing work for because it rented machinery from us. He actually looked like he was connected with the mob. Came to give me a big hug one day, and I said, Boy, I said, please tell me that's a roll of quarters there. And he's like, Wow, it was this 380 auto he had strapped inside, and I'm like, damn. I've actually been out on uh quite a few tugboats over the years. Have you? Mm-hmm. Working down inside the engine compartment because the generators had John Deere engines on them. So that was always unique. And then uh a couple times in particular, you let up a five-gallon bucket of tools, you're down in the engine compartment, and you knew what you needed for that job. You're down there working, you get all done, you come back up, and you're like, Where am I? Because they're they're still pushing barges up and down the river. Yeah. And it was always a funny story because I was telling Rachel earlier about not being able to swim. So those guys laughed and gave me my own little life jacket. And I'm like, Well, what's the whistle for? And they're like, Well, in case you're drowning, I'm like, if I'm sinking, who's gonna hear what sounds?

Speaker 1 35:48

I won't have the air to push.

unknown 35:51

Yeah.

Speaker 3 35:51

And then there's always another thing that's pretty funny about the tugboat. We're down there loading up one day to go look, and I'm like, Wow, what is that? And the the guys, you know, they got their own chef, which I use that term lightly. Okay, he's not a chef, he's just whatever. It's a metabol for a reason. Yeah, whatever kind of frozen entree that Mrs. Callender had, that's what is on thawed and cooked. So when they're done, basically everything gets tossed in the mall, and I see the size of some of them fishing, I'm like, damn. Look like piranhas. Turned out they were uh, I think carp. They were carp, yeah. And I'm like, wow. They'll eat it. That actually lives in the mall.

Speaker 1 36:32

Wow. That's wild.

Speaker 3 36:34

But yeah, that's been uh been pretty interesting. Got to meet a lot of interesting people.

Speaker 1 36:38

Yeah. Did that stick out?

Speaker 3 36:40

Any of it stick out?

Speaker 1 36:41

Yeah.

Speaker 3 36:42

Well, I don't know, but we had uh customer years ago that was an ex uh football player. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we worked together a lot. Super nice guy. Him and his father, they did uh mine reclamation work.

Speaker 2 36:56

Oh, nice.

Speaker 3 36:56

So you're out there working on a machine. You know, he was technically considered royalty, not by my standards, because you know, but it was it was interesting.

Speaker 37:06

Who was it?

Speaker 3 37:07

What player uh his name was Pete Rostowski. I think he played back in maybe the late 80s. Oh wow.

Speaker 37:15

Okay, I know there's gonna be people listening to this who put, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 37:18

He's a good dude. I haven't seen him in years.

Speaker 37:19

All right, let me look him up real quick.

Speaker 3 37:21

Yep.

Speaker 37:21

So it says Pete Rostowski, born in 1961, an American former professional football offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 2 37:29

Yep.

Speaker 37:29

He played from 1984 through 1986. He attended University of Connecticut. He was part of the team that advanced to the 1984 AFC Championship game versus the Miami Dolphins. Says he returned one kickoff for three yards in 1986. His number was 63.

Speaker 3 37:46

Hmm. I never got the chance to know all his stats because I'm not a even you learned something in this. I'm not a football person. I'm not sure.

Speaker 37:56

He resides in Cannonsburg, PA.

Speaker 1 37:59

Hmm. So I'm assuming that you have uh quite a following of dedicated customers that say I want John.

Speaker 3 38:10

Actually, yeah. I mean, not to sound whatever the word I'm looking for, but to stay humble, yes, yes, there is a quite a following. It's not like a cult following, but you know, a following.

Speaker 38:22

A Chandemeyer court.

Speaker 3 38:23

You don't have Kool-Aid that you know. But actually, you want to one of my now that you're talking about memorable stories, a long time ago we were doing equipment, and I was working up close to Nemicolan woodlands, and I had to go work on a older crawler that was there. And I think the place is called the Brooder House, where it looks like a cult. The women, they're not allowed to talk to the men, and you know, I like to talk to anybody. So when you're out there trying to work on a machine and you're trying to pick up a conversation with some of the women, and they're like almost afraid to look at you. Well, then they ended up trying to recruit me into their cult to help. Or and I probably shouldn't say that word cult, but yeah, you can to their organization. Their organization. Yeah. It was uh it was unique.

Speaker 39:18

How did they try recruiting you?

Speaker 3 39:20

Ask me if I wanted to become a member of their how many people were a part of this organization? A lot, a lot.

Speaker 39:27

But it wasn't like do they live like on a comp? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 39:30

Yeah, almost like a Jim Jones type thing.

unknown 39:32

Oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 39:33

You know who that was? The guy that made everybody drink the Kool-Aid but himself. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nice people.

Speaker 39:39

So do you ever sit back and think, you know, if I had just accepted that invitation, my life could be so different.

Speaker 3 39:45

It'd been very different.

Speaker 1 39:47

I know one highlight for you has been and why we called you in initially in the introduction the heavyweight champion. Um, let's talk about winning technician of the year for John Deere. Wow. Was that memorable for you? Very career. Very why don't you walk us through the what happened there?

Speaker 3 40:07

Actually, I when I found out that they were gonna nominate me for it, and I basically told them that yeah, that wasn't for me. I said there's a lot better technicians out there than me. People with, you know, better stories, whatever. But then they already nominated me, and then one of the previous ladies that worked for Groff, she started getting in contact with my wife, because she's asking me questions, and I'm pretty humble, so I'm not gonna brag about myself. So she gets in contact with my wife, so they had this whole thing going behind the scenes. Yeah, you know, talking back and forth about my journeys, things that I've done, and then to find out that I won, and then where I had to go.

Speaker 1 40:51

And that was uh that was what what what what was going through your head when you found out that I won? Do you think that do did you feel that uh this stuff was kind of going on behind your back or not not in a bad way, obviously?

Speaker 3 41:03

No, pretty much it was, yeah, pretty much. I was kept in the dark like a mushroom, you know.

Speaker 1 41:07

I just you know fed stuff and in the dark.

Speaker 3 41:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You you know the story, yeah. But no, it was it was it was pretty neat, and then I didn't want it because I don't like to be in the spotlight. That's you know, not where I excel.

Speaker 1 41:23

You just like fixing equipment, yeah. And getting people up and running.

Speaker 3 41:26

Yeah, just left stayed under the radar. Yep. Stay safe. But then it was very nice. Very nice opportunity to get to see things, and as far as the whole the whole the whole thing when you when you found out, oh, I yeah, how did you find out? Uh Selena.

Speaker 41:43

She called you?

Speaker 3 41:43

She called me, yes. Okay, she called me, and then I told my wife about it, and she's like, Oh, I already knew all this. I'm like, how did you know? Well, me and Selena's been talking about me, bad things. She laughed and she said no, she says nothing bad. But then, you know, you fast forward to being flown to Nashville to meet with the people that were, you know, the previous year's winners. Oh, yeah. Which was pretty good. And then a lady from Deer that took care of all this at uh between the dinners and getting to see the factories and all the tours and everything. It puts a lot of things into perspective to know that when you sit down in the seat of that machine and you start it to see where it came from from the raw material. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's it's impressive when you see that size of a building under concrete.

Speaker 1 42:29

Yeah.

Speaker 3 42:29

Yeah. It's insane in a good way.

Speaker 1 42:32

Yeah. Yep. And they obviously gave you a hat. Yes. Those that are just listening to this, they can't see that, but he's got his T. I got my official official battle here.

Speaker 42:43

CNF division champion.

Speaker 3 42:46

Yeah.

Speaker 42:47

And you were one of how many CNF technicians?

Speaker 3 42:51

I don't know how much.

Speaker 42:52

Was it only like two or three? Not even.

Speaker 3 42:54

Well, that makes me feel really bad now.

Speaker 42:56

No, because the majority were all from the ag side. Yeah, the majority was from the ag side. I remember because I remember it was a very big deal that there was a but yeah, it was uh it was neat.

Speaker 3 43:05

It was very neat.

Speaker 1 43:06

What do you think contributed most to winning technician of the year?

Speaker 3 43:11

I think it had to do more with just like you as a person overall, not just and I didn't know this, but it wasn't just always based on what you know. It's what you do for family, friends, community. And some of the things that was on there, like during the pandemic, you know, when things were a little bit tight throughout the world, you know, the wife and I would, you know, pick up some food, deliver to some elderly people, took care of a lot of people in our area, you know, things that you don't really broadcast out there, but things that do come out later on in life, you know, that's look look what they done, you know, to help people out. The elderly gentleman that lives below me, you know, disabled vet. We do a lot for him, make sure he has a meal. Make sure his grass gets cut in the summertime, which I get paid with, you know, with a can of Coke. Oh, there you go. Yeah. I'm not a pop drinker, but you know, I get this can of Coke. It's soda? Yeah, it's soda. Yeah, Coke, soda, not the That's right.

Speaker 1 44:13

We're out west. Yeah.

Speaker 3 44:14

It's not the sniff sniff coke. It's not that.

Speaker 1 44:16

No, I didn't think I had it, but we yeah, you said pop.

Speaker 3 44:19

I didn't soda, pop.

Speaker 1 44:21

Yeah.

Speaker 44:21

What do you what do you call whoopie pies?

Speaker 3 44:24

Moon pies? Or a gob?

Speaker 44:27

A gob. Oh a gob, yeah. Yeah. Moon pies is uh I've heard it. I heard it called gob the other day. Oh, you should go get a gob. I'm like, what is that? A gab.

Speaker 3 44:36

A gab. Is that what I sounded like when I said did I say a gab?

Speaker 44:39

Oh no.

Speaker 3 44:39

It's a gob. It's a gob. It's a gob. Moon pie was like Larry Cable guy. Yeah. I like I like moon pies. Moon pie and a you-hoo. You ever have a you-hoo? Of course. Yeah, I got kids too. Yeah. Basically, all it is is sugared colored water. Yeah. But yeah, and then this elderly gentleman there, you know, this past snowstorm that we had, walked on to make sure he was okay and ended up getting involved in shoveling snow, which turned out I didn't shovel it. I got a hold of a buddy of mine, the same one that turned me on to the beef tellow. His name's Andy. Pretty good dude. Well, he lets me borrow his snowblower, so I get down there early on a Saturday morning and blow all the snow off so he can get his load of propane and he's happy. But now the sun's out, so you can't tell what I did. I was actually having fun with the snowbar. It looked like a freeway in my yard. Anything I didn't build was roundabouts. There you go.

Speaker 1 45:41

John, as we wrap up here, um to our folks. I know we talked a lot to them earlier with some great uh nuggets of wisdom, but um in closing, what advice would you give someone that's just entering the field today?

Speaker 3 45:59

Be patient. And uh when somebody's offering you some training, listen. And you know, if they want to send you to the factory or, you know, with the GTE, they know to deal with your own in-house training, yeah. Take advantage of it. Cause you'll uh appreciate it later on in life if you want to stick with the career. Because it is actually it's a pretty good career. You gotta have the right mindset. What mindset do you need to have? Stay focused. Look at the yeah, look at the long the long haul, the long picture.

Speaker 1 46:37

And you're still at it.

Speaker 3 46:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1 46:40

Yeah.

Speaker 3 46:40

And don't look at it just for I mean, money, of course, is a good thing, but sometimes there's more to life than just the money. You know, that satisfaction that you just help somebody out, yeah, that goes a long way.

Speaker 1 46:55

Is that is that what keeps you going?

Speaker 3 46:57

Mm-hmm. Yep. And I'm not a quitter. I like to keep on, keeping on. Do you ever watch Joe Dirt? Joe Dirt. Joe Dirt. Like pause your traction in a dodge. We don't know how it works, it just does.

Speaker 1 47:11

There you go, buddy. Get you done. Um you've been in the John Deere world for a long time. You've seen uh probably a couple different emblems out there that had the from the jumping deer to the leaping deer. Um you've seen some different uh dealerships as well. You know, we mentioned the three that you know Doyle's Murphy. Um thinking about the John Deere legacy. What do you think about legacy, your legacy? And I I know you're I know you are you are humble. Um and that's a lot of what uh I think John Deere is built on is um you know how the how they began and where we were going both professionally and personally. What do you hope people remember?

Speaker 3 48:08

Other than the fact of you know being a loyal person, loyal husband, and uh like one of the guys in the shop was teasing me, his name's Dan, pretty good mechanic, technician, and he always says that he wants to be a pall bear at my funeral because he said I want to let you down one more time, and I'm like, wow. It was pretty comical. But now, as far as legacy, I mean, I come from a family of of a lot of good hard workers, and I hope people remember me by being just more than a hard worker, you know. Good technician, I strive to be. Am I the best? No, I'm not the best. I think there's a lot better guys out there than me. But this was one of those times where I got chosen because everybody thought I was the best. I can't say I'm the best, but a lot of people say that I'm very good at what I do.

Speaker 1 49:04

That's the thing about humbleness, is uh that's what other people tell us. Yep. That's what makes the moment you stand up there on the grandstand and say, Oh, I'm technician of the year, or I'm this or I'm that. Um somebody told me once, you know, when we when we're when our time here is done and everybody gas gathers around and and you know your your pall bearer is there that wanted to let you down one more time. Um it's not always the uh sure, we'll we'll mention technician of the year. And and I I've been in the industry just long enough that you know, some of them, you know, I've been to customers' funerals, I've I've I've seen some heavyweights that uh that were let down one more time. When we're there sharing moments and memories, um it's those, it's those memories that you were talking about, and the reason why you were chosen to be technician of the year, it wasn't just that you're a great technician. Because I think that's the other thing I was told, you know, from people that are much wiser than me, which isn't hard to find, that um, you know, it's not what you know, it's who you know, who you surround yourself with.

Speaker 3 50:18

Well, if you surround yourself with good people, good things will happen. And as long as you have people basically, I don't want to say fighting for you, that's probably not a good term, but you know, when they know that you're doing good, you know, just you know, everybody needs that little reassurance, like, hey, you know what, did a good job today. Nobody wants a pat on the back, but if somebody's gonna come over and say, hey, you know, good job today. Thanks for showing up for work, thanks for meeting a quota, thanks for meeting a deadline. It's just sometimes it's the little things that we overlook that mean a lot to a lot of guys. Like I said before, listen. Ask the guys, you know, what do you need? Make your job a little easier.

unknown 51:02

Yeah.

Speaker 3 51:03

You know, everybody's got a story. Just whether or not you want to listen and do anything about it, that makes you a good boss, manager, CEO, CFO, whatever the case may be. Just take your time to get to know people. And not just think of us as just somebody that's fixing machinery because we're we're beyond that. We're more than that.

Speaker 1 51:25

There's always somebody else that it that does it better.

Speaker 3 51:27

Yep. Oh, yeah, you always got your armchair quarterbacks that sit there and you know, tell you how good they are. Okay, well, show me. If it was this easy, you'd see a lot more people doing it. It's a very tough, very tough profession. So what's the reward? The satisfaction of knowing that you can fix something that costs that kind of money. And then you see the smile on that guy's face.

Speaker 1 51:52

Yeah.

Speaker 3 51:52

Yeah. It's not something you see from the office. No. No. And then you know you're always gonna have an angry customer. It's how you deal with them. Yeah. Do you want to argue with them? No. Because that doesn't get anywhere. Listen to him, take the time, BS about something, find what he's interested in, talk to him a little bit, and you'd be surprised how quick you can calm a situation down. Is that the patience then? Patience. You gotta be very patient. And they respect you more because you were honest with them. You know, like I said before, these guys are too smart. They know when you're blowing blowing smoke up their you know, get Rachel to heat the Rachel to hit the bleep button. The sensor button. But at the end of the day, it's very rewarding. Has its good days, has its bad days. And not if the sun's shining. You're gonna find it, you know, a lot of people's in a lot better mood.

Speaker 2 52:51

Sure.

Speaker 3 52:51

Mm-hmm. Everybody's outside. I was gonna say the smoke's rolling, but of course now we don't see any smoke coming out the pipe. But the dirt's moving. The dirt's moving. Yep. Spring's coming, you get them good smells in the air. Everybody's attitude changes. It makes it more enjoyable to go to work now that people were in a better mood. You gotta take the good with the bad. And the guys that stick it out are the ones that's gonna go places.

Speaker 1 53:19

Yeah.

Speaker 3 53:19

You know, when you have a bad day, everybody has a bad day. There's things that take you a lot longer to fix than let's say what management might think of, or you know, some things that just can't be explained. You gotta it takes time to figure certain things out.

Speaker 1 53:37

Yeah, a lot of that too is I mean, it's it's more complexities to fixing equipment. Um, there's a lot of overhead, there's a lot involved, there's a lot of training, there's a lot more tools, there's a lot more technology that we gotta keep up with. Um so yeah, the talk does the the talk, the the clock does have to keep ticking.

Speaker 3 53:55

Um and that's what scares a lot of the younger guys because you know they're they're panicking thinking, oh my gosh, you know, I can't get this figured out. And you have to tell them, you know what, baby steps, just calm down and just think it through. Ask for help.

Speaker 1 54:10

John, I'd like you to do the send out here. Um if there is one piece of wisdom, not just to our folks in our company, not just to our customers, but anybody, everybody listening. Um what would you like to send us out with? One word of on a word of wisdom and encouragement for us.

Speaker 3 54:34

I don't know. Don't you have to be wise before you can preach wisdom?

Speaker 1 54:37

Well, you got the gray hair. That's where they keep the wisdom. Wow. He went there.

Speaker 3 54:43

I can because I wow I'm allowed. I know, I'm just messing with you. Piece of wisdom. Keep plugging along. Be patient. Things will things will follow suit. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 54:59

You think we need patience right now? I think we do.

Speaker 3 55:02

I think we do. I think everybody's just so fast to just point fingers, you know. I think just be patient. Listen. Good things will happen.

Speaker 1 55:12

And on that, the Iron Cast is out.