Slightly Above Average Podcast
Slightly Above Average is a weekly Podcast built for all guys everywhere. Hosted by John Malecki, Sam Poola, and Joe Meinert, we bring you unfiltered takes on sports, viral culture, content creation, and everyday guy life.
Think of it as the loud banter you’d have with your buddies but filmed, funny, and unapologetically entertaining. Whether we’re diving into NFL hot takes, debating the latest memes, or sharing outrageous headlines, our goal is to build a community that feels like sitting in the garage or around a fire pit with your crew, beers in hand.
We aren’t experts; we’re just real dudes with strong takes on the topics that matter to the "slightly above average" guy.
New episodes drop every Friday on YouTube and all major podcast platforms
Slightly Above Average Podcast
10 Things Every Guy Should Know How to Do
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10 Things Every Guy Should Know How to Do
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There's a list of things you're just supposed to know how to do — and nobody ever actually wrote it down. Your dad showed you some of it, YouTube taught you the rest, and there's a handful you've been faking for fifteen years. Today we're settling what actually belongs on that list, with a heavy lean toward the stuff that saves you money the second you own a house instead of rent one. Bonus: we find out which one of us has been quietly Googling this stuff in the driveway.
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The Push Mower Haggling Story
SPEAKER_06I just need like a push mower and I found one on Facebook Marketplace for like 40. I get there and it's his dad and his son and I'm like, I'll give you 25 bucks. He's like, what do you say, Billy?
SPEAKER_05And he's like, oh, I guess I'll take 25. Like, oh no, I'll give you the full price. I thought it was him.
SPEAKER_01Like so a common problem and issue for myself and Sam and Joe as he started to work here is that all of us have pretty much all of our peers and family constantly asking us to do things because we are considerably more capable than them, at least on paper. So in today's episode, we are diving in to things that we believe your dad should have taught you you how to do as a young person to make you more prepared for the real world because I'm tired of hanging picture frames for my buddies. It's not that hard, guys. It's not that hard. So just just starting out, there's like a there's like an internet phenomenon. It's been going on for I would say like the past four or five years. Have you guys ever seen the dude online who uh blew up when he was like teaching you how he didn't have a dad, so he went online and he started making uh content on like uh how to tie a tie or how to do like basic things around your house to help those out there that are looking for a resource in order to do said things. Remember him? He was like on the Today
The Internet Dad Skill Gap
SPEAKER_01Show. Yeah. I I was in Barnes Nobles with my kid yesterday. He actually has a book, but um, since I saw that, I was like, you know what? And then in in the internet day and age, what I've started to realize more and more is that you have like two veins of people. You've either got the people that had the skill and that learned, or they learned it, and then you have the people that just don't give a shit. This guy. And they're like, I'll never do it. No, that guy's just all tie content. This is like he's like a dad. Joe's found like that dude has a whole channel just about ties. There's so many knots, by the way. If you did if you haven't been on the rabbit hole of knot tying, I don't know if you're into a Windsor, double Windsor. Just do a straight Windsor every time. I'm big Windsor. I'm gonna do a double Windsor because I got that big thick neck. Double, really. I I don't do it anymore because it's not the look at today's day and age, but I love the double windsor back then. We had to wear a tie in college a lot, and I had to wear a tie in high school. You wear a tie every day to high school. Yeah, you got you got brainwashed there, buddy. But uh the I learned how to tie a tie at least. I literally, when I when I got cut from the NFL, one of the there was like two things that I said to myself when I was started going on job interviews. One of them was I don't ever want to have a job where I have to shave, and two is I don't ever want to have to wear a tie to work every single day. That's fair. And I was like, I will I will tie my buddy's basement trying to build this business so I don't have to do those two things because you know, God forbid. But anyway, there's so many other rooms. I'll we'll say I'll find the guy, someone remind me, um, get you guys a link to the to the site. But he blew up because he was shown like basic things around the house. And I feel like today, like I love, I've got a really solid group of dudes. I've I've grown up with them, and they are like, we're we're getting we're getting close to 40, and they are just now starting to figure out how to do shit for themselves. Like my my my buddy that works on Wall Street up in New York sent me a picture yesterday. It's glorious. Sam will love this. You'll love it too, Joe. He um obviously is like grinding it out as a Wall Street executive because we're older now. That's nice. Check this out. He built from scratch, it's awesome. Um storage, just like I guess what would you call that? Like a like a wood stage.
SPEAKER_04Or even like a trash can storage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But like bought a plan, bought some tools, made that made that shit. Love it. Dude couldn't pick up a saw for probably 36 years of his life. So I'm like, what skills should you be having at a young age so that when you become older and you want to do stuff like this, you're not sawing off your fingers, or you're not smashing your toes, or you're not burning your house down or driving your car into random stuff.
What Car Skills Still Matter
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna start out. I want to get this young young sapling father figure to millions, is Joan I like to say. What are your thoughts automotively?
SPEAKER_06That's such a tricky question because I feel like because I was like born in like the late 90s.
SPEAKER_04So like ask him his answer for this, but then he's gonna tell you. Well, it'd be 30 minutes.
SPEAKER_06You gotta learn how to learn that diesel swapping. No, no, I'll condense it.
SPEAKER_01Like you gotta learn how to take a two by four and turn it into a four by four.
SPEAKER_06Well, I feel like so many things you used to be able to do yourself on vehicles have become like you just can't anymore. Like I think Jason said he had like a new uh Ford Explorer, and you can't even do your own brakes on it because you have to take it to the dealership just to get something reset, like it'll go into limp mode. I mean, I still think like even though cars are going in like a weird direction, I feel like you should at least like at a minimum know like how to change your oil, how to change brakes, change a tire, uh spark plugs, maybe. Like, I feel like basic stuff, but I will say we're hitting a weird point. Like, I I don't know. I think I was telling you guys, like the CEO of Ford and a couple other places, they were they're hanging out with the president, being like, hey, we really need to push some shit so that people could stop working on their cars. So, like, I don't know. You know what? I hope we're able to work on our cars.
SPEAKER_01One, two, uh that is a weird, weird conversation of like you have to stop working on like Fords. Ford's the only place you can go work on them. I was like, come on, guys, that's monopoly.
SPEAKER_04It's like the monopoly by we didn't really talk about it. I don't know if it's this model of Ranger Raptor we're currently giving away on johnmulucky.com. More information in the link below. Um those rangers nowadays. I was looking at one before I bought my F-150. I just wanted something smaller when I was moving to Texas, and like every mechanic my dad knows, I like called a few and was just asking, like, what would you buy today? They're like, stay away from those new rangers. You have to lift the whole entire body off the street.
SPEAKER_01It's the same with the Bronco things on the forge, though.
SPEAKER_04He's like, you can't do anything to it yourself.
SPEAKER_06Same thing with the 250s. Well, the problem is because they're making it easier for the mechanics, and even that's like debatable where it's like, oh yeah, they could just bring it into the shop, lift it off, and they have open access to it.
SPEAKER_04But you know, if you're in your driveway and you I'd get to find one person that enjoys doing that, though.
SPEAKER_06I don't think a lot of automotive techs enjoy that shit. That's why car insurance rates have gone up, car prices have gone up, everything's going up, up, up, up, and up.
SPEAKER_04So so what do you think? You think it's sorry, what did you say?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I would say oil, oil change of tire, and uh uh what was the last one? You said spark plug. Spark plug's no brakes. Brakes, yeah. I I would say I think it's good too. I'm gonna throw it out there just to know how to drive a stick. I mean, they're they're all they're diminishing. There's very, very few vehicles that have them, but it's always nice though if you encounter one in the wild, you can just I'm gonna hop in and move this real quick, you know. I mean, uh yeah, that's what I think.
SPEAKER_01I'm not gonna argue. I think I think there's some good points there because like for me, I so interesting. This is this is I don't know where this is gonna go, and he's probably gonna listen to this and we're probably gonna get in an argument. But let's go. My dad bet me when I was 12 that if I got a scholarship to college, he would buy me a truck. Okay, and so uh I got a scholarship, I was like 14 or 15 or whatever. Um damn that early.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_01Isn't that how old you are in high school? How old are you in high school?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you are a college scholarship at 1415. You enter high school at like 13 nowadays. You you turn 14 typically. Yeah, but you're 18.
SPEAKER_01But I was young, so I graduated, I was 17. Damn. So I've been 16 and I had the scholarship. Anyway, it was like right around 15, 16. Yeah. Um and so he bought he bought me this truck. He like he made good on his on his bet to me, and he bought me the truck. Uh it was an F-150, and it was an STX though. So it was like bare bones, I love this thing though. So like I because I had a scholarship, like every dollar I made like didn't have to go to college. So I was just boring it into this truck. And uh he wasn't helping me with shit because he was just pissed because I was just taking this truck he bought me and doing dumb kid shit to it, right? So I was just like learning as I go. Um, and so like changing the tires on it, right? Like I went and um uh put a lift kit on it, and like the dude there kind of showed me how to change tires. Like my dad had never would have had a reason to show me how to change tires, he wasn't working on cars all the time. Um, but he loves small motors, so like he was he was real big growing up on like tractor, more or less like tractor quad, like motorcycle motors. He was he loves that kind of kind of stuff. Big motors didn't really have the time, didn't really have the space where in our house for him to do anything like that. So I didn't learn any of that. Um, but I remember trying to change my own oil because I wanted to be awesome and change my own oil, right? Because I was spending all my money on like billet grills and didn't have any money to get my oil changed. Depreciating this depreciating asset, yeah, right? Um, and I remember laying under so first off, our driveway had maybe a 20-degree slope to it. I didn't have anyone or any internet showing me how to change oil back then. I just like read an article or found a piece of paper, called someone. Yep, you don't want to be on a slope when you're changing your oil. No, right? And um, so first first checkbox in the wrong direction. Uh second, I didn't put any cardboard or anything down on the driveway. He was pissed. I mean, like he came out like he was so mad. He I got oil on his driveway. Um for the most part though, what I ended up like putting this, like he came out at the perfect time. It was just starting to do it. Got a little bit of oil, it was fine. Uh drove to my neighbor's driveway, which was flat, and then like put down the he then he walked me through like how to actually do it. And then, but my dad always taught me in the way that was like like I'm gonna give you the bare minimum information so you can screw it up because you learn more from screwing things up. Um so I immediately was like, okay, well, I have no idea how much oil I'm gonna need for this truck or what kind of takes. So I look at the little thing on top. It was like 5W30 or whatever on that truck. Uh but I had a it was a it was like a I think it was like a 6.2 liter engine, right? So I was like, I need 6.2 liters of oil. Yeah. Because I have no idea, right? Didn't have enough oil, and then he put the fear of God in me because I was gonna blow this engine up because the oil wasn't enough, right? Because when you put the dipstick in, you like anyway, he was he showed me all that stuff. I think reading a dipstick though is a good one on his own. Oh, yeah, yeah. Kind of like basic stuff. But anyway, that's how I learned how to change oil on a vehicle, and now I opt to have uh anybody else change the oil on my vehicles because I find zero joy in any of that. Oh but but my father-in-law loves it. He's got 15 cars, he'll change the oil on every single one of his own vehicles because it's something that just brings him joy.
SPEAKER_06See, mine, it's not even like I mean, don't get me wrong, I I do mildly enjoy it, but like I just genuinely don't trust someone else to do it. I don't even feel paranoid for you.
SPEAKER_01You can change your oil on more of my vehicles than I have that I own now.
SPEAKER_06Probably, like, because like I at least when you do when you do your own oil, you know exactly what oil you're getting, what filter you're putting on. I just never trust it when it's like I want the premium. And it's like, I know when push comes to shove it in that big barrel, like we're out of it, just give them the conventional. And also, I've known like three separate people, even Dan had an issue recently where they go to these like quick oil change places and something catastrophic happens. Like, my mom got the oil changed in her Jeep. They like emptied it, put the drain plug in, never filled it back up with oil, starts driving, check engine. Like, what's going on? Oh, sorry. Dan had an issue, they they didn't tighten the lugs on his wife's car. Loose tires. Yeah, loose tire. Like we can rotate these for you. It's one of those things you save money, it takes little to no time, and you have the peace of mind that like this was done properly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so you got any oil change horror stories, huh? No, just learn how to use jumper cables. You know how many people I feel like I've met that don't know how to jump a car?
SPEAKER_06Well, a lot a lot of newer vehicles nowadays, too. They even recommend you don't even use the cables or just use those packs because the electronics
Oil Change Mistakes And Maintenance
SPEAKER_06are so sensitive.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's nuts, Phil. I've met a lot of people like my like younger than me and my age that don't know how to use them for what reason. Also, maintaining vehicles, I think, is a big thing.
SPEAKER_06That that's a massive one.
SPEAKER_04People just don't understand. Like, it's like the same way with automotive, but also like machines. If you want a lawnmower, you gotta take care of it. You own a car, you gotta take care of it. Little things, cleaning it, like with machines, how my dad always taught me, you have to grease the shit out of machines every time, every time you use them. What's going into it, what's not. Like, it's just a whole bunch of things people kind of gloss over.
SPEAKER_06I don't know if they I don't think they still sell these anymore. They might, but like one of the most useful things I had, because like like my dad is not like a big like car guy, like by any means. So like everything like I was for the most part, like self-taught, but I remember I had this 96 Celica that like I pulled out of the weeds, like it was just sitting on my dad's property for like a decade, testament to how well built these Toyotas are. He was like, see if you could jump that thing and move it. I'm like, there's no way it's been a decade, jumper cables on it instantly starts up. I'm like, my God. But it needed like I had to change like the dash, do all the brakes, like a bunch of engine work, and they sell these manuals, like Haynes and Chilton manuals. I don't think they sell them anymore. Yeah, but it's a full book where it's like everything you need to know about this vehicle. They probably have like an online version now, or actually they probably don't, like I said, I don't know, cars are in a weird direction. I don't know if they you know what? Learn how to drive a trailer. That's important.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I still am working on that. Yeah. No, I mean so I more than driving a trailer driving a trailer, kind of self-explanatory. Backing a trailer up, 100% agree, Joe.
SPEAKER_04You know, as crazy as it is nowadays, I wouldn't say it's as self-explanatory.
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of people just hit first, just know you've got a load behind you that could potentially just keep your car moving and then hit everything wider. And you're but there's a basic.
SPEAKER_04Have you seen how people load trailers nowadays? That's different. They don't know how to load trailers, they don't know how to connect trailers a whole lot. Then you get into the whole back end of like, does your trailer have brakes? How much weight are you putting on it? Does can your truck actually tow it giving the weight amount? It do you have a correct license to be towing what you're towing? You have to class A CDL, class B C DL. What class do you have? Do you even have one? You have a medical card, if not.
SPEAKER_06He was talking about trailers the one day. He kept bringing up medical cards, medical cards are like you have to have like a like what are you talking about? Weed what do you mean here? Like, no, you need a medical card to have a trailer.
SPEAKER_04You have to have a certain card to be able to drive a certain G VW of a truck before you get into a CDL.
SPEAKER_06Why did they have all these regulations that make sense? But I could go to like U-Haul and rent like a 20-clock truck. That's why it blows my mind.
SPEAKER_04It's not heavy, but like when you get like a Ford F7650 and you have a crane on the back of it loaded out completely with equipment, and it's not above 20,000 pounds, but it's just under, it's dangerous to be driving.
SPEAKER_01You have to like a wide look, you need like a lead in a lag truck to tell people you're coming.
SPEAKER_04Baby step before a CDL. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01It's I I feel like you're dramatic, you're you're in an incredibly different category than like the gen pop here.
SPEAKER_06I obviously don't want to learn that.
SPEAKER_04I'm more afraid of that than I am. People that can just go rent U-Hauls. The whole point I'm saying this is like people go rent them, use them improperly, and crash them. Oh, and tip them over, they turn their whole vehicle over. I saw a I saw a Subaru the other day. Not even an SUV, just a Subaru car like Dan has. Whatever that is. Towing a U-Haul. I would just say it's on like Honda cords or whatever. Yeah, I'm like, but people are toning, like they're they're way down, dragging that shit. Cars dipping back like this.
SPEAKER_01I think the rent, I think the I think the fact you can rent a lot of things that require hauling
Jump Starts Manuals And Trailer Basics
SPEAKER_01with no basic skill or assessment is nuts. Crazy. Absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_04Machines? You always were like dumbfounded by that.
SPEAKER_01Still dumbfounded. And I never even knew you could just go right.
SPEAKER_04It's like a huge excavator. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just at Home Depot, go pick one up.
SPEAKER_01Bro, we can just go like spend a couple hundred bucks and just with you, just get a bunch of big machines, break shit.
SPEAKER_04They let you take it on whatever vehicle you have. They don't care about it. The fact that they let him take that scissor lake.
SPEAKER_06They should have never done that.
SPEAKER_04He's like, he brought it back. I was pissing myself. He brought that thing back and he was like, I was going up this hill and my tires were just spinning. Is that bad? I'm like, oh my, how did you make it back here?
SPEAKER_01Transmission's twisted on that thing.
SPEAKER_06No, no. That transmission was synchronous or going for like over. Oh, it didn't help.
SPEAKER_01It was moderately short drive. Can we while we're on the topic of ranger? Can we clear the air on something? Sure. Can you tell the people how you really feel about that ranger that's sitting out there that we're giving away to the people? Sure. In all honesty. Because you know what people want.
SPEAKER_06I know everybody, everybody wants me to receive that truck. That's entirely too big of anything to receive. That's a fine truck. That's a so that's something for you folks at home to enjoy. I want the the people that enjoy the content to get to get something back from the content, just like how when we did the workshop giveaway, we gave that away. So we're trying to give this away to you guys to, you know, we want you to enjoy this. This is for you. I got a ranger. She's gonna be fixed, she's gonna be repaired, she's gonna be back in action. I bought myself a little golf to scoot around with until I get her fixed, but my ranger will be back in action. You get this ranger and you enjoy it. It's gonna be all good. There's no there's no bad blood, there's no evilness, there's no matics.
SPEAKER_01Sam's suppressing a lot of things, right? Sam doesn't want that truck. Like you don't like it. That's not your style.
SPEAKER_06I mean, I prefer a little bit older vehicle, something with a stick in it, something, you know. This is a new vehicle. That's a nice truck. I'm not speaking ill on this truck. But it's not personal. You know, I you know, I I like older stuff. I like stuff with sticks. I like stuff with little little little old personality. I get this is a very hard line to walk. I'm not trying to bash it, but it's all personal taste.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but yeah, there's no the comment section just destroying me because they think that I would never offer something. I'm like, Sam doesn't this isn't with the the truck Sam wants. That is true. Like, I we know we talked like uh honestly, I don't think Sam has looked at any truck that was made after 2010.
SPEAKER_06No, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01And like, you know what? That dude's my fancy.
SPEAKER_06Like there's the Rumble bee. The uh yeah, but it's on four. Like I said, I would I did see Ford is coming out with a four-door Mustang. Yeah, they are oh my god, zero to I think it's just gonna be a rebadge Ford Falcon, but oh my god, zero to sixty under four seconds. I don't know, we're off topic. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01So getting back to the topic and point of the conversation, I got a hundred percent put we'll go with backing up a basic trailer. Yeah, basic driving and backing up a trailer. That's something my dad is when I was a kid, um we we cut a lot of grass. Like I've I've literally only ever my jobs in my life, you can giggle at this, were like doing general labor as a kid under the table. So cutting grass, mulching, roofing, laying block wall, digging holes, cleaning gutters, like that kind of shit. Fillin' holes. Then the NFL, then this. That's
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Stick Shift Anxiety And Learning Fast
SPEAKER_01no real world job experience. I I was a bouncer for one summer at a bar during college with a couple buddies just because we were underage and they would let us drink there. So that is my that is the extent of my life as an employee. Um and so when we cut a lot of grass as kids, and my dad would have the either the he'd have the truck with the trailer on it, or he would have the the trailer on the tractor. Now, I feel like this, I'm gonna get a lot of shit for this, but if you know anything about driving trailers, smaller trailers are harder to back up. And I learned how to back up a trailer, the tiny ass trailer on a tractor, and like you move one inch, that thing's like, and you're just jackknifing the shit out of it. Um and so when I started driving, my dad would just throw the trailer on and he'd drive to a parking lot and make me like drive around with it and park it. Um so that's where I got like basic skills. Now, I I'm not sitting here saying like I'm great at it, I just I just have the basics. My dad, I've watched my dad park like 25-foot trailers into like incredible slots back when we were younger and stuff. And our buddy Jason is really, really good at backing up a trailer as well. He he was a certified uh union operator, you know, so that's that's like a thing that comes to him. But I know you've said you wish that that was a skill you you were better with.
SPEAKER_06Oh, I I should be better to be honest with you. Like, I just want to know enough to I never want to drive a trailer bigger than that one that's out there. I'm not a big trailer guy. I don't I get a lot of anxiety driving trailers. I feel like they're like whenever you have different skill sets that are kind of like mildly dangerous, I feel you should only have so you can only get so many. And I'm like, You need to stop here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like four life threatening man skills.
SPEAKER_06Oh, yeah. I I think it's fair. You don't know how often I log on to marketplace and I'll see like a motorcycle for sale. I'm like, wow. Like even back when I was younger and I had a dirt bike, I was so terrible on two wheels, but that's a phenomenal price.
SPEAKER_01What a deal. Like Hey, then what do you think? She's like I'm super against it.
SPEAKER_06Motorcycles are also scary because it's the opposite of cars. Like cars for a cheaper price point, you're gonna get a slower car. Then for a more expensive price point, you get a faster one. It's like flipped, like street bikes are cheaper than Harley's, so it's like I can't afford that slow bike. Give me the give me the Ducati. Cross rocket, yes.
SPEAKER_01I was talking to a buddy a couple weeks ago. He was like, dude, you can get like pretty reasonably priced, like incredible crotch rockets right now. And I was like, Yeah. I was like, yeah, I want nothing to do with that. I'm good. I got pulled over for going slow before. Like, I'm all right. Your dad tried to sell me his motorcycle. I don't even know.
SPEAKER_06No, I don't know. This was the exact conversation. I don't know anything about motorcycles. He was like, I got a whatever, a Honda Shadow or this or that. He's like, You want to buy it? And I was like, No, I've never I've never ridden a motorcycle on the road, and even when I rode like dirt bikes, I'm terrible, man. I'd wreck the thing. And his response was, I'll give you a good deal on it.
SPEAKER_01What is that? Honey, look, I got a great key on it. All right, so we've got well, I so I think that's another skill too, is like you should at least I can I can do the basics on a motorcycle, like more or less a dirt bike, like we ride a basic dirt bike. I'm not great with a clutch, I don't have a lot of experience, but I can drive a stick, I can I can drive a dirt bike. I'm just not like gonna be confidently like, yeah, I'm the first guy that's gonna hop in there and do that thing because I didn't learn on it. Um, but you guys both brought up driving stick, and I know like you're obviously very proficient and very confident and comfortable. Um, but I I wish we didn't have anything for my dad to teach me on, so he still to this day, as a 38-year-old grown man, talk shit on me for not being as good at him driving stick, even though I never really had the opportunity to do it.
SPEAKER_04What did you learn in like a regular vehicle?
SPEAKER_01No, I uh I learned I learned it. The mysticism of that stick. What does that mean? What did you learn it?
SPEAKER_06I learned to drive stick, not even because I wanted to, it was like out of necessity. It was my that the first truck I had that uh 96 F250, and it was that one with the 460, which is like a massive big block edge. Five speed manual, and that clutch, like you drive a car with like a normal clutch nowadays, like super easy to push in. That one, I'm telling you, like in high school too, I was like 110 pounds, and like you'd have to put your full body weight into that clutch to shift it super long stick. I mean, but I will say you learn on something like that, and then like like that golf, it's like easy mode driving it, especially from driving my ranger with a bad transmission for like a year. It was like every time I'd get in there, it's like, son of a bitch, come on, like you're just jamming it in and out. This is just like buttery smooth, like click, click, click. That's how the ranger will be shifting when she's repaired.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, no, uh I I I my f I would tell you guys my like baptism by fire stick driving. So I I had to learn in college. Like I said, my dad we had nothing to teach me on, so we just talk shit. And I get to college, one of my roommates ended up having a at some at one point for like one summer, he was like a dude that just lived with us for a couple months. He had a stick and he would park in front of me and then go to class, and I would need to move his car. So I had to learn how to drive his car. So I got like the basics of like how I could take around the block and then like park it. Cool. Flash fast forward five years. I'm on vacation in Casumel, Mexico, right? And my girlfriend at the time's like, let's go on this Jeep tour. And I'm like, bitch, you look at those jeeps, they're like from the night, they're like from 1960. They might as well not. There's my they shouldn't have doors, they shouldn't have a roof, they shouldn't have anything on them. Like, we we get in that thing, and I mean, you were you were driving in a meme. I'm talking, there's people on motorcycles with baskets of food on the back in and out of you. Everyone's just like, huh? Mexico, Mexico, Mexico. Uh on the other side of the road, dude. I'm I'm little of them stalling out. I'm like, this thing is a piece of shit, it's old as hell. Yeah. And I'm then we go onto a beach, I'm like, this is the worst, right? Um, this is where I'm just like, you know what? If this is the same, if there's this much anxiety in driving this thing, I don't know if I want to live this life anymore.
SPEAKER_06I I will I whenever I first started driving, I used to feel that anxiety because it was a big ass truck, and you'd be on like a Pittsburgh's not the best place in the world. No, you'd be on like a hill or something. And always like when I first started driving, I was so bad. I'm like, oh god, if I roll back, I'm gonna kill someone. So you just like dump the clutch, and the thing has so much torque, it just starts spinning the tires, and like they think I'm an asshole now. Like I but I know what you mean about the roads. When we were in the Virgin Islands, we had to rent a Jeep, and we were on the left-hand side of the road, but the the steering wheel's on the American side. But I will say, being from Pittsburgh, like driving the Southside slopes, I'm like, they trained me for this because it was like the wildest roads. Like everyone I talk to is like, I've never seen anything like this. I'm like, this is only like a few clicks down from Pittsburgh.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, it's like almost it yeah, I would not rec would not recommend. But uh, I wish I was more confident driving stick. I know Joe, you've mentioned that before too.
SPEAKER_04Baptism by fire. My dad has a big sterling water truck. Yes, that thing's huge. 20 foot bed, they carry a lot of their casing type water. No, it holds water. He holds that back, dude. It's a nice truck, but I remember the one day he was like, You want to learn how to drive stick? And I'm like, Yeah. So we go up in the truck, and he's like, You're not allowed to come inside till you get this truck to the house. And I'm like, What? Dude, I sat there for like two hours. This big truck air brakes. I mean, like, I'm I'm stalling out, and he's like, Yeah, there you go. Don't don't up my truck. You ruined this truck, you're fixing it. And I'm just thinking to myself, this whole time, that's how I had to learn how to drive a stick. So from there, it's like I I have a truck now, the one I bought off him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That I've been pissing around with. It's been hopefully I can get that running. Just needs a lot of love. I gotta find a battery for it. They don't make a battery. It's cool. But yeah, that's that that's fun to drive. It's very different though, driving like a car that's stick versus like a big truck.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah. Yeah, and it's it's a hundred percent just for for the love of the game now. Like, I mean, like it there used to be a time when like automatics were like slower shifting. Like now, like there's so much, like they're better by every metric. It's literally just for the love of the game and if you like the driving engagement.
SPEAKER_04I saw this TikTok. There's this guy that um he does this series where it's like things you shouldn't be doing as a grown man, and he has like part one to like he's at like 260 now. I follow him. And I wanted to send you this so bad because you're always like you always make the joke about you have to ask your car for permission or whatever. He made something polar opposite, and I wanted to send it to you because I knew it would piss you off.
SPEAKER_01I just want to show you guys how we put it on every limb to drive.
SPEAKER_00Okay, hold on. Hold on. Anyway, you guys be on one of your bags.
SPEAKER_06You're skilled enough you can do both.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_06Walk after the car. Control your vessel. Why that I will say the one why did he choose those two of all the things? Those are two completely unearly in topics.
SPEAKER_04No, they are, but he actually it's super cool how he does it. He started a bunch of them, and then he people comment and he makes videos off the comments. That's that's so he'll pick the best comments. That's how they will never run out of content. He has a couple million followers, but dude, I get served his stuff all the time, and I just piss myself.
SPEAKER_06But I saw that one and just thought of you always making that joke. My my dad can't drive a stick, and we've had this exact same moment together at least like 12 times, or like I'll pick him up from somewhere and he's like a little tuned up and he'll just look at me and go, let me drive this motherfucker. No. Okay. Everything's against you at home pops.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_04Outside of automotive, where do you guys want to go to next?
Home Survival Shutoffs And Breakers
SPEAKER_04There's so many other categories. We can go home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the definitely where I was I was prepared enough to be dangerous, but not prepared at all was I I used to like, we've talked about this before, I used to just fear anything gas and electric. Because like like in our house growing up, you touch that stuff, you're dead. Like it's not, it's life and death when it comes to gas and electric. It is is not there's no gap in between. You can dig holes, you can you can frame walls, you can hang drywall, you can do anything outside, but you touch an electrical socket, you're dead immediately. So I just like didn't know anything about it. I didn't ever want to go near it, I didn't want to think about it. And then I get to like owning my first house, and I was like, shit, what's all this? Where are all these white things in the walls and these black felt wires running through here? And you're like, that John is how you die. And uh, so I think there's something to be said for some basic, like like I would say at a minimum, turning off something in your panel. Like, I didn't have to learn that until I had to learn it. And you're like, you're standing there and you're waiting for something like it's not that, it's not that bad. Just like I wish someone would show me when I was younger.
SPEAKER_06You know, thinking about it too, like working on your own home, it's kind of interesting. Like we were talking about how like with cars, like they're doing more and more things to like inhibit you from you know being able to do things yourself. It is kind of wild that you go to a Home Depot, you can buy whatever you want. You can get it. Yeah, like there's nothing stopping you at all. And I think even you correct me if I'm wrong, I think even legally, because it's like your own house, it's like, well, he doesn't necessarily need a license to work on this. You don't have a license, you don't have to pull a permit. I almost wish they'd take a little bit of the regulations for like the car on the automotive side, maybe, you know. Especially in Pittsburgh. I think that's arguably what makes like Pittsburgh rentals and Pittsburgh homes like so difficult because it's a very blue-collar area and everyone's like a half-ass contractor at least. So it's like every time you go into like an older home, it's like okay, I could tell what work was done by the homeowner here.
SPEAKER_01And like yeah, I wish no one gave that homeowner a toolbox. Yeah, so I'm uh I would say in the home, for me, I like shut off water, gas, and power. Like, I'm gonna throw those all in there. People don't know how to shut that shit off. It's one lever, guys. Just figure out where it is that way you can go. Maine comes in during that power, water. I've had my buddies call me. They're like, they're like, oh, I gotta something's leaking. Like, how do I turn this off? I was like, you gotta be kidding me, dude. Yeah. Like just go to the biggest thing coming into your house and hit that big valve.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, turn that one off.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, there you go. But you're like, as a kid, like your old man or your mom's the one that's like, they're just gonna go do it. They're not gonna like be like, Johnny, go downstairs and look for the one and a half inch pipe and brass coming into the house and hit the person. Like, no, do it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, people always talk about like shop class getting removed from schools and like how detrimental that is. And I do agree, but I would argue even more so than that. I feel like it'd be important to have like classes that are just like basic home skills. And I know some schools have them. Like, I've been at different schools that have them, but I think that's something that just like everyone should know, just general knowledge.
SPEAKER_04No one owns a home anymore. Young people aren't owned in a home, so no one's a conversation. Yeah, right. But I'm saying no one's like even thinking they need to know this stuff, and then when they do eventually own a home, they don't know shit about their home.
SPEAKER_01And it's I mean, millennials don't know what the hell is.
SPEAKER_04It's a bigger, it's a bigger thing than just our conversation here, but you know what I mean. Like, it's just like, what do you do? You gotta teach these kids how to do something.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I don't disagree that outside of an iPad. That is one thing. That was like my favorite part of finally getting a house, is I've been in so many rentals where it's like, I want to do this, like I could easily do this. Yeah, I legally can't do this. And then you know it's like I'll call this guy and he'll be up in two and a half weeks to do half of it, then show up in two more weeks to f up the last thing.
SPEAKER_04The apartment I was just living in, dude, I had to put a service order in if anything broke for the appliances. Because the appliances, they'll swap them if something's wrong with them. My ice machine kept turning off, and I know how to reset an ice machine. You just pull everything out. I did it the one time and then something happened again. So I was like, hey, this keeps happening. And I reset it, and they're like, You reset it? I was like, Yeah, you just flip a switch in the back and it starts making ice again. You can't do that. You have to inform us if it stops making ice. Happened six more times. I had to keep putting in a service request. Come fix my ice machine.
Renting Rules Landlords And DIY Frustration
SPEAKER_06See, I've lived in a it's a button! I've lived in a complex a complex a few times, and I prefer that over like there's a few places in Pittsburgh I rented just from a guy. It's way worse. I was at a place in the north side, and it's like it's weird. It's like this around here. There's like families that'll own like entire areas. Like they've got a toehold on the area. Yeah, we move into this place in like the middle of August, and they promised us like we're putting a brand new AC system in. Like, awesome. It's like 200 degrees out. We walk up there and it's just sitting outside. I'm like, that's weird. Like it's just sitting here. Our landlord's like, yeah, sorry, it didn't fit. We're gonna bring uh our AC guy Ed up. He's gonna put a mini split unit in. I'm like, okay. And like Ed shows up like two hours late and he's like, mind helping me with my tools in my truck? I'm like, yeah, I'll help you. And we're like walking to the truck. I'm trying to like evaluate like Ed, like, what kind of HVAC guy is this gonna be? Like, is he a straight shooter? And just this normal woman walks by with like her daughter in a stroller, and they just walk by, think nothing of it. And Ed's like, he like grabs me by my chest, he stops me, he goes, You see that? I was like, see what? He goes, Biggins. And I'm like, oh my god, like we're f this is gonna be, this dude's gonna be the worst. And he was, he was the absolute worst. I waited a month, we spent a month with no AC, the full month of August. He kept like coming up, and like he would just come up at odd hours to do it, and it was just so, but by the time it was hooked up, it was already September.
SPEAKER_01The like the weather was cool, and I was you like know for a fact that you're like, I can Google this and do it all myself in the afternoon. Yeah, we've hooked up, we've actually gotten we've done four of those mini splits, I think. Yeah, and we like went from like five hours to like three hours. Like, I think the last one we did was quick. The only reason it took forever was because Jason wanted to pretty it up. Yeah, that was it. It was like 45 minutes we had a mini split installed, right? Yeah, which so that's kind of like the bummer, but I do, I do, yeah, I definitely think that like there needs to be more of an emphasis, and it's and it's hard because in in traditional schooling used to prepare you for the job market, like to go be an employee, right? And that's what pisses people off nowadays is they're like there's no, you know, there's there's no like free thinking or or higher educational like push or whatever, and like that's what college was supposed to be. But I remember meeting guys from Florida and their school systems were completely different. They had like they had shop class, but they had classes where they were like it was going to prepare them for the real world, and it was way different than we had. I mean, they're they're going, they're taking like dry cleaning classes, like during the you're like, what? And they're like, Yeah, it's like a thing. And you so what like depending on the community and the education system, there, there's a lot more of like getting you prepped with these skills. But I feel like in general, I'm with you. Basic shit around your house.
Drywall Drains And Hanging Heavy Stuff
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like we have on here like patching drywall, like yeah, we were talking off camera. The amount of holes that I put in my house, I had to learn this in college because we were idiots, and uh, we want to get our security deposits back. So, like you, I mean, you accidentally throw a chair at your buddy across the room because you may be, you know, playing a rock band, you know, and and or or Madden is you were probably playing, Joe. Uh you got to fix the holes you put in the wall because you miss him, right? You know, like and so we had to learn how to do drywall in college. And then I remember my buddy Goose Sean that we're he's here now. This this dude had a full kit on repairing holes in his house because he looked he went to WVU. And I mean, like, having a party at WVU is just an open invite to break everything in a house. Like, if you threw a house party in Morgantown, all your shit's getting stolen, and your entire house is gonna be riddled with like holes, piss, excrement everywhere. Like, people did not care. You have to burn a couch on the street. So we'd be we'd be I'd be staying down there for a weekend and we'd be patching holes on Sunday morning before I'd leave because like you know, because people be breaking shit. So I'd learn that then.
SPEAKER_04I never learned how to patch drywall until after my freshman year in college, sophomore year in college. And only because I had a landlord um in my apartment, I had a hole in the wall, didn't want to patch it, didn't ask, and I should have just asked my my dad, but I didn't. I was an asshole. I put my bookshelf that came with like a closet of wardrobe. I put it in front of it. Sorry. Right? And this dude gives me a call, my old landlord. Hey, we found that hole in the wall. Like, you know, it's gonna be X amount of dollars off your security positive. I'm like, fuck, okay. Turns out he died like a week later. Oh, yeah, this is terrible. His kid didn't even, he's like, Man, forget about it. Here's your check back. I got my full check back. I felt so bad, dude. I was just like, so then I ended up, you know, I I I called him, we made right or whatever. He patched it. But I was like, man, like you get some people that just Oh, did we just I destroy places football players? Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Did you ever party those idiots? One state? Not the football players, but some of the I was uh the apartment I rented, the one dude he ended up going to an agriculture frat. And I remember I took his apartment, he was like subletting it to me, and I go in there. Oh no, it was great.
SPEAKER_01It was big at Penn State, but like I didn't know there was frats.
SPEAKER_06No, they're like the funnest ones. It's just all country guys, and it's oh, it's so much fun. But like there were all these holes in the walls, and I was like, Jim, what the fuck are these? He's like, I'll shoot my bow and arrow in the wall. Straight.
SPEAKER_01I remember going to dude. All right. It was going on a weird path. But I'd I'd like one of my good high school buddies went to Clarion. You you've been to Clarion? Uh yeah. We would go I've been arrested in Clarion. We'd go to Arts Fest. Wow. I wasn't arrested, I was detained. Yeah. My arrest. That's where I almost got arrested. So I would go up every if we weren't playing, we would go up to Autumn Leaf Festival. But you'd walk into a house party and I'd be the biggest dude there. And literally, you're either doing two things fist fighting or breaking shit. Like they didn't care about anything up there on like a whole different level. Yeah. You had fun by destroying things. Which is crazy. So, yeah, me and a couple my like buddies from Pitt would go up there and they'd be we'd be running through doors. I remember literally, it was so stupid now that I look back on it because I'm an adult. I remember my buddy was on the other side of a door, and he's like, You won't you won't punch that window out. And I just went straight through uh uh yeah, straight through a window pane and grabbed my buddy and pulled no safety glass and pulled him into it. Thank God it broke and fell out of the window or whatever, because I could have ripped the flesh completely off of my arm. Right? I mean, and in the joke here, Joe, we played South Florida in South Florida on a Thursday, flew home after the game. Friday morning, I drove to Clarion and did this Friday night. I mean, I could have ruined my entire life. That's how stupid we were. Remember, we're in there once, we were spray painting our names on the floor, ripping up like we destroyed everything. Yeah. So it was it was that you're right. The country folk partying is.
SPEAKER_06Oh, it's diff. I remember being up in Clarion that time I almost got in trouble, and I remember the one cop was scolding everyone. He's like, It's people like you who make this place look like shit in the morning. And in my head, I'm thinking, like, I drove in here in the morning, it was looking pretty rough on me.
SPEAKER_01I didn't do this, but but they fix it the next day. So you go up like I my buddy, his name was Donnie. He'd have the he had his buddy that lived with him, like they had a full toolkit. He knew how to use power tools or fixing shit, right? So I I'm patching drywall 100%. Did you do a lesson? Just learn it. It's been the greatest thing I've learned since I've done it. In health class. And I now because I tell you what, like now that I'm an adult, you don't get the anxiety that comes with like, oh, you know, your kid put a hole in the wall, or or you rip something off the wall and it tore off the paint and the paper, and you have to patch it and do all that. Um, so that's a great skill to have. I think I think as far as like the house stuff, unclogging, unclogging a toilet, or maybe even I would say go to the level of like snaking a toilet. Like the rental rent a snake, snake your toilet. It's not fun. It's it's it's dirty, gross work, but once you do that once, you're hopping on team pula in regards to using you know, dude wipes and flushing garbage down your toilet, right? Everyone's like, you can flush one of them. And it was like, you snake that shit, you'll never flush another one again. And you'll yell at every single person you ever see use them for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_06Oh, yeah. Well, I feel like even like all augering sinks and stuff, too. Because they I feel like anything you could do to like avoid the the the gimmicky sink products, like I feel like it's it's those air blasters are pretty sweet though. The air blasters are sweet, yeah. But just I mean it's it's super easy to remove like hair from a trap or something like that, and you get the people that's like, oh pour the green gobbler down there and watch it destroy the PVC pipes.
SPEAKER_04It's like I use one of those hooks they sell at Home Depot. Oh, yeah, those are those are great. When I moved into my apartment last year, our one sink kept clogging. Yeah, and I pulled out a basketball amount of hair. Uh yeah. Whoever was living there before just like throwing all their long hair, it must have been the woman.
SPEAKER_01Like so, my uh my wife said in their sorority this was a huge problem. Because you I mean they're all women, they all have long hair. Like, you know, women uh uh they they they lose like consistent. Yeah, they're coming their hair comes by the sink. But like it just people lose hair all day long, like we all do. And then when your hair is longer, anyway, so you multiply that by like a hundred women in the freaking whatever uh it gets terrible. So I would never want to be a landlord there. So I like yeah, definitely like like basic drain maintenance. And then I think the last one you had up there, if you go back uh Joe, is um uh hanging something heavy or just hanging something. I brought that up at the beginning of the show. Is like every one of my friends will still call me to this day to hang a TV or hang a shelf. Yeah, and I'm like, guys, they literally have eliminated every every question you gotta ask here. You can get one of those zinc screw things, just mark the hole in the wall and drill it in there, and it holds 300 pounds, and like that's it. It's all you gotta do. You don't even Even need to get another drill, you don't have to like just a level and like the zinc, like screw in drill things, like get 90% of what you need done. Oh my goodness, is that something I can't I can't believe people just don't look it up?
SPEAKER_06I know it's pretty easy. My soon-to-be brother-in-law, he actually just texted me yesterday. He's like, I'm hanging a shelf. He's like, Is this screw long enough? It's an inch and five eighths. And I'd like this Hank Hill moment where I'm like, it's not the length of the screw, Kevin. You're gonna need an anchor behind that unless you're hitting the stud. Like, he's like, What are you talking about? Like, never mind. You're like, I'll be over in 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_01I do that all the time, though. I got a buddy he calls, he's like, I'm gonna hang these. My wife bought these floating shelves. How do I hang them? I was like, I'll be over in 30.
SPEAKER_04I'm not even gonna try to explain who's I've seen people that just put screws in the drywall.
SPEAKER_01All day.
SPEAKER_04It's like it's terrifying the shit people have hanging just all screw directly in the drywall, no studs. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_06It's like oh whenever I was tearing out the kitchen and the house I have now, it was like I think I showed you a photo years ago, but there were like six lags in it. I'm like, damn, like this thing's really on there. No, not one of them was in in a stud. They were all just in the drywall, so it was only being held up by the other wall cabinets to the left and right of it. I was like, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Like I find myself uh so like once you get down the rabbit hole and you have certain applications, like you we've all used them together, like the the snapblock toggles. There's a bunch of like a bunch of like solid toggle products out there now that make it a little bit easier. Um, but yeah, I'll I find myself on like I I'll I'll put a I'll put a cabinet up, you like snap a toggle, you'll just bunch a hole next to it, and then when you pull that thing down, you're like, ooh, I remember I remember putting all six of these holes in this wall.
SPEAKER_04I never used toggles before I started working here, and when I saw you using them, I started getting them. The only problem is when they break and up, I probably have at least like 10 on a wall somewhere. Oh, dude, if the the biggest I'll get another one.
SPEAKER_01The biggest problem is when you got insulation in the wall. Yeah. Because it'll it'll break the toggle, but pre prematurely break your toggle. Yeah. Um, but the products now are so like so much easier to use than I would say even like 10 years ago. Where I remember like I remember buying like like two-part wall anchor metal um sleeves that I would like epoxy inject into brick. There's so much brick in Pittsburgh, brick and cement, and it's even buried, brick and concrete, and blah blah blah. And uh I was doing a lot of like barn doors, I was doing a lot of like uh like uh um mantles, and I'd be hanging them, and I'd be using this method, and blah blah. And you're just like it was such a pain in the ass. Products are so much better now. Um it's not that hard. So just learn the basics on how to hang some shit.
SPEAKER_04What do you guys think about some of this stuff? Um just general life. Life
Why Cooking Matters More Than You Think
SPEAKER_04we have cooked meals well enough to host people. I'm a huge dude. I cannot.
SPEAKER_01I think and this is me thing. Fight me if you want. I actually think both of you will agree. But like let's fight. I think men specifically undervalue the value of being able to cook a meal, not just a piece of a meal, yeah, but like the whole dang thing, right? It's like my buddies are just they just the some of them they'll just grill, but like they can only grill the basics. There's like they can grill hamburgers and hot dogs and potentially a chicken breast. Now that they're getting a little bit more time, they have a little more money, they're all calling me to teach them how to barbecue, which is a whole different monster. I get it. But like I think that you should be able to prepare at least a couple meals. When I met my wife, I won her over by cooking. I'm just straight up, like, I won her dad over too. That man loves to eat. Um, but I could cook, so I don't know. I just I mean, I still I cook primarily to this day, but I think it's a very I think men just undervalue how valuable it can be to like the quality of your marriage or your relationship or the household in general. It's like if you could take a meal off the plate a week, do it.
SPEAKER_04See, I don't know. One thing I'll say is my mom, my dad doesn't my dad knows how to cook, but he doesn't cook. My dad doesn't cook. We don't let him cook because the shit he mixes together, we're just that shouldn't be served up.
SPEAKER_01That means he doesn't know how to cook.
SPEAKER_04No, I'm saying he could turn on a stove, he could put it in.
SPEAKER_01But that doesn't mean you know how to cook, because you could turn you could turn into cook.
SPEAKER_04He doesn't need to know how to cook because my mom is an elite cook. No need for him to learn.
SPEAKER_06Either of you have like an experience like this. Like, I feel like, especially growing up, I feel like my mom took a lot of pride in it, and she'd honestly get like pissed off if I would like like she'd come home, I'd be cooking something, it'd be like she walked in on me just doing like hard drugs with my friends. What's going on here? I'm like, oh just I make myself a meal. She's like now the kitchen smells and this and that. I'm like, okay, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_04Like you use something wrong, the wrong pan, wrong.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, not like a friendly sort of like, oh, let me show you how to do this.
SPEAKER_04She seasoned that, yeah. With what? Anything other than season. You did it wrong. Great. You did it wrong, it's gonna taste like shit. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel like growing up in a large Italian family, it was like expected that you contributed to cooking. So like my grandfather on my mom's side, he he was he would only cook specific things. So he made like one specific sauce, or he'd make the sausage, or he'd make this specific bread. He wouldn't make the rest of them. He would just like it was just certain things that only Toto did. And so like you'd have to like recruit him when he had the free time if he wanted to eat the meal that he made the thing for. Um, but it was still like, yeah, I feel like I got a lot of like basics through that. Um, and I actually thoroughly enjoy it. It's like one of the only creative outlets that I can still have nowadays that's like not incredibly intense for my time. Like, I can't go build like a kitchen cabinet and have the time to still be with my family and and run this business and do all we do here. But I can go home, I can cook a nice meal for the fam. Yeah, I feel like I get a lot of gratification out of it. So I think it's just undervalued.
SPEAKER_06I think men undervalue it a lot. Yeah, I think if you enjoy making things like in any regard, you'll probably enjoy cooking. Yeah, because it's it's a very similar sort of I feel like you're using the same. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What about uh price negotiations?
Negotiation Etiquette And Marketplace Haggling
SPEAKER_06Man, this one's tricky, and I don't think that like I think it's a case-by-case basis. I've witnessed the older men try to do some shit that worked like in the 70s and 80s and say it's not it's not you can't do that now, man. I offered them cash at the dealership. They don't want cash anymore, they want you to finance shit.
SPEAKER_01I think it's uh the best part about that is we're in such a weird place now with like the boomer mentality and transitioning to like you know different generations. But like my dad's generation and my my buddies' parents and stuff, they're all still like that. Yeah. Would you offer him cash? I was like, uh no, he's thinking I'm a drug dealer. Like, you can't just do that. You can't just go to like the car dealership and offer cash. Yeah. They're not like no one wants cash. Like, I don't need cash, they're not paying me in cash. I'm just being honest. Like, I'm not going to the bank with a lot of cash and not getting asked all those questions because it's it's no, it doesn't but price negotiation. That's an interesting one because it's it's like I guess it's got to depend on like where things come from. I got a buddy whose dad was in the mechanic, he was a mechanic for his entire life and stuff. And like our I have friends that will call him and be like, Mr. D, can you come to the car dealership with me? Because he will demoralize a car dealer. And like just I mean, I'm talking like have people crying at the end of the day, and he'll be nickel and diamond shit that yeah, I you didn't even know existed on that, on that, on that deal. Yeah, I'm like, I just want to get in and out. Like, I don't want to deal with all these emotions. I'm not that attached to this situation right now. So like I I personally am like, it's not like a like I'll go in and I'll be like, look, I don't want to bullshit around the block. Here's what I'm willing to pay. Can you make it happen? No, okay, goodbye. Like, I'm not gonna sit there and go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Um But I I I don't have I don't say I I don't have very confidently strong, like I don't know, I guess like in those situations, negotiation tactics that I that that I I would be like, uh I learned these at a young age and they've held they've been great for me. So that is that that's something I think would be good. On a small scale, I enjoy it.
SPEAKER_06Anything I buy, there's not one thing I buy off Facebook marketplace on Haggle. I I think it's like it's like I feel like it's part of the fun of buying something off marketplace. Yeah, I feel like that's completely different though.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, not with like a car. Oh, I th okay. I'm talking about car construction, or someone shows up to your house and like. I don't think there's much you can haggle with anymore.
SPEAKER_04Well, I've seen my dad negotiate everything. I mean, he thinks. I'm saying the generations like they're just born to haggle. I mean, I only got this much on me. You do it, get the f out of my house. Yeah, okay, we'll do it.
SPEAKER_06Worst thing I ever haggled, and I felt so bad afterwards. I think I ended up it's so long ago I can't remember. I think I ended up just paying them full price. No, it was I bought it was when I was in South Carolina. I just need like a push mower, and I was like, most I'm spending is like 25 bucks. So I found one on Facebook Marketplace for like 40, and I get there, and it's his dad and his son, and I'm like looking at the thing. I was like, I'm probably gonna have to clean the carbon here. The air filter's dirty. I'm like, I'll give you 25 bucks for it. And he looks at the kid, and the kid can't be more than like 12 years old. He's like, Well, it's not mine, it's his. Like, what do you say, Billy?
SPEAKER_05And he's like, Oh, I guess I'll take 25. Like, no, no, I'll give you the full price. I thought it was him.
SPEAKER_06Like, you mean rehearsed that shit? Probably. Did you pay full price? I'm pretty sure I did. It was so long ago I can't remember, but yeah, I couldn't do it to the kid. I would have done it to the dad, but not the kid. That's f that man taken advantage of. You're learning a hard lesson today, Billy, so the world is. You try to sell an honest product, this guy comes along.
SPEAKER_04This helps if you're honest with people about prices and stuff. I've gotten a few things over the years, just being like, hey man, like a marketplace, I could pay this. They won't answer me. Hey, like, people have gave me the runaround. Do you still want it? Like, yeah, I'll take it. I don't know. People are people just kind of shoot their load a little too much.
SPEAKER_01I I I always lead with like you don't like that one. I always lead with like, um, is it a bulk purchase? Are you throwing more items in? Am I decreasing like the time value? Like, like I'll come get it, or like I could be there quicker. We you know, if I could show up today, can you knock a hundred bucks off kind of a thing? Yeah, you know, like uh try and like trade something and perceived value is how I usually negotiate like that with with the used stuff or stuff like that. Yeah, um tough selling stuff that the on the other end of it.
SPEAKER_04I feel like everybody wants to negotiate.
SPEAKER_01So that's why I don't like doing this because when I was selling custom furniture, everyone wants to haggle your ass. I'm like, no, the price is price. Like, I can itemize breakdown. No, you can't. You have no access to any of the things that I do, and you're paying me for access and time, speed, quality, decades worth of knowledge. Like, no.
SPEAKER_06That would happen to me when I was contracting. It'd always be like very small jobs. Like, it'd always be like a one-day, like, okay, I'm trimming out a bathroom or something. And it would be like, here's the price, we agree on it. I I don't care how you're paying me, this is the price. And then at the very end, I get with like the if I give you cash, do I get a discount on this? And I'd like yeah, I sometimes I'd like humor it to like a small degree, but it's like I almost feel like it's kind of shifty to do because it's like, well, we already agreed on this price. Now you're trying to knock me down here at the end.
SPEAKER_01Here it's like it's our most I think it's our most viewed video is the clip of me, and I'll say it again, is like everyone thinks they can haggle a contractor. Everyone thinks that they can do it better than a contractor. They're like, I'll dig the hole or I'll get the materials, or what if I prep everything? What if I stud the house out, and then you come in and run the electrical and you come and do the plumbing and the drywall and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And it's like, what are we doing here? You know, I equated it to a doctor. It's like you don't go in, you're like, I'm gonna open myself up, I'm gonna bring my own tools, and then you come in, you do the heavy lifting, right? I'll sew myself up, I'll I'll actually give myself my own drugs, you know. And it's like people just get it. I feel like it's so so wild. You don't put any value on the expertise of like the individual you're buying from.
SPEAKER_06I feel like though, I I guess I will say though, I feel like we're probably a little closer to that, but I think there's like plenty of other areas where it's like we probably would adopt the mentality of like you're charging me this much for that, like I could just do it myself. Like, I don't know. Well, like here's you're paying for convenience, you're paying for something, like, it depends on the job. Your haircut, right? Yeah, yeah. You pay good money for it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, because you're going to someone else get your haircut. You could do that yourself 100%. You could stand in front of a mirror and shave the sides of your head's on the colour. You'd be like, Yeah, I look like a look like a squirrel. Sweet. I'm gonna go home.
SPEAKER_06Definitely depends on the job. I guess I'll say that it depends on the job. There's certain things where it's like you just need to have a professional. There are certain things where it's like, probably get away doing this myself or doing part of it. I would uh depending on the job, I was never fully opposed to someone being like, we'll have this demoed for you before you show up. Like demo is the thing.
SPEAKER_01I'm cool with demo, but um, we were talking about a swimming pool in the club. Oh, yeah, well, that's a whole different thing. It's like you gotta go in and fix the other person's work.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. I feel like there's there's a time.
SPEAKER_01Well, you just don't value your time if you're willing to do the labor for the person that is.
SPEAKER_04Like, it's a wrong project to do your own thing. It's like you have to be precise with that shit. Oh, yeah. Especially those fiberglass pools. If it's a little off, I mean a lot of concrete work going into it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so but uh but think about it in any context. Is like if you just value if you value money over your own time, that's typically when you're willing to trade the work that you're gonna do, right? Because it's like people, yeah, I I just find it it's always an interesting conversation, and people get pissed off because I'm like, go pay the people. They're like, you don't understand. I'm like, yeah, no, I do. I've lived in this life for a good minute now, and I pay people what the you know what the price is, and I will definitely haggle if I think I'm getting a charged more for like something that shouldn't be that expensive. But I uh I I just always find it interesting how how people will like die on that mountain. It's like it doesn't take a brain to do these said things. It's like until that person cuts your gas line in half because you know you decided to do it yourself, and now you're in a pretty bad predicament, you know, but you're you're you're gonna demo your own shit before you get that contractor in there.
SPEAKER_06I'd sometimes get that whenever it'd be at people's homes or you'd get like a homeowner or something, they'd be like, you know, I could do this myself, but I just I'm busy. All right, like that's what you don't have to say that man. I don't care if you could do it or not.
SPEAKER_01I use the quote now, I was like, I know enough to be dangerous, but you're here because I you you're the expert. Yeah. So you tell me, like, what are we what are we dealing with, right? Yeah. I know how this should be done. And if you don't tell me the things that I know I'm supposed to hear, bye.
SPEAKER_04Different beast.
Drafting The Top Ten Adult Skills
SPEAKER_04We um moving into the 2026, slightly above average, ten things your dad should have taught you and that you should know as an adult draft. Uh we're gonna go through one by one, picking a collective of ten things you should know. Starting with pull up, pull off this list. What would you like to be on our list first? The people at home are gonna ridicule. Is it a combo list or my list versus? No, it's all we're all.
SPEAKER_01All three of us are collecting. We're drafting the dream team.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but it's gonna be up to the comments to decide if the list is shit or if it's a great list. Or a hit. All right, let's see if it's shit or hit. Shop or slot. I don't know if they they actually might get flagged if they comment shit. Uh maybe they won't. YouTube's weird sometimes. Okay.
SPEAKER_06Comment excrement. No.
SPEAKER_04Hit or miss. Cooper Goop. Let us know if our list was a hit or miss. Paula, you're up first of this list. What should you know?
SPEAKER_06I feel like of everything on this list, the most practical first choice. I'm gonna say shut off water, gas, and power at the source.
SPEAKER_01I'm very surprised he went practical.
SPEAKER_06I've I just like seeing it, I just glare. I'm surprised I didn't get a driver stick shit.
SPEAKER_01I'm going with I'm going with that one. I'm going with drive a stick at it. Because he didn't say it. No, we can't talk. It was gonna be shit. It was gonna be a big thing. What do you mean? That's a great skill that everyone should. Dude, my wife picked me up in a stick shifting Porsche when I was crushed at a Steeler game once. I was like, that's the most impressive woman I've ever seen. I'm putting a ring on it.
SPEAKER_06Every time uh it drives me nuts. There's not one car Kristen knows the name, make model. Every time she sees a Porsche, she goes, I like that one. Why don't we get one of those? I'm like, it's $200,000.
SPEAKER_04I'll say change a tire. I think change a tire needs to be on there. Over jump a battery or change your oil? Yeah, I think you need to have people. I think you need to change a tire. Life or death, pop a tire driving. How many are we gonna get? Ten or nine? Ten total. Ten total.
SPEAKER_01Two or three. Are we snaking it or are we going to be a little bit more?
SPEAKER_04Nah, pool can go back up.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna say patch your drywall. I feel like everyone, pretty much everyone that either owns or rents a home puts a hole in a wall.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes you put too big of a hole in your rental wall. Agreed. We're talking. I'm gonna lean into the dude side of things here, and I'm gonna go back to what I said earlier. You should be able to cook three meals. Full meals. As a grown adult male. To be able to host. I just think cook them for somebody else. Like Sam comes over, I can cook him a meal. Or you want to go on a nice date, you can cook her a meal. Or him, or whatever you're into. You should be able to cook a full meal. I'm not talking just meat on a plate. Full course.
SPEAKER_04I'll say reset a breaker. Or even just read the panel.
SPEAKER_01I think it's a phenomenally uh under undervalued skill. I can't tell you how many times.
SPEAKER_04What is this? Oh well, I click this one.
SPEAKER_01No, no, don't don't do it. You know something that pisses me off though? What's that? I was in my panel last weekend and I'm reading it. It's like it's a destination. I was in the panel last week. I'm in my panel. My electrical. Can we get a little bit of a standard of handwriting and when you're when you're an electrician writing in a panel? Like it's just penciled gibberish. Yeah. I'm like, what letter is this? I'm turning my head. I'm trying to shut up. I was hanging a ceiling fan. I'm like trying to trying to read what the hell's going on. I'm uh I've seen some. Oh man, the death of curlat is because of that. Like they're all just oh man. And I when you get into some older ones, it might as well be calligraphy, or it might as well be just like written in some ancient Egyptian. Shit's nuts. Come on, let's get a standardization. You know what I'll say? When I met my my my buddy Gibb, uh, who's like a master electrician, when he helped me do all my panels and he did a bunch of work here, everything is printed. He had a label printer. So you could read it and be in you'd be blind, you could read it. I think he put Braille in there. Hold on, you're up again.
SPEAKER_06Can you scroll down a little bit? Tie a tie and pack a bag for a funeral in ten minutes. What the f does that mean? I don't know.
SPEAKER_04What is your GPT doing?
SPEAKER_06I asked it to give me things tie a tie should have taught you. Tie a tie, yes. Pack a bag for a funeral. Come on. In 10 minutes. Why is there a time crunch on it? Don't want to put too much thought in it. We deleted it. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Um, let's see. Just said, what should my dad have taught me and it gave me all this?
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna I'm gonna say finding a stud. I think that's a a useful skill. Everyone hangs things on their walls. Everyone has most at use a level and find a stud. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's a good one. Yeah. Hmm.
SPEAKER_01So this is my last choice, huh?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go, you know what, even though we deleted it, I'm bringing it back in. I think tying a tie should be on. It's just a general I'm going with like the more like fatherly stuff because you know I got all these damn kids. Like tying a tie, though. I we had to wear a tie in high school. My dad never really had to wear a tie, so I someone else had to teach me. It's like no no sign of disrespect or anything, but like it's just a thing that I had to learn and I think it's a good skill. I've got friends that I've I've taught dozens of people how to tie a tie, which they would never think that I knew how. Um so I'm throwing it up there.
SPEAKER_06Isn't it sort of weird that if I had a zipper tie on right now, you'd never be able to tell, but there's so much shame associated with the zipper tie, or like they only make them for kids. No, no, no, it's not a clip-on. It literally like you could like zzz like you never used a zipper tie. I used to have them when I was a kid. Yeah, it's great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I had a tie tie as a kid.
SPEAKER_06I mean tie tie. I have I had tie now, but I miss my zipper tie.
SPEAKER_01Before games starting in middle school, at my where I went, you had to wear a shirt and tie to school. Yeah. So I had to learn how to tie a tie. Joe went to Catholic school, so he had to tie a tie since he was like Polo in grade school, high school and grade school tie.
SPEAKER_04Pink polo. Well, I think we know which one I'm gonna pick.
SPEAKER_01I oh actually, I know. Wait, greasing uh greasing heavy machinery? You should know how to do that. I'm not gonna lie. I think you just put the grease something on and then just pump it. But like I put it up. I'm not around heavy machinery. Oh, on the grease fitting. People don't know what grease fittings are nowadays.
SPEAKER_04A lot of them. I'm not gonna grease fitting out. You don't know how many grease fittings are.
SPEAKER_06Or even light machines.
SPEAKER_04It doesn't have to be something you drive. How many pieces of equipment here do we have that should be always?
SPEAKER_06I mean, I was grease on the planer months ago.
SPEAKER_04I could guarantee there's probably another 20 tools out there that have grease fittings on what we should be.
SPEAKER_06When's the last time you greased these cameras? You don't grease these cameras. We gotta talk after the podcast. They're internally greased.
SPEAKER_01They've got grease reproduction actually built in the street.
SPEAKER_06If you had a gas lawn mower. I got a Ryovi 18 volt because my lawn's like as big as a stables, and I can just you're done.
SPEAKER_04Alright, so that's nine. Yeah. Joe went with back up a trailer. It's a good one. It's a really good one. Like you should know how to back up a trailer. It'll pay off one of these days. Oh I think I know which one he's gonna choose.
SPEAKER_01So we've got nine. So you could pick a ten. The final? I think John, you can pick that last one. I think I want to give it to Sam.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. If you want to give it to me. I don't know if you're gonna like my. Yeah, no, don't give it to him.
SPEAKER_02I'll tell you to hang it.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna I'm gonna go with hang something properly. Heavy, light, whatever. Um it's a skill that I think like when you get to college and you get your own spot, you want to like decorate your room. I found myself like needing to like do that more often. Um and then you use I mean I still use it all the time now. I can like go hang a picture or go hang the shelf or go hang that thing this thing. You know, it's like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_06So the more reps you get at stuff like that, too, you're not as scared of it. There's a lot of people like, I'm just scared to hang it. What if it falls? But I mean, once you understand the principles of like hanging something off a wall, it's like, oh yeah, hang it.
SPEAKER_04They sell that pink stuff. What's it called? You just you patch little nail holes with. Um oh the dry decks. Yeah, the dry decks, thank you. I mean, that stuff's people don't understand.
SPEAKER_01You can just poop dry decks your whole life. You get people like blasting holes in the wall, yeah. Smashing their smashing their like wall anchors through stuff.
SPEAKER_04Have you done that before?
SPEAKER_01Me? No, I've seen it. Yeah. Just hammer straight through a wall anchor. Everyone built this wall. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04They can't even see on camera. You don't remember putting that up?
SPEAKER_02I blacked out.
SPEAKER_04Remember all the holes in this wall? Oh, yeah, it was covered. What were all the holes from? It was a TikTok video. We went to vid summit and we came back and we needed a video in like two days, and we cut this out on like the CNC, built this wall, and then it has the LEDs in it, and we hung a TV on it. RIP. And the TV wouldn't mount, and we there's like a hundred walls in the middle of that. Alien taping.
SPEAKER_01These walls are dumb because they have those metal.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they have the metal studs, and that wall anchors kept falling through.
SPEAKER_01I'll never forget to hang in those cabinets. So there's our 10. We've got starting at the top. If you don't mind, I need a little bit more.
SPEAKER_04We'll put on screen.
SPEAKER_01Anything, anything you want to fight to change.
unknownHmm.
SPEAKER_04These are all very practical. You know, I think it's valuable. Do I think tie a tie fits on this list? I don't.
SPEAKER_06This is all very practical. If I had to get rid of one, it probably would be a good one.
SPEAKER_04Because they make clip on ties. Or the zipper tie.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, or the zipper tie. Available now at John.
SPEAKER_01I probably I probably should go back and change tie a tie to unclog a drain without a big thing. That'd be a great one. I mean, tie a tie just seems like that. I'm taking way more huge dumps than I am tying ties in my life. Um, but it is one of those things that's like, you know, let's we'll put it as a solid number 11. Yeah. You know, like learn how to tie a tie. You don't know when you're gonna need it, but when you do, you're gonna be stoked you have it. This is one of those things where people be like, well, I could just go online and watch a video. Like, yeah, you stand there for 45 minutes because you're gonna F it up. Like, promise it. Once you learn it, it's easy. Once you learn it, it's easy. You start impressing people.
SPEAKER_04If you can tie a tie good one time, you never have to tie it again. You start for a long time. You can just tie it in your clothes. I all my ties, I leave tied. Uh unless unless they start getting weird, I'll retie them. But mine just get gross. When you go to Catholic high school, dude, you just you anything you can to get. How many ties did you have? One. Oh, really? And then I just we you know what we did to get around like our button-ups we used to have to wear with the ties, we would cut them right here and wear pullovers over it. So it was like my uniform was this little just neck collar I'd put under a dick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I was just about to say, I'm like, uh Dickey's still a thing, but doily. Yeah. So
Final Debate And Listener Challenge
SPEAKER_01that that's gonna be a wrap on things that your dad should teach you or you should have learned as a kid, or whatever title you want to put on it. Don't come hating us for the titling here. We're just a couple guys trying to inform the world of our thoughts and opinions. And we appreciate your thoughts and your opinions. If there was something we missed, please leave a voicemail or leave a comment down below. We'd love to hear it, and we might talk about it on the next episode. Appreciate gins, and we'll see you then.
