Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Long time passing ...
Last Friday was Shed Men at my place. I'd offered up my place for the men's night as we've just built a new shed / garage and changed up the back yard. With power on in the shed it's also a comfortable place to offer rather than the old asbestos caravan shed.
At first I thought I'd do a slide show of my WCG exploits overseas running computer games tournamnts, but another topic kept creeping back into my mind. My shed isn't really a shed. In fact it's not my shed. It's Dad's shed. But my side of the shed is purely somewhere to park the car and some additional storage. On Dad's side there is a workbench with tools, nails and screws to fix things.
Most of the sheds I have been in are farm sheds. They have a certain character and there is definitely a manly attitude attached to such a building. Lots of big tractors, tools, wire, and many projects in some state of completion. Most of the sheds used to host Shed Men carried this feeling of a man's domain. "This is where work gets done!". Mine is not like that. Or more to the point, my side of the shed is not like that.
Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Long time ago ...
There is a generational gap between what Dad thinks of as a shed and what I think of as a shed. For Dad, a shed still contains the workbench because it's needed to fix things. Why don't I fix things? Why don't I feel the need to have a workbench as a mandatory requirement for my shed?
Consumerism.
I knew the answer, but it would be the topic of the night. What makes modern men have less of an urge to fix things yourself? The service economy. I work to gain money with which I can spend on other people providing services I cannot / don't want to do. With the service economy in place I can specialize my skills to become more and more valued, providing even more incentive to utilize others to fill in the gaps.
Consumerism is good. It allows a higher degree of specialization, hopefully in an area you enjoy. With everyone specializing, the world can accelerate its total knowledge and have a higher overall output.
It does have a weakness though: Dependence on others. If you cannot fix a car anymore you are at the mercy of others who can fix cars. We as a society need to trust that each service provider brings appropriate value, for without proper value and trust people will revert to doing it themselves, undoing the gains in efficiency through specialization. Dependency can also be affected by disruptive events such as an Earthquake where regular services are severely compromised. Heh, just realised that I have BOM open tracking a Cat5 cyclone heading our way. How ironic.
There's a whole section I was going to talk about that I skipped because the conversation didn't really head that way, but with consumerism the power is with the consumer as long as they vote with their feet if not receiving service of value. This could be anything from poor customer service or lamenting about the demise of the corner store to large food chains. The power has always been with the customer, but rarely has been exercised. If you want good service you need to make the extra effort to change to another provider and make it clear the reasons why. This is the only way that value is enforced. Why are there many fast food joints? Because they are servicing the need of the community who values speed and consistency over quality and health. That's starting to change with things like subway offering speed and consistency AND a healthy option. People have voted with their feet and that in turn has changed other fast food provider's patterns. It's not black and white though and there are times when you're going to get munched by the global machine for being in the minority, but usually apathy from the consumer is where the system gets out of control.
Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Work to pay for everything
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn.
So back to Shed Men. We broke out for a discussion to mull over the idea of whether you're a 'fixer' (first reaction is to think "I can fix that") or a 'phoner' (First reaction is to phone someone to fix it), and whether there are any experiences to share one way or the other. The chat was very lively and after 10 minutes I had to start bashing things to get everyone's attention.
The final point for the night was a reflection on Shed Men itself. Why are we gathering in a shed? Because it's a blokey place to be. We're cooking steaks on the barbie and drinking beer. No salads allowed! (although some still sneak in some greenery). A shed is a man's retreat, but it's only a retreat if you're a "fixer". If you're a "phoner", you're unlikely to use "just popping out to the shed to sharpen the mower blades" as an excuse to get to a place of solace. In fact you may not even have a shed!
So where do you go? Where's your cave that you go to when you need to relax, unwind and just "be"?
For me it's computer games. I can easily lose myself in virtual worlds. It's relaxing, intense, intriguing, amusing and addictive all when I need it to be.
Others may not be so lucky ...
Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the Shed Men gone?
Work to pay for everything
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn.
