How do we count experience?

[r.w.landau]

Ross, Great question and some realy good replies!

Ross, I am a small remodeling contractor in Pittsburgh. My #1 goal is to make the people I do work for, happy! No my business is not cutthroat.I do demand quality.About 13 years ago I put an ad in the paper for a remodeling employee. I had more than 40 replies the first day. I called each one and asked questions about ability, experience, skill level, and their ability to respect someones house that we are working in.The divisions made a clear cut on many of them. Some of them would never be able to work in a clients home but would be great in a new housing developement where there were no people. Others were looking for work because construction was the only thing left in which they may qualify. They qualified for nothing else.I had long discussion with one man that sounded like he had a lot of experience. He did drywall, concrete,framing, flooring, painting. I hired him.After about 30 days I had tested all of those skills. The thing I learn was, he was experienced in all that he claimed. The other thing I learned was that it was all bad experience. He did do all that he said, but by no means was he skilled in any of it.I still believe a man with skill in his hands can be taught to do anything. A man with out skill should find some one or something else to depend on. There are few people out there that can bridge the gap of physical and mental skill,and make them both work. I have found it best to know your short comings, that way no one gets hurt or dies! Just something to think about... r.w.landau

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Hats off to ROSS IN TAMPA

To me, experience is not measured in years or miles, but in miles of 'new places'. When we first learned to sail, we were constantly going to new places, anchoring out, and entering new harbors and marinas. We are fortunate in that we lived on the Ms. coast which also opened up Al. and Fl. to us. In our first year, we had logged in probably about 2,000 miles of which most destinations were places we had never been to before. And all of this was done on a Mac 25. Some sailors we met had been sailing for 20 years and had never gone anywhere except to Cat Island and back, approx 5 miles each way. So, who had the most experience?Some people think that you have to master many skills before you venture out. In my world of reality, I would never live long enough to master these things, so I just do it. I think its mostly a confidence thing. I dont consider myself as foolhardy or courageous, just a little adventurous. I dont think of sailing as dangerous or risky. I do however consider driving in snow and ice as extremely dangerous and risky, I know, I had done it most of my life. I'm 60 years old and have only been sailing for 10 years off and on and am always wanting to go somewhere, so age hasnt caught up to me yet.We all have different levels of confidence in different areas of life. I think the experience and confidence may mostly come from the boat you are sailing and how much faith you have in it. I'm of the attitude that most boats dont sink and those that do pretty much manage to have a crew that escapes unharmed. This is not to say that people dont die on boats, but the probability is low. I'm 60 years old and I personally dont know anyone that ever died from a boat related accident. I do know lots of people that died in car wrecks, geting hit by a car as a pedestrian, died in air crashes in private planes and died in subway accidents and a myriad of other unusual deaths.  IMHO Tony B