QAnon and Hope
I had an interesting experience today. A guy came in with a Dodge Neon with driveability issues. I diagnosed a crankshaft position sensor, we proceeded to break it coming out, and had to spend two hours digging the old one out of the block. Fifteen minute job turned into two and a half hours.
But, that’s not the story.
I usually don’t talk about customers because I think it’s exploitative, but I do think this story needs to be told. The customer told me that he would pay for the part ($25), but that his lights would get cut off if he did. We bought the part for him.
He then proceeded to tell me that the entire Earth was about to change, that we were all going to get every dime of taxes back that we’d ever paid. He also said that Trump is still president and that Biden is dead or something. Finally, he told me that the chemicals that the government had used to seed the atmosphere to cause climate change had accidentally been seeded over Antartica, melting the ice, and revealing Atlantis.
Now, of course, none of this is true, but that doesn’t really matter because everyone believes far-fetched things that aren’t true. I’m convinced I’m sexy.
What matters is that life is so bad for some people that conspiracy theories are some people’s only form of hope.
Why don’t we create a world where there’s real hope and maybe, just maybe, a pain in the ass crank position sensor brought some real hope to this man’s life, even if just a little.
And maybe y’all judgmental fucks should try walking in someone else’s shoes for a time.