Thoughts on people perceiving others
Recently a thought has hit me. I feel like it has been brewing for a while in my head. Just a few weeks ago I thought of people's perception of others and how weird it can be. Specifically, I thought of people in my hometown referring others to a handyman. Imagine this: person 1 says that they're a pretty dang good handyman, and that person 2 is an awful handyman (maybe they charge too much, and drag out the work). Well, you talk to person 2 and they say that person 1 is an awful handyman (maybe he cuts corners and such) and that you should come to them because they are pretty good. This is a simplified version of this. It seems like there are 4-6 handymen in my hometown and everyone of them will tell you 3-4 out of them are bad, besides them and one friend of theirs.
It didn't stand out to me at the time. But who am I suppose to trust? If person 1,4, and 6 don't think person 3,2, and 5 does a good job, but they think 1,4, and 6 do do a good job, while 3,2, and 5 don't think 1,4, and 6 do a good job, but they think they themselves do-- what am I suppose to take from that? In most cases it would be to get familiar with the work being done, find a trustworthy person to show you some tips and tricks, or eventually the ropes on how to do a good job, but in this economy where it's hard to know everything well enough to make a decision or do it yourself.
Like I'm not big into cars. I would like to start to understand the basic just to do basic upkeep. But I feel like I have too much on my plate right now. I don't want to get screwed over from some garage who want to take advantage of me (not saying this is all garages, just one of my experiences), but there's quite a bit to know about cars before you can make certain judgement calls. I mean, just the engine is such a complexity of moving parts. It's only one part of the car (a pretty big part nonetheless). Also, different cars have different engines, fuel tanks, brake pads, etc. So what I learn for my current car, might not 100% apply to a car I get in the future to replace it.
It just makes me think.