Heard a customer call their old film camera a 'brick' the other day

I was in my shop in Akron and a guy brought in his dad's Pentax K1000, saying it was just a heavy brick he found in a closet. He was shocked when I told him it was a classic workhorse that just needed a simple shutter fix. It made me think how much the feel of the job has changed, from fixing tools people used every day to now explaining why these old things even matter. Anyone else get that a lot now, where half the job is just telling people what they have?

3 comments

3 Comments

skylerr231mo ago

It's wild how the story gets lost with stuff like that (like who shot their birthday parties on it, you know?). Now we're kind of part-time historians just to get the repair ticket signed.

riley581mo ago

Wait, you need to know who shot birthday parties on it? That's insane. What does that even have to do with fixing it?

robinl901mo ago

Man I feel this in my bones. Had a guy last week who wanted me to document exactly which family member dropped a toy on his roof from a second story window before I even touched a shingle. Like buddy I'm just here to patch the hole, not solve a cold case. Told him I'd need a DNA sample from every kid in the neighborhood if he wanted that level of detective work.