SP
Steven Pettinga
Aug 21, 2019
Cummins Home Generator Sales & Service
You should never judge a book by its cover; a lesson I've written about before. Some of the smartest, most interesting people I've ever met have been technicians, small business owners, and their employees.
My generator did not turn on after the lightning storm yesterday afternoon when the utility power failed for three hours. In nearly 20 years; the generator has never let me down. I'm so glad I have it. It was Mom's advice.
Anyway, a technician, Daryrll Rule, who has been here before for the semi annual service before, came out, diagnosed the problem and ordered the defective parts and got installation scheduled for Friday.
When he was done and he was about to leave, we spoke for 10 minutes or so. I learned that he was to be drafted for the Vietnam war in 1970. He applied for the Air Force, but was turned down because he didn't have 20/20 eye sight. So, he went next door to the Naval recruiting station and signed up.
After nuclear power training, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise, the last ship assigned to go to Vietnam. On that ship, he maintained and repaired the nuclear reactors powering the carrier
Then, the discussion veered to other subjects. The power supply problem for the country, can small nuclear reactors ever be perfected, what is the use of windmills and solar panels, Tesla's research on wireless transmission of electricity. He knew and had an insightful opinion on everything.
I told him, when you retire you need to teach at IUPUI. He said, there isn't a place for a cranky 'ol guy like me there, and I told him "that's the way I describe myself". We laughed,
That's the main problem with our country, we don't utilize the people with knowledge and insight effectively. His opinion of solar panels and windmill farms mirrored mine...they are a waste of money and not an economically feasible way to deliver power. He even said "they don't fit on the cost/benefit curve". Ben Rogge would have been impressed, as was I.
This does not fit into the "new green deals" line of thinking. They are a bunch of idiots.
You never know who you are going to run into or what they know. Mr. Rule, I wish I could have spoken to you for an hour. Thank you for your great service, interesting discussion, and making my day, and fixing my problem. What a nice gentleman.
The home service representative CJ, was equally knowledgeable, polite, & helpful. All in all, I couldn't have picked a better company to do business with.
Steven Pettinga, Indianapolis