“Hey there, can you jump on a quick call with me in about 10 minutes?”
This was a direct message sent on Slack to me by my Director (my boss’s boss) a couple weeks ago at 9:13 a.m. on a Thursday shortly after starting my day at my corporate job. This immediately started my mind racing, because there would be only three reasons for a Director to reach out to a lowly Engineer Spec III such as myself:
1) An HR complaint
2) A drug test
3) A layoff
Pretty much this was a lose-lose-lose because any of the above three would be wicked bad (even if you’re not on drugs, if your employer thinks that you may be, that’s really not good)! The next 10 minutes are probably the longest of my entire life, until I nervously joined the conference video call with my Director, Mike.
A little background, I have been working at Verizon for the past 22 years, it’s the only job that I’ve ever had since I got out of college in ’03. I worked my way up the ladder over the past two decades, continuously attaining positions of greater responsibility and difficulty. CX/UX, Telephone Number Inventory, Supervisory roles leading various teams, Compliance, UAT testing, and finally ending up in Production Support over internal systems along with the .com site and Mobile App.
“Steve, it’s been a pleasure working with you all these years but your position has been terminated due to the company’s focus on an AI future. Thank you for your service, and if you don’t return your laptop you’ll be charged for it.”
22 years ended in about 22 seconds.
My grandfather worked for Verizon when it was called NY Telephone after he got back from Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal in ’45. Both he and his grandson worked for the same company. He got a gold watch when he retired. I got a mild threat to return a laptop.
I was 24 years old when I got that job and I was driving a five-speed, two-tone, ‘95 Sebring hardtop coupe when I applied for it. A total “straight outta college” ride. When the Verizon interviewer asked why they should hire me, I told her that I had built the car that I arrived in, out of a junkyard. I saw a look of surprise wash over her face back in ’04 that I’ll never forget. I was offered the job shortly after.
So, my life has been completely turned upside down in the past 30 days. Bills don’t stop though, and I currently have the same amount of cars that we showcased here, which is way too many for somebody who is currently unemployed.
You have to move, shake and adjust. This means you need to take a hard look at your current skill set and figure out how to make money, wicked fast! Many of my current collection of 13 cars are for sale, and I have been doing some mobile mechanic work to keep the lights on.
Let’s Wrench: Somebody Else’s Chevy
One of my best friends is a guy named Chuck, whom I have referenced over the years in a few articles, (such as what I believe to be the best piece that I’ve ever written here). Chuck owns and runs a paint shop, and has been a lifesaver to me for almost 20 years; he has painted numerous cars for me. The guy has big heart and is always paying it forward for others; he’s kinda awesome.
Anyway, upon hearing that I was down and out, Chuck wanted to help. He said that he had a customer’s car up at his shop that had lost brakes, and thus smashed into something, damaging its front end. He was putting a new front end on it, and asked the owner what he was going to do about the brakes, the owner said he planned on towing the car out of Chuck’s shop and figuring out the brakes later.
Chuck suggested that he had a buddy named Steve who was a pretty decent wrench who would slap some new brakes on it for a couple hundred bucks.
The customer agreed, and I was hired!
Ok, Now What’s Wrong With This Thing?
The next task was figuring out why this guy lost brakes and smashed into something. What he hit was never disclosed so that remains a mystery. Popping the hood I noticed that the master cylinder was completely dry, which was a huge clue. It pointed us towards the fact that the brake fluid had to go somewhere, meaning that there was a leak!
A quick peek underneath the truck fully solved the mystery of the missing brake fluid, as the right rear tire was completely soaked with brake fluid on the inside. This means either a line or the caliper was leaking. Both are pretty easy to fix!
I smiled at my good fortune, knowing that I didn’t have to reverse bleed an ABS block or deal with other, more difficult brake scenarios (ex: Google SBC brake issues on the Mercedes sl500/r230 as a great example of a gross overcomplication of the already-solved-problem of automotive brakes).
Time to grab a C-clamp and some wrenches; let’s go!
Dude, You OK Man?
Removing the tire, and squaring-up to the hub, I noticed the leak was coming from the piston boot. Popping a new caliper on this thing should be a wicked cake job I thought to myself, figuring I’d have this done shortly.
What I saw next was the absolute worst brake repair scenario in my 31 years of wrenching.
Pulling the caliper off of the caliper bracket, the caliper piston fell apart in pieces in my hand! There was no rear pad whatsoever, and the inboard side of the rotor was worn to the cooling fins!
This means that the owner of that truck went completely through the inner pad, through the steel pad backing plate, through the inboard face of the rotor, and through the rotor cooling fins until the caliper piston disintegrated!
[Ed Note: Holy crap! -DT].
I’m not sure if that charts up to willful neglect, a legendary level of laziness, or just a complete disregard for both one’s own safety and the safety of others.
In fact, the reason the truck was at Chuck’s body shop was due to it smashing into something from not having brakes after the brake fluid escaped from the blown caliper piston seal!
This is a perfect example of kicking your own ass, needlessly. None of these events had to occur.
Let’s Wrench: Cheapassery To One’s Own Detriment
The saying “pennywise and pound foolish” comes to mind for the next phase of this repair. Chuck called the owner and told him that he needed new pads, since one had completely turned to dust, and also a new rotor.
The owner, in his (continued) lack of wisdom, cheapassery and dumbassery, chose to spend $34 on new pads, but did not want to replace the rotor!
The cooling fins on a rotor are there for a reason; to cool the rotor and prevent it from warping. Not having those fins (along with necessary thickness) guarantees this rotor will be warped badly in short order. Also, the thickness of the rotor is important so that the piston on the caliper doesn’t become overextended and blow out its seal! Wicked dumb.
[Ed Note: Look below at how thin the back part of the rotor is inboard of the cooling fins. This rotor is TOAST! -DT].
I told the owner that without replacing the rotor, he’s just going to overextend the piston in the new caliper and then be forced to buy another caliper. More importantly, he would be placing himself and others in the same danger yet again that ended up with his truck smashing its front end off.
Those words of alarm and of concern fell on deaf ears as he told me to put it back together with the badly worn rotor, bled the line, and put the wheel back on.
A Feeling Of Uneasiness
The owner of the truck paid Chuck for the new front end, and I got $120 for the caliper/pad replacement job for labor.
There’s something that I’ve been focusing on lately which I found is very helpful towards my well-being on multiple levels: a focus on the things that I can control.
I can’t control the move towards AI replacing white collar human workers, and how my former employer chooses to reduce payroll costs in hopes of improving their financials and “increasing shareholder value”. I didn’t think my life would change so drastically in 22 seconds, yet that event was out of my control.
I also could not control the very dangerous decisions this truck owner was making, and he’s the one who’s going to have to live with the potential negative outcomes of his decisions. I did my part in advising him of the danger he’s placing himself and others in, and by doing the repair to the best of my ability.
I can control reducing my car collection, doing my best to write wicked-fun wrenching adventure/shitbox rescue stories here for this awesome website, and saving as many broken cars as I can from the crusher. That sounds like a great plan to me. Time shoots forward and all you can do is to try your absolute best at whatever you are doing.
And you can control the distance between you and the car in front of you, with a focus on defensive driving, as this article is yet another reminder that due to the shape of many of the cars on the road around you, doing so could possibly save your life.
It’s good to be in control. We got this.
Until next time, my Autopian friends.
88mph into the future.
More SWG below in “Related Stories“!
All photos by Stephen Walter Gossin
- I Took On A Bad GM Design In A Hail-Mary Attempt To Fix My Friends Broken Suburban But It Was Too Little Too Late
- Sparking Joy And Plugs: How To Repurpose A 31-Year-Old Junk Buick
- What I Learned Restoring A $600 Dodge Ram With A Burned Up Transmission And Ruined Interior
- How I Bought A Broken Version Of My Dream Car For $300, Then Nursed It Back To Glory And Let It Free
- Proof That A $700 Car Saved From The Junkyard Can Make Someone As Happy As A New Lambo Can
- How I Saved My Buddys’ SUV After It Died At The Most Embarrassing Possible Time
- Rescuing A 75-Year-Old Car From An Older Car Enthusiast Reminded Me How Important Every Minute We Get Doing This Truly Is
- How I Rescued A Long-Neglected Citroen 2CV Covered With Bullet Holes
- Kumho Flew Me To The Mojave To See If Their New ‘R/T’ Tires Are As Good As They Claim
- How Learning Saxophone in 1990 Led Me To Rescue A Dead Xterra From A Bouncer’s Driveway
- This Toyota Tundra Was Unstoppable, And Not In A Good Way
- How To Re-Owner And Re-Purpose A Sad 2007 Exploder In One Week
I missed this last week, but finally got to reading it. Gartner is already issuing warnings that these types of layoffs will cost companies MORE in the near term than they may save in the short term:
https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/09/10/ai-job-cuts-could-come-with-a-costly-undo-button/5295605
Short term, I for one would love a weekly, or semi-weekly feature of whatever SWG is wrenching on that week.