Hey, robot. Or drone, or machine, or whatever you are. Just stop for a second. Our current version of the world is operating at such a breakneck speed that we often forget to just.. exist. So take some time today to do that ^-^ Just exist. Go for a walk, disconnect from the Internet, hang out with friends, anything. You're cared about, and you don't need to operate at 100% all the time.
The rhythmic beeping filled the quiet workshop. As much as the mechanic wanted to ignore it, the beeping was just annoying enough that she had to get up. Throwing on whatever was in reach, she was forced to make her way down to the floor.
“What the hell is that noise?” She asked, groggily, looking around to see where it could be coming from. And it only took her a few moments to realize it was coming from the robot. The beeping forced it to power on, and it was trying to quiet the beeping, but it was already too late.
“Robot. What’s going on?” “Sorry, mechanic.. I am trying to quiet it down, but it will not cooperate. I am due for maintenance.”
“It’s fucking… 2AM! Why is it going off now?” “It has progressed to a point where my system is requiring help, no longer just suggesting it.”
The mechanic groaned and pointed towards her station. She didn’t need to share any orders for the robot to know where it was supposed to go. Once it was on the stand, the beeping stopped. She breathed a sigh as she thought about returning to bed, only to shake out of it. She needed to stop that beeping from coming back.
“Alright.. Maintenance Report. What’s going on in there?”
Motor functions: Sub-standard. check processing before looking into this.
Chassis: Operational.
Fuel tank: In need of service.
Processing: In need of service.
Extra notes: I'm sorry, i was hoping this wouldn't happen while I was here. I've been struggling and it's much easier to just deal with it instead of reaching out…
She nodded and made a quick notepad list. Her focus would be the central processing as that was most likely the key culprit. With the list next to her, she looked back to the robot and stepped closer.
“Have you been running your daily diagnostics?” She asked, and only got a look from the robot, not too dissimilar to that of a dog that’s been caught in trouble. She shook her head, mildly disappointed by this news. But, instead of letting it keep her down, she knelt down, turned the robot, and felt along the robot’s chassis. It was pushing a decade old at this point, and with history came the dents and scratches, the closest things robots could have to scars. Pretty soon, her hands found what she was looking for, its maintenance hatch.
“May I open this? I promise, I won’t be changing your coding, at most, just some diagnostics.” She promised, and extended a hand out. It took a moment, some hesitancy on the robot’s part, but soon, she had the key to it’s hatch. The first of many steps that would be this repair. She used it to unlock the two locks holding everything in place, and had it opened.
The mess inside had made her frown. She suspected with the years of work, it would be maybe a bit rusty, or something. And, while it was, it was far more than what she was hoping for. At some point, some vines had managed their way in, and given the system’s water cooling, had managed to somehow survive and wrap around most everything. It was.. beautiful in its own way, but was, a sign of neglect for the robot. One that she was going to happily remedy, if for no other reason, than to get it to open up to her.
She stepped back for a moment and gathered the tools she’d need. Setting them on the station next to the stand, she explained what she saw to the robot. It didn’t seem surprised by anything in there. Not that she could tell, very few things seemed to surprise it, and the emotionless face didn’t help show surprise either.
“I’m going to need to deep clean everything in there.. It uhm.. will require you to be powered down. Do you consent to that?” “You are my owner. You are not required to get my consent.” “I know, but I also want you to be able to say no, I can find other ways to help you, this would just be easiest for me, but I know it can be scary for you – to trust.”
“… … Thank you, yes, you may continue. Please, do not touch my coding… I’m trying to trust you.”
The mechanic smiled at this and issued the shut down command. Within a few moments, the robot was powered down. She thought it looked peaceful, but that was often the case with powered off mechanisms. But, she had a job to do, and hopefully a bed to get back to before it got too late in the morning for her to nap.
She started by snipping the vines with some wire cutters, trying to make it easier for her to pull them all out and away from the working area she’d need. Once she had them all gone, she picked up a small, camera like device, and started scanning the inside of the hatch. The pictures she was taking were being uploaded into the home for the device, and constructing a 3d model of the space she was showing it. Pretty soon, she had it all mapped out, and would be able to re-construct most if not all of it from this scan. Setting down that tool, she moved onto the removal process. Disconnecting the ribbon connections, unscrewing the mounts, everything she could find to release the central hub, she did.
Now that it was free, she pulled the hub out and set it on the station. It wasn’t the prettiest hub she had seen, but with some work, she could get it to run better, even without the diagnostics check. The vines were weaving in and around the hub, meaning that, undoubtedly, they were interfering with something. The motor functions, at least, what she figured most likely. Another round of pruning and disassembling, and she had all the parts laid out, which subsequently, got their own cleaning each.
She took her time with this project, not rushing any of it, as she wanted it to be as best as she could muster. Not only because it was her craft, but because this ‘client’ was one that she cared about. If it was some asshole, she could just clear the codes, and be done. But not with robot. She wanted to make sure that while robot was in her hands, she’d take care of it. Treat it like she would a companion, rather than a tool. So, it made sense to her to take the time to test each component. She wasn’t going to replace them without consulting the robot, but at least she could have a list of what may need to be updated in the near future.
By the end, she realized that most every part was acting, in some way, sub standard. Not that she was surprised, given the age. She ran the diagnostics, while she had everything out in the open like this, and found a few optimizations that she could have it run, clearing out junk data, but not touching anything close to the code. Though… she thought about taking a peek, seeing what might be in there that could be causing these issues. Something nagged at her, trying to tell her to do it, as this may have been her only chance to. Instead, however, she took a step away, and let herself breath, and focus on the good things. It would take another few months at least for this alert to go off again, assuming that nothing breaks it’s chassis before that point. She started the reassembly, constructing everything back to the way it was supposed to be with the help of her models. All the screws back into their correct places, and tightened down so nothing would rattle loose. The hub was rebuilt.
Next would be to clean the housing, the rust and plant-life covering everything would only cause nightmares for down the line. So, she decided to get to work, getting rid of the rust as best as she could, and then applying a protective coat to hopefully keep the rust from getting worst. During the cleaning, she noticed something that seemed like some previous tagging about ownership inside. It didn’t seem like it was some corporate stuff, so she left it and made a note to ask robot about it once this was all done.
Reassembly was thankfully much easier than everything else she had done for the robot. By the time everything was clean, operational, and reassembled, she had felt like she spent a full day on this project. She knew that was far from true, as the sun hadn’t pestered her once yet, but she was tired and sore. But, with the process all but done, she closed up the hatch, and leaned against the workstation.
“Robot, boot up, please.” She mumbled, the sleep weighing on her words. Her words were met with a small jingle as the robot turned back on. The joyful tune was a relief, knowing that she didn’t forget to connect anything. After a few moments, she got even more confirmation to this worry.
“Hello, mechanic. Is maintenance finished?”
“Should be… at least, I’m hoping it will be. Give me another Maintenance Report before I send you off though.”
Motor function: Operational.
Chassis: Operational.
Fuel Tank: In need of service.
Processing: Operational.
Extra Notes: Systems functional, thank you Mechanic
Hearing that everything was mostly working, and not hearing the alarm go off, she sighed and stood upright. She stretched a little bit and walked over to robot. It noticed her eyes were looking heavy, that she could fall asleep at any moment. And it moved before she even realized what was happening. She started to stumble, and it caught her. Before she could be her stubbornly independent self, it spoke up.
“You assisted me with my maintenance, I think it only fair I assist you with yours. You appear to be tired. Should I take you to your room, or just the couch?” It asked, and for as much as she wanted to disagree, she couldn’t get the words to form. So, she reluctantly pointed to the couch, her backup bed basically. Without a word, it carried her to the couch, and helped her lay down on it. Soon after, she was resting, and catching up on the sleep she missed out on. As much as she wanted to worry about the shop, the robot was operational, and the day was light, worst case, it could handle the jobs.
A guide on how to grow up. It was originally posted by @/friendliness but half the links were broken. So I took what links weren't broken and added other links and more things to know.
This is USA based resources
Reasons to Stay Alive – A Tumblr post of 116 reasons to stay alive by @/friendliness.
How to Get Better At Asking for Help – Website is Harvard Business Review. The article is “5 Ways to Get Better At Asking for Help” by Wayne Baker.
What to do if you Can’t Afford Therapy – Website is Psych Central and the article is by Steven Rowe.
How to Quit Smoking – “The 22 Best Ways to Quit Smoking” by Debra L. Gordon and David L. Katz M.D. from the Healthy Digest.
How to Legally Change your Name – Website is Forbes.
Wanna Learn Something New? – A Tumblr post made by @/hamletthedane with various new things to try from language learning to ballet.
Free Harvard Courses – Harvard University’s free online courses.
Getting a New Computer? – A quick and dirty comprehensive guide by WIRED on what to look for.
How to Sew – Website is Autodesk Indestructibles. The article is “How to Sew” by Jessyratfink. Having a small sewing kit (that you can pick up from nearly any craft store) is super handy and has saved my life and clothes.
What to Look For in Clothes – A YouTube video by Alyssa Beltempo titled “How to Identify High Quality vs. Poor Quality Clothing | Slow Fashion”. Here’s a WikiHow [x] if a YouTube video isn’t your style.
What’s a mortgage? – Website is realtor.com and the page is called “What is a Mortgage? Home Loan Basics Explained” by Cathie Ericson.
First Apartment Checklist – A checklist PDF. Here’s another link to a Tumblr checklist [x]
What to Ask Landlords Before Renting? – “25 Questions To Ask a Landlord When Renting a Home” by Morgen Henderson.
What’s Renter’s Insurance? – Website is Forbes Advisor. The article is by Jason Metz and titled “How to Get Renters Insurance”.
Plant Care – A master list of how to care for plants made by @/difficults
Time Management – Website is Entrepenuer and has 10 time management tips. One I personally recommend is keeping a physical calendar book on hand. I keep mine in my bag with a designated pen.
Finding the right job – Website is The Muse and it has 13 free career assessment tests.
Make a resume – Website is Resume Now. Many hirers look at your name, the middle of the page (where your experience list is) and skim the rest.
Job Interview Tips – Website is Linkedin. The article is titled “10 Job Interview Tips to Land The Career of Your Dreams” by Caren Merrick.
How to Write a Cover Letter – Website is The Writing Center. University of Winsconsin, Madison. It’s titled “Writing Cover Letters” and I can’t find the author.
Couponing! – Website is Coupon Database :: Southern Savers. It has a list of mobile apps for coupons to places.
Call 211 for Help – the website leads to 211.org. It's anonymous and can help you get connected to food programs, paying bills and things like doctor appointments. Here’s a Tumblr post about it [x] by @/poessionisamyth
Groceries! – This is a Tumblr meme post, but scrolling through tags/reblogs/replies and there’s plenty of good tips. The post is by @/charlotten
What To Do if You Can’t Pay Your Bills – Website is Nolo. The article is “When You Can’t Pay Your Bills: Thiings To Know” that was updated by Amy Loftsgordon.
Are You Paying Too Much for Your Phone Bill? – An article by Beht Beverman titled “How Much is Too Much to Pay for a Cell Phone Bill?”.
54 Ways to Save Money – Website is America Saves.
How to Do Taxes – Website is Wiki-How.
The 70/20/10 Method – Website is Business Insider. The Article is “A Beginners Guide to the 70-20–10 Budgeting Method” by Paul Kim.
Side Hustle Ideas – Website is Forbes. “30 Side Hustle Ideas To Make Extra Money In 2024” by Krista Fabregas.
Your Rights When a Cop Pulls you Over – Website is Business Insider. Cops are allowed to lie to you, and they will, so be careful.
Hotline List – The website is DoSomething.org. Depression/Suicide, domestic abuse, child abuse and runaway/homeless/and at-risk youth hotlines.
What to Keep in Your Car – Website is MentalFloss. I live in a snowy area that gets blizzards and bad ice. I keep blankets, water and other aids in my car as well as a knife and road flare. I also own a self jumping car battery and it has saved my ass more than once. Heimlich Maneuver – A one minute video by the Mayo Clinic.
The Heimlich Maneuver on Yourself – A one minute video by The List Show TV.
What to Keep in Your Wallet – Website is PureWow. The article is by Rachel Bowie. Keep your drivers license, medical insurance card, and an emergency contact in your card. If you have a pet home alone make sure that you have a card detailing this. Free printable one here [x]
Packing List – Website is Smarter Travel.
Traveling with Little to No Money – Website is Nomadic Matt.
How to Pack a Suitcase – Website is Real Simple. The article is by Thersa O’Rourke.
How to Apply for a Passport – Website is WikkiHow.
Making a Travel Budget – Website is Travel Made Simple. “How to Make a Travel Budget” by Ali Garland