Not every asset is advantageous, and not every skill is good to have. Not in every situation at lease. Some times what you have will make you desirable for the worst occasions, and what you know will make you desirable for the worst jobs. Learn or do the following at your own peril.
Own a truck: I used to own a 1997 Ford F-150. It was a pretty sweet ride. It was black with chrome wheels and running boards. It got about 14 miles to the gallon, but your mom and her roommates were impressed when I pulled up in it on our first date. Here's a fun side note. Your mom's roommate at the time was your Aunt Kelly whom I also had my first ever college class with. Just for fun you should ask her who had the better grade in that class (here's a hint: Me). So while owning a truck that has horrible gas mileage and a little bit of chrome might impress teenage girls from Butler County it also appeals to a much less desirable demographic. People that need to move.
Around that same time that I was meeting your mom I also had a lot of friends graduating. I of course had another semester because I had a really hard major... or something like that. Owning a truck makes you infinitely more attractive when others need to move. "Don't worry," they say, "there will be beer and pizza." The funny thing is I was almost done with college. Beer and pizza were two subjects I could have had a masters degree in by that point. If you own a truck people will make that offer even once you are gainfully employed and have cash. It's like they don't realize you know you can afford to buy your own beer and pizza! Even the good kind like Bud Light and Pizza Hut (which you will find out as you get older and make more money aren't that good.)
Now here's the real kicker to the deal. I fully expect you to help them. I expect you to help carry that TV and dresser, the couch from the basement, and even the washer and dryer from the room furthest from the door and around 3 flights of stairs. Why? Because that is the person you should be. Always ready to help.
That or sell the damned truck and buy something with reasonable gas mileage. Actually, don't do that. I might need to borrow it to go pick some stuff up at Lowes. I like you having a truck now that I think of it. That will be handy for me.
Roofing skills: Houses need re-roofed every fifteen years assuming you use a 30 year shingle. Why do they call it a 30 year shingle then? Because roofing companies are sadistic bastards that like hurting peoples feelings, that's why. So why should you not know how to roof a house? Because it involves standing on a black mat in direct sunlight on the hottest days of summer while standing on a slope at least 12 feet in the air. If you have your mother's grace you will fall off the roof. If you have your dad's late arriving sense you will realize that you went to college so you didn't have to do this kind of work, but only after getting half the shingles torn off and now coming to grips with what an awful job this is going to be. Then you will want to fall off the roof just to be out of it. (Not allowed. If you agree to start you agree to finish. The end. No buts here.)
Good with computers: A person who is good with computers is always in demand. There is always a virus that the user "just can't understand where it came from," a router that "Swear was working," or a report that "has to be somewhere. You've just got to save me."
I have five friends that have been smart enough with computers to be dumb enough to fall into this trap. There are three Chris's, Matt, and McClean. Oh, and a Todd. I can't forget Todd. Guess which one of them I have begged to help me out and offered to pay them with beer? All of them. Every damn one of them and I have outsourced 3 of them to your mom for her computer problems so she would stop looking at me like I could figure it out.
You might be noticing that I think the common payment for these things is beer and or food. That is because if we were going to pay with cash for these favors we know we:
A- Couldn't afford it
B- Wouldn't be willing to pay it
C-It will give us a chance to see our friends
D- A and B, but really mostly B
The answer is D. Asking friends to do thankless jobs for below market prices seems insulting so we substitute beer and pizza and pray no one questions the conversion rate.
Be careful what you know. People are paying attention, and they have a little favor to ask.
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