Showerthought: My wife asked me what my job actually is

We were at dinner last night and she said, 'You fix the plane's brain, right?' I tried to explain it's more like the nervous system, and she just nodded. It hit different because I realized I've been describing my job in shop talk for so long that normal people have no clue. How do you guys explain avionics to family without sounding like you're reading a manual?

3 comments

3 Comments

sanchez.mary1mo ago

Totally, the tummy ache thing is perfect. My friend @hannah320 had a similar story and it just clicks with kids. I told my niece I fix the plane's "text messages" so the pilots know where to go, and she finally stopped asking if I just filled it with gas.

hannah3201mo ago

My buddy told his kid he's the plane's doctor for when it gets a tummy ache from bad info. Kid totally got it and now asks if the planes are feeling better.

dixon.james1mo ago

That's honestly the best way to explain it to a little kid. Trying to describe data corruption or system errors would just go over their head. Framing it as fixing a tummy ache makes perfect sense to them. It turns something confusing into a simple problem they can understand. It's cool that the kid now checks in on the planes' health.