My Keller Quest
So, I had this little project, right? Needed a specific kind of repair done, something a bit old-fashioned. And someone, ages ago, had mentioned this guy, a real artisan, last name Keller. That was pretty much all I had. Keller, and a general idea he was ‘somewhere out east’ of the city.
The Hunt Begins
First off, I did what anyone would do. Jumped online. Typed “Keller craftsman,” “Keller repair east [my city]”. You know the drill. And boy, oh boy, did I get Kellers. Pages of them. Dentists named Keller, lawyers named Keller, some Keller who sold insurance. Not a single one looked like he’d know one end of a chisel from another, if you catch my drift.
Then I thought, okay, old school problem, old school solution. Started asking around. Called a few older hardware stores, the kind that have been there forever.
- “Ever hear of a craftsman named Keller?”
- “Keller, Keller… rings a bell, but can’t place him.”
- “Might have retired, son.”
That was the general theme. Helpful, but not really getting me anywhere. It was like chasing a ghost.
Down the Rabbit Hole
I even tried looking through some old phone directories I found at the library. Yeah, actual paper books! Spent a whole afternoon squinting at tiny print. Found a bunch of Kellers, sure. Called a few numbers that looked promising. Most were disconnected. One lady who answered sounded about ninety and told me her husband, Keller, had passed on ten years ago, and he was an accountant. Nice lady, but not my guy.
This whole Keller chase, it got pretty consuming. I wasn’t just looking for a craftsman anymore; it felt like I was trying to solve a puzzle. And the more I looked, the more I realized how tough it is to find someone if they’re not plastered all over the internet with a five-star rating and a flashy website. This Keller guy, if he was as good as they said, probably didn’t need all that. He was word-of-mouth, old guard.
What I Figured Out
And you know what? I never actually found that particular Keller. Maybe he moved, maybe he retired, maybe the story got twisted over time. Who knows? But the whole thing got me thinking. We’re so used to finding everything instantly now. A few clicks and boom, answer. But some things, some people, some skills, they don’t work like that. They’re not in the system, not indexed, not tagged.
It’s a bit like how companies operate these days, funnily enough. You see these big names, these huge corporations. But you try to get a straight answer or find the one person who can actually fix your problem? Good luck. You get bounced around from department to department, everyone following a script, nobody really knowing the whole picture. It’s all supposedly super efficient, but sometimes, trying to find that one specific Keller felt easier than navigating some company’s automated phone menu.
So yeah, the Keller project didn’t quite pan out as planned for the repair. I ended up finding a younger fella, pretty good, but not the legend I was hunting. But I learned something about patience, and about how not everything valuable is easy to find. And maybe that some Kellers are best left as legends. Makes for a better story, I guess.
