DRIVING A STICK SHIFT

I remember many years ago when I had to first learn to drive a stick shift. I was working in the kitchen at a hospital and they needed me to be able to drive the company truck to the opposite side of the facility to deliver food. One of my co-workers had the task of showing me how this was all done. Seeing as I had never driven anything but an automatic transmission before, I knew this would be quite an experience. I remember my initial attempts did nothing but stall out the truck. “Push the clutch in!” my co-worker yelled at me. I then had trouble learning the proper amount of clutch to be let out and the truck would start buckin’ like we were on a mechanical bull. HAHA! My co-worker would continue to yell (coach?) me. “Push in the clutch! Now let it out slowly! No, too fast! Slower! Foot on the brake! Give it some gas!” and on and on it went….. I remember him just putting his face in his hands and shaking his head. HAHA! Now eventually I started to get the hang of this and my shifting became crisp and clean. I would then enjoy my brief excursions to the other side of the facility. With the radio blasting and me leanin’ hard towards the center of the truck (gangster lean) I was a site to behold. Now eventually I ended up getting several cars after this that were stick shift and enjoyed winding out the gears and downshifting as well. Another memorable experience in the life of SAXOMAN. HAHA!