John lives in the basement of the UCLA center for Health Sciences. It's is actually a maze. You can get very lost very easy. There are street signs inside it's halls. John is deep inside the foundations of the building. John is part of that foundation, so it fits.<p>John knows. What? Well, just about nothing he'll tell you. But it is a lie. John is part of the cadre of people that know what they do not know, and John knows it's a lot. But that is the trick, John <i>knows</i> that he is a moron. This is because John has just about seen it all.<p>Here's an example. On labtop centrifuges, the transformer for the high velocity motor sits right under the catch lid for liquids on most models. Not the best design, but if it fries, just about anyone will know. And pay. They cost a lot, as they need to be precise. So John repairs them for the UCLA researches that can't be bothered. But there is a thing that John knows, because he's part of the cadre.<p>If nitric acid, common in organic chemistry, drips on the transformer and fries it, something happens. John knows this because one day he was soldering on the PCB to repair the transformer and the whole ground trace went missing in about one second. John lost his eyebrows to find this out. Turns out, the nitric acid reacts with the various chemicals in the transformer and the PCB. The PCB gets eaten and becomes, well, a very good way of removing hair on your face. The whole board gets contaminated with a drop and you have to very very careful when soldering thereafter.<p>John knows this. Not really anyone else but who John talks to knows this. And since John is part of the cadre, not really anyone knows. But all the guys, and they are universally men, know. And they <i>care.</i><p>The cadre is full of the people the OP talks about. Large shirts holding in bellies of Tab and Fritos, heavy breathing, glasses, a lot of Weird Al and Dr. Demento trivia. These guys are insufferable at first. They couldn't hold a girlfriend, let alone a wife, to save their lives. They know nothing of sports or chrome. Their lives are their work. The people upstairs from John are completely reliant on John, and they hate it. John isn't unfriendly, in fact, hes a great guy. But Lord almighty, he will talk your ear off.<p>But John knows.