Episode 169: Emilio Mendez, CTEM

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 169.

Today we’re talking with Emilio Mendez, CTEM, Equipment Manager at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada. Nestled along the shores of Lake Tahoe, Edgewood is one of the most recognizable golf destinations in the country, and Emilio helps keep the operation running with a small shop team consisting of himself and one assistant.

Emilio shares his journey into the industry, from operating tractors as a kid in Mexico to starting as a seasonal crew member and working his way through the shop to become Equipment Manager. He talks about the challenges of stepping into a leadership role at a young age, earning the trust of longtime employees, and finding confidence in his decisions.

The conversation covers favorite tools, height-of-cut setup practices, and shop systems that help create consistency. Emilio also shares his "1% rule" for inventory and organization, focusing on making small improvements every day rather than trying to tackle everything at once.

They discuss unusual moments from the golf course, mentors who helped shape his career, and the realities of managing parts orders and purchase orders, which Emilio admits are among his least favorite parts of the job. Away from the shop, he enjoys cooking, especially making tacos for family and friends.

The episode also dives into Emilio’s passion for education and helping others in the industry. He talks about earning his CTEM designation, the value of CTEM, translating GCSAA study materials into Spanish, creating Spanish language content for the Learning Hub, and his goal of one day teaching a Spanish-language EMCP prep class.

It’s a great conversation about perseverance, continuous learning, and finding your path to leadership. 

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Transcript

Trent Manning 0:56

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some

Speaker 1:16

Welcome to The Real Turf Techs Podcast, episode 169. Today, we're talking to Emilio Mendez, equipment manager at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada. Edgewood is a public 18-hole course. Emilio has one assistant in the shop. He has Toro mowing equipment and John Deere vehicles. Let's talk to Emilio

Trent Manning, CTEM 1:42

welcome, Emilio, to "The Reel Turf Techs" podcast. Thank you for coming on

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 1:46

Well, thank you for having me

Trent Manning, CTEM 1:48

I'm excited. This is gonna be fun. We already we did a little pre-game here before I started recording and I'm excited to get into the last part. That's

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 1:58

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:00

Tell us how you got into the turf industry

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 2:03

Well, I was the, just a crew member for maybe about a year and a half or two seasons 'cause I was just seasonal. And I come to the shop one day and the equipment manager was, Not that we like to complain, right? But the equipment manager was complaining about having to replace the batteries on all the golf carts. So because on top of everything else he had on his plate, he needed to replace, well, that was four batteries, 100 carts, 400 batteries, right, before the season even start. So I had a little background back in Mexico. I was working on just some small shop there, just helping, bringing the wrenches, cleaning the oil, just normal thing that a 17-year-old kid will do. So, I just, because I always liked to hang out in the shop, the mechanic was there, and I was like, "I can help you." And well, he was, like, excited about it. I was like, "Just print a picture of the, how you like them or how they're supposed to go," because I never seen a golf cart in my life, so he did that. He just printed a picture for me, and I was just going through the golf carts one by one. Obviously, he was there supervising the fi- the first maybe 10, 20 carts, just to make sure I was doing it right. And after that, he just I kinda, like, started doing it by myself. And maybe a few weeks later, he asked the superintendent to have me there as my second job. So I was doing my normal job in the morning, either mowing greens, like, raking bunkers, just whatever, any other job on the golf course. And after my s- first job, I would just go in the shop and help him out. And at the end of the season, I just went and asked him, like, "Hey, I wanna be your assistant. I don't like to work outside.

Trent Manning, CTEM 3:43

Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 3:44

wanna work inside." And he's like, "Well, you need to ask the superintendent. Like, I would love to have you here, but you need to ask the superintendent. He's the one that's gonna decide it." So I go and ask the superintendent, and he's like, "Well, we'll let you know next year once you come back." So it was a long win- it was a long winter for me, Because I really wanted to do it. So I was just, like, thinking, like, just, like, "I hope I get it." And I did. When I came back, 'cause I used to go to Mexico for the whole winter, and when I came back, I just came straight to the golf course and asked, and yep they gave me the chance to be an assistant mechanic.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:20

that's awesome,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 4:21

how I got into this business.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:22

very cool. So are you in the same area still or was that

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 4:28

No, yeah. I've been working here on the same golf course, well, September 1st, 2009. That was my first day. And I left for about a year just because I took a equipment manager position at a different golf course,

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:43

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 4:43

for about a year and a half. And then the equipment manager that was my boss at the time left, so I just came back.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:51

Oh, that's awesome. So you pretty much that one club the whole time. That's super cool.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 4:56

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:56

yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah Man, yeah, time goes by quick. Getting older, that's not good. No, that's awesome. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. So you said back in Mexico you were doing some mechanic and type stuff. What kind of stuff were you

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 5:15

Yeah. My brother was the parts manager for a John Deere for a tractor facility. He was just the parts guy. So he got me like a internship with the field technicians. So I would go with them to just to work on tractors out there. So I did it for about maybe two years before we, we came to the United States.

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:35

Okay. Yeah. No, that's awesome. That's

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 5:37

So I always like it. I always like to be, like, involved with equipment, and I knew I was gonna do something regard-- like, on that same path. I never kn-knew it was gonna be a golf course,

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:48

Right, right, right.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 5:49

Yeah. I don't see myself doing anything... Yeah, and I don't see myself doing anything different now

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:55

Yeah. No, it's I mean, it's definitely a really good career for sure. I mean, it's awesome. I'm gl- I'm glad you're in the industry. And that's the thing, I mean, there's just so many really good people in our industry that, if you are lucky enough to go to a conference and trade show, I mean, you get to meet all these people.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 6:12

Yeah. Getting the C-Team opened my eyes to how big or how big the community is, but also how close we are about helping each other out.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:22

Oh, yeah. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 6:23

a big community, but everybody tries to help everybody else.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:28

Yeah. And yeah, we'll get more into that. But like you brought up Jason Fontana. I interviewed him whenever it was a couple years ago anyway. And I mean, we've become friends since that, I mean, we don't talk every day, but text a few times a month or whatever. "Hey," "what's happening? Have you seen this before?" I mean, it's just, it's awesome. Yeah, 'cause no matter how long you've been doing this, you can use help, right?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 6:52

there is always something to learn

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:54

Right, right. There's always something to learn, for sure. Yeah, 'cause we end up seeing a new problem at our course that somebody else has dealt with before at their course, last year or whatever it was. "Oh yeah, I've seen this." So, what's your least favorite part of the job?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 7:12

I think it's ordering parts.

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:14

Okay. Yep, I could

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 7:15

parts is, like, my least favorite because the way we do it, we need to create PO numbers, right? So it's not like the good old days when you just pick up the phone and call and, "Bring me 10 filters," and

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:27

Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 7:28

that's it. No, now you need to keep track of it, which is better to keep an inventory, to keep order on our office or on, on our shop. But just ordering parts is something that, that is, is my... Especially let's say John-- I got-- we got John Deere, but John Deere sells to us some other equipment from different companies, right? So then we gotta call John Deere. John Deere gotta call the other company to get the price. They gotta call me back. It's just like the entire situation about ordering something, 'cause when it's total, when it's John Deere, you can just, all right, just go on the computer and order it really quick

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:04

Right, right, right. Yeah. So that John Deere distributor does not have the prices for some of the Allied equipment, like online?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 8:16

No, not for some of it. Yeah. At least the pricing is the problem for... Because it changes so much that they get one price, w-we get a different price,

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:26

yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, they got that game figured out for

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 8:30

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:32

But I remember, so I bought the Air Force hover mower through my John Deere distributor, and on the John Deere's website, my distributor's website, I could put in the Air Force number and it would prop up the price and that stuff. But you're right, I mean, sometimes I would still have to call Part that they hadn't sold, in a few months or whatever, and the price hadn't been updated, yeah, you gotta call. And that is a pain, and that's definitely part of the PO system. Gotta have all the prices

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:05

It is nice to go back and say, "I ordered that part three weeks ago or like three months, and I need it." You can just go back and find the part number and find the pricing.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:13

Oh

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:14

that's a beautiful way. Like the system, you can just go back and you don't have to call anymore. Just like that one first time you need to do it

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:21

Right, right. So are you using a digital PO system?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:25

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:26

Online, yeah. So that's-- we were still paper PO and I was like, "Man, there's, it's 2026. Surely there's

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:34

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:34

PO system we could be using."

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:36

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:37

anyway the women in the office did, had, was not ready to take that step yet.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:42

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:44

What's your favorite tool?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:46

I will say my Accu gauge with magnet.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:51

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 9:51

So I was in a car accident a few years ago and I injured my shoulder, and it's right shoulder, right? So every time you're checking a February mower, team mower, anything that is over your head, you gotta hold it with one hand, adjust whatever with the other one. And it was like a little fr- had like a little pinch in there after my accident. And some- I don't remember how I got to know about Accu gauge and having the magnet. I ordered it right away. I have like four of them now.

Trent Manning, CTEM 10:19

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 10:20

put it on. And what I like is just as long as you get it, the spring, you replace the spring one every season, that's the same compression every time, 'cause if you have me, my technician will hold it, right? And maybe he puts more pressure than me on it, so that would be a difference on the height. It won't be much, but still it's a difference. And you have-- if you keep the magnet and the spring always at the same compression, it will be the same every single time

Trent Manning, CTEM 10:50

Right, right. No, that's-- you talk about that and it makes me think it's probably worth, if you have an assistant working in the shop, that you both practice with the gauges. I know this is something that, that I kinda did at my shop 'cause I had two other guys plus myself. And we always tried to pick the same spot on the roller.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 11:14

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:14

whatever it is, you come in two inches from the end or,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 11:18

we do three lines, like the third line on the roller on each

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:21

Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 11:22

That's kinda like what we have, like the third line on the roller on each side.

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:27

Yeah And then I got the idea from Skip Hines on the greens mowers. I was marking the rollers, putting a punch mark on there and rotating it to the same spot every time, 'cause you got a few thousandths run out. And I mean, the main reason of doing that is if you got multiple people checking it and you're trying to keep it within three thousandths and your roller's got three thousandths run out, every time a different person checks it, you're just changing the height. But you're really not, the height was good, but it was off by more than your threshold. So I found that pretty helpful. So you're not just constantly changing the height, two thousandths every time you put it up there

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 12:18

Yep. Yeah, that makes sense

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:20

Yeah, but back to, like using the magnet and the spring tension and all that stuff is just getting used to it. And like we said, find the same spot on the roller to, to check it

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 12:34

The only thing, and another thing we do is just, we just send it to get it calibrated every year. They charge you $36 per gauge, and you know they're gonna be the same when they come back, so you don't

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:46

That, yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah. I'm pretty sure Miles does that also. Miles Kemp with Birdie Bar. Yeah. And I say that 'cause I'm wearing his shirt here.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 12:57

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:58

Thinking about Miles today, and I just got or I saw online or something, he's I think he's leaving May I mean, this is gonna drop after that, but he's leaving May 15th and won't get, be back till the end of the month. He's going out to Utah with his brother to do a bunch of camping and hiking and I mean, so if you don't know Miles, he's one of us. He's a golf course mechanic, and he started making a how to cut gauge. It's called the Birdie Bar, and it's, I mean, it's a really good how to

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 13:29

I've seen the bar before.

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:30

Yeah it's a little bit thicker than the Accu gauge, but far as I know, he doesn't sell one with a magnet on it. But anyway it's a good product and he's a good guy What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 13:46

I like cooking

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:48

Oh, okay

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 13:49

I mean, I like eating more than cooking, but,

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:51

Hey, there you go. I'm I'm really good at eating part

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 13:55

I do like cooking. I enjoy being outside, especially when summertime when I can just get the grill going or have my Blackstone and just do whatever. Just salmon, meats, anywhere, anything, but especially when it is a long day at work, something, one of those days that everything is breaking, that you just want the day to be over and come back home. I just stop by the Mexican store, grab a couple pounds of meat, couple beers, and my wife sees it. Once I showed up with the bag of groceries, she just stops what she's doing. She goes sit down, and I go cook.

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:27

Nice. I love

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 14:28

in our backyard, grab my beer, and just start cooking. I like to cook a lot of tacos. That's-- I think that's what I like the most.

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:35

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 14:36

Back in Mexico, we used to sell tacos. My mom used to have a taco place. So when I wanna just go back to that, that, that's usually my go-to. When I have people over, just like it's easy, it's quick, and you get to feed a lot of people with just a little bit of stuff,

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:52

yeah. No, that's awesome. I love it. T- yeah, tell me more about making ta- I'm serious. Tell me more about making tacos. And I'm really... I was sad that we didn't get to meet up a couple weeks ago when I was out that way, but I'm really sad now 'cause I would love to have some tacos.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 15:10

Yeah I do it for the guys. Well, I don't do it as often as I would like it just because I mean, just making carne asada or ordering pizzas, it's a lot faster and easier.

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:19

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 15:20

But but yeah, it is-- Well, what kind of tacos do you like? That's another thing, 'cause,

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:25

yeah, I don't... I mean, honestly, I don't even know what kind of

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 15:27

We eat the, we as Mexicans eat the entire cow.

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:32

Okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 15:33

there's nothing goes to waste.

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:34

Mm-hmm

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 15:35

From the brain all the way to the feet. You can just, if you go to Mexico and you try the Mexican cuisine, you can eat anything. Everything from the cow

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:45

So we had a taco, like, food truck come by the steak shop a couple weeks ago, whenever it was. It was Taco Tuesday or whatever. They hired a guy, and I don't remember what it's called, but what are the tacos called that are the guts?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 16:04

Oh yeah, tripa?

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:06

Tripa, Yeah Yeah, I had that. I don't-- I mean, it was okay as long as I didn't think about what I was eating. I mean, it tastes fine, but seeing the little, one-inch long gut pieces was like,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 16:17

Yeah, I just see the stream, like really long.

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:18

Right, right. Yep, and then lengua?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 16:21

Yeah, lengua. We do ca- cabeza also. Eyes, you can eat the eyes.

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:26

Oh, okay. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 16:27

Those are good. Even the brain, like I say, you can even eat the brain in tacos

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:32

Mm-hmm. That's the Cabesa, right?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 16:35

usually when we go to Mexico and we go to like our place, I stop by in the middle of the day just to, 'cause I mean, the brain of the cow is not that big, so there is not many tacos they make out of the brain. So I'll stop there and I just say, "Hey, just hold it for me. Don't sell any, like just sold out. Just hold it for me," and we come back later today and we just get them

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:55

Okay. No, that's that's cool. So corn tortillas?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:00

Yes

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:01

Yeah. I mean, I'm assuming flour

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:02

we do corn tortillas. We don't do...

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:04

that's an American

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:05

Yeah, no. I mean, we use it for quesadillas. We use it for quesadillas. That's what we use corn tortilla. You can put any meat on it too, but

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:15

Yeah. Yeah, do you make your own tortillas?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:20

Yeah, but my wife is a lot better than me.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:22

Okay. Yeah, I mean,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:23

she really knows how to do 'em. Mine are, like, they break. You pick up the taco and it just breaks.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:29

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:31

She's really good at it

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:32

I went, me and Kelly went a couple years ago to Akumal, and we had, we went in the restaurant and neither one of us really speak Spanish. I know just a little bit to but anyway, we ordered some tacos. It was the best tacos I ever had. And I think the biggest thing was the tortillas, I mean, were so good

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 17:56

Yeah, I think what makes a good taco is the salsa, at least in my opinion

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:01

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 18:01

The salsa could make or break a taco.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:03

Yeah. Okay. This is turning into the "Reel Turf Techs Taco Podcast," but I love it, man. It's, I think it's good stuff. And if you don't like a taco, something's wrong with you, I'm sorry to say. Yeah, it's hard to beat. What's been one of your biggest challenges to date?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 18:24

I think since I started working there when I was eighteen, nineteen years old, having the guys to see me as equipment manager, more than just one of the guys that was a groundskeeper. Having the guys to trust me that I know what I'm doing, that if I ask them to do something, to get it done. Slowly, I mean, I've been there as an equipment manager for almost six years now. So I'm getting to that point where they are listening to me now, but the first couple years it was challenging.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:54

Yep, I could see that.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 18:55

cause you have guys there been there... Well, some of the guys started working there, they built the golf course. It was a cattle ranch thirty, forty years ago, right? And these guys were working for the same family, and they came to work for the golf course. So they-- That's how long they've been there.

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:12

Wow, okay. Yep

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 19:14

having a nineteen-year-old kid telling them what to do it was challenging for them

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:18

Mm-hmm. Yep. No, I definitely can understand that. Yeah. Big challenge. What's one of the strangest things you've seen out there?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 19:28

I will say a bear, but the bears, they're usual in our area, so you can see them everywhere. I think it

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:34

That would be strange for a lot of people on a golf course. I mean, I mean, we have... Yeah, what kind? Black bear?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 19:41

Yes, BlackBerry.

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:42

black bear. Yeah, We have black bear in North Georgia, but it ain't like... I don't see them. It's

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 19:48

we see 'em all the time. But I think the strangest was, this one morning we all came to work and there was a guy sleeping on our loader

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:55

Okay. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 19:57

proba- we got casinos right across the street.

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:00

Oh, yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 20:01

he probably wander in the middle of the night and just find the lobby, and it was open, so he just... Luckily, we, they had the key on it. So as soon as he probably saw the lights of the cars and everybody coming in, he just took off running. We never saw him again. He just took off running. But that was, like, one of the more bizarre things we, I have seen

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:20

Yes. Yeah. We had a guy, so the course that I worked for that was in Midtown Atlanta. We had a work truck sitting in the parking lot, and I'm standing out there talking to one of the other managers, and I've seen something move in the work truck. And I'm like, "Is there somebody in that truck?" 'Cause it was his work truck, 'cause it was like building maintenance guys. And he's like, "No, there ain't nobody in that truck." And then I seen it again. I'm like, "There's somebody in that truck." So, we go over there and knock on the door, and the guy sits up and yeah, he just got cold and he climbed in the truck was unlocked, so he climbed in there and was sleeping it off, I guess. Same, kind of similar. There's a bunch of bars and stuff around there, so yeah. I think he was stumbling home from the bar and decided to bed down.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 21:10

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:12

Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 21:15

I think two of them. One will be the equipment manager that was that hired me as his assistant the first time. His name is Todd Spicer. He's the one that taught me how to grind a reel, how to just use my hands more, working on the golf course equipment. He's the one that kinda, like, got me through it. Remember the first time when I was his assistant, he asked me for vice grips, right? I was fresh from Mexico. I didn't know what vice grips were.

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:43

Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 21:43

And in 2010, it's not like now that you can just ask Siri or whatever on your phone, "Hey, what is a vice grip?" So what I did, I would just went and grabbed the entire tool cart

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:55

Mm-hmm. Yeah, Reel Old

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 21:57

just asked you for the vice grip." He's like, "Well, you might need more tools. You might need more tools. Just right there." Sure enough, I went home the next, th- that day, and I was just, like, scrolling on my computer looking for, like, what vice grips were.

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:08

Oh, nice.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 22:12

I was like, "Oh, ‹foreign language› name in Spanish." And I just, like, started going through all the tools and their names in English so I can just learn them,

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:16

oh yeah. I mean, I, yeah, wasn't even thinking about that. But yeah, that's a big learning curve, Learning all the tools in a different language

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 22:25

Yeah. Good thing he didn't ask for an Accu gauge or for a gauge because I would've been lost.

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:29

Yeah, right. Yeah. What, yeah, what is that?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 22:31

Those ones were easy. It was used on the tool cart, so I just grabbed the entire cart and just bring it over.

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:36

Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 22:36

I'm done. And the second one, I think it will be the superintendent. He's the one that has always opened the doors for me, he's al- he just-- his doors are always open for any questions I have. His name is Brad Wunderlich.

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:50

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 22:51

he gave me the chance when he asked to be the assistant, and when I left and the other equipment manager l- left and I wanted to come back, even though he knew that I didn't have much experience being an equipment manager, he also opened the doors for me and gave me the opportunity to become the equipment manager.

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:07

Yeah. No, that's awesome

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 23:09

every crazy idea that I have to do with anything on the golf course he's always supporting what I do. Just don't tell him I'm saying this.

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:17

Okay. All right. I will make sure he doesn't listen to this.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 23:20

No, but yeah he's great. He-- I, I like working under him. I think that's one of the main reasons why I came back when I was in a different golf course, 'cause he was still in charge. He was the superintendent and I was gonna be working under him. I knew I was gonna learn a lot. He's the kinda guy that, he's-- Like I said, he's the first one on the hole and the last one on the hole when you're digging a hole.

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:41

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 23:42

It's just kinda annoying. You can't relax because if he's-- your boss is already there, what are you gonna do? You gotta keep working

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:48

That's right, gotta keep going. But I don't know I've always enjoyed working for someone that's not afraid to get their hands dirty, and they'll jump in the ditch with you.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 24:01

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:02

That's, I mean, that goes a long way. I, maybe it's different for other people, but I've always enjoyed working with that type of person, and I always tried to be that type of manager. I'm never gonna ask somebody to do something I wouldn't do, Or that's something that I hadn't done before.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 24:21

Yeah. Learn together, right?

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:23

yeah, right. If, yeah, if I've never seen it before, I'm gonna be right there with you tearing it apart 'cause I wanna know how it works on the inside, too. But having the support, too, of your manager, just like your, a C-TAM, you don't usually get C-TAM without support of your manager.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 24:42

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:43

You gotta have-- They gotta be on board with it, and there's a bunch of superintendents out there that push their technician to become C-TAM.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 24:51

I think he tricked me into the CTAM.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:53

Oh, he did? He tricked you into it?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 24:55

So my first show was in Florida three, four years ago, right? W-- He signed me f- signed me in for the classes, and the first class I took was Kayla Kipp.

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:05

Okay. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 25:06

bringing your facility to us. W-what was it? Something about becoming a CTAM,

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:11

Yeah,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 25:12

right? That's that's why, like, I got an idea. Like, "Well, I think I can do it," But he signed me into the-- to-- he signed me to that class. So I was like, I think that was the way, that was the way for him to tell me, "You gotta do this."

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:25

Yeah. No, that's awesome though. But you did it, so

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 25:29

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:29

Now it's all behind you.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 25:31

Yeah and it was a great experience. Like, I'm not saying that I was doing things wrong, but I'm, I feel more comfortable doing them now,

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:38

oh yeah, for sure. And

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 25:40

After going through all the tests and doing all those the classes and all the videos there is in, there in GCSA those are great. I learned a lot from all those videos too

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:49

Yeah, no, it's it's been really good. I know when I went through it, just all the improvements I made to the shop, made it safer for everybody else that works there You know, all the extra things that, that we added and, I mean, it's just a better working environment for everyone, not just for me and the guys in the shop. So if you hadn't checked in to doing C-TAM, and I mean, even if you don't care about getting the you could still go through the rubric and straighten your shop up and put some things in order,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 26:27

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:28

Even if you don't wanna get the C-TAM

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 26:32

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:33

What would be your dream job or opportunity? Taco chef.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 26:38

It's a lot of work.

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:40

Yeah, this is a lot of

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 26:41

day and night. You got-- 'cause you gotta clean, prep, and cook, and then sell. I think I, I have my dream job, right now. 'Cause like I say when I was 19 years old and I started working here, and I said, "One day I'm gonna be the equipment manager at Edgewood,"

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:57

oh, that's so awesome.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 26:59

So I got it. I did it. But if you ask me maybe down the road working in Mexico for a soccer field or football

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:10

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:10

like I like to call it, Especially in Guadalajara. My team is Chivas, and they have this brand new stadium that I would like to work there

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:19

That's cool. Yeah, Are they gonna have a World Cup there?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:22

Yeah, that's one of the

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:24

Oh, okay. Awesome. I knew, yeah, I knew they were having several in Mexico.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:29

Yeah. I'm not gonna go to anyone. They're so expensive, so I'm gonna have to skip that experience for this World

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:36

Yeah. That would be so cool though. Yeah H- how expensive is it?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:41

Two, three grand per ticket?

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:43

Really? Wow.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:45

Well, all depends where you want them, but they're super ex...

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:47

yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 27:48

Everybody's complaining about the pricing of the

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:50

Yeah. I don't-- I mean, that's, yeah, that's not cool really to make it where it's not affordable for the average person to go to a game. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. That would be a super cool job though.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 28:05

Yeah

Trent Manning 28:06

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Trent Manning, CTEM 28:39

what technician would you like to work with for a day?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 28:42

There is a lot of them. Like we say, you can always learn something from everybody. But in my list, I got three. It will be after joining that WhatsApp chat that we all have,

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:53

Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 28:53

think working with Chad Brown will be great.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:57

Yes.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 28:58

I need a lot of that cleanliness and organizing that he has

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:02

Yeah he's something else, and he is like a Toro encyclopedia.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:07

Yes.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:07

I mean, it's crazy how quick he can come up with a Toro manual. And I don't remember when this was, it might've been a few years ago even. But John Borsos, he I mean, he's another great one too. But somebody asked a Toro question, and John beat Chad with a Toro manual

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:26

Okay.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:27

answer the question. And then he was like, "Hey, first time, yay." But yeah, it was just, yeah, crazy

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:35

the second one will be Michael Henderson from,

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:38

Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:39

He just came to my shop two, three weeks ago.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:42

Oh, no way.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:43

Him and Emily from, Emily Casey, I think that's her last name, from Walmart. Yeah, they all came to check my grinders because he's trying to upgrade his grinders.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:52

Okay

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 29:52

So he wanted to see how they work and just look at them. So they both stopped by a few weeks ago. We spent a whole-- almost a whole day there just

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:02

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:04

That's one

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:04

that's super cool.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:05

And I would like you to come to my shop and tell me how, what am I doing, what could I

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:10

I don't, I'm not gonna tell you what you're doing or how to do something different, but I definitely want to come by your shop, and I really hope we can work that out. I know Lanier was talking to the John Deere guy about setting up a demo with the sand filler, I don't know when it's, if it's set or not, but I hope I can work it out to get back out there

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:30

Yeah, that'd be great. Matt was also telling me about getting a Bearheart seminar in my shop with my grinders once I get the new ones

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:39

Oh yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:40

get more technicians around our area, just get them together

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:44

Right, right, right. Is he the one that works with Belcourt? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, y'all played golf together, right, the other day or

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:51

Yeah, they were playing. I was just watching.

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:53

Oh, you're just watching. Okay

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 30:54

Yeah, I'm I'm don't really play

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:58

I don't play. I don't really play either. I don't play at all. I hadn't even attempted to play in probably 20 years Something like that.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 31:08

like to watch. I like to... Especially because you get to see the entire golf course. You get to see the golf course, you get to see what you could change, what is it good, what is it bad. That's the only reason why I like to go when the guys play, 'cause most of our guys play, and I like to just r- ride with them, go in the cart with them, and just hang out

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:26

Yeah. No, that's cool. Yep. 'Cause you're right, it's a different perspective that you get when you're, from the golfer's perspective, right? You're looking through the golfer's lens as you're going through the course and see a lot of different stuff that you can't see driving the fairway or driving the cart path

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 31:46

Yeah, and then you get to check your moors because they're different in the morning than what it is on the afternoon at 3:00 or 4:00 PM, that's a totally different golf course. You get to see what your moors are actually doing

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:58

Yeah, no, 100%. Yeah, we were actually, me and Kevin, the guy that helps me with the videos, were filming some Aftercut appearance stuff at the golf course Saturday morning, and that was something I said in the video. I think it's important to go out and ride around in the morning, look at mowers, and then go ride in the afternoon and see what they look like, 'cause sometimes they, look better in the morning, sometimes they look better in the afternoon. All depends on the day and the daylight and all those things.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 32:30

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:31

What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 32:35

I think that it's okay to make mistakes

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:38

Ah, there you go. That's a great one. Yes

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 32:41

If you see something that is not working properly, especially if you're a technician, get your hands on it. Take it apart. If you have a- an equipment manager above you, our job as equipment managers is to help you grow, and if you're doing something that is not right, we'll just kind of guide you to do it. That's something my technician's really good at. Angel, he... Like let's say in the morning, "Oh, we got these three problems with these three different machines," right? And well, I'm thinking that he's gonna be s- doing something else like, changing oils or something more basic. All of a sudden I see him just tearing down a hydraulic motor. He's like, "Well, I just wanted to learn. If I don't know how to fix it, you're just gonna do it anyway, so I just wanted to see what is inside." And yeah, I think that's- that would be something that I... 'Cause when I started working on this, I was afraid of breaking the equipment even more the way they were,

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:35

right, right, right

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 33:35

Not being afraid and just get your hands on it

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:39

Yeah, I think that's really good, and I think that is something that other people struggle with. I've seen, younger technicians getting in the industry, yeah, and they're kinda shy to just jump in there. But I always tell 'em, I said, "Right now it's broke."

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 33:58

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:58

ca- we can break it worse, but... And I have. I've broke it worse plenty of times. But just let's take it apart and see what we can figure out, see how it works on the inside and all those things. I mean, that's one of the most enjoyable parts of the job, in my opinion, is, breaking it down, seeing how it works, and then hopefully you can decide what the problem is and repair it and put it back together and send it on its way

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 34:23

Especially that rush, that feeling that you have when you open something new that you haven't fixed before, and you put it back together and it works. 'Cause you have that's the fear that like, it might work, it might doesn't, like, it's first time I'm working on this. And then it's making it work

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:39

Yeah, that's definitely a great feeling. And I mean, I think that's why a lot of us probably do it That, that reward you get for making a repair

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 34:48

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:50

How do you deal with that person on the crew?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 34:54

Like I say, all of my guys are a family, right? They're all... It's just an entire family that works there. Angel, my assistant, is is also part of the family. So usually he goes out there and deals with them. Unless it's something bigger or something that it just keeps happening, then it's my turn to just step in. And I f- find that out that if you... Let's say if you tell them, "Please do no more 313 living for last," right? Because they're gonna address them, they're gonna do other things. But if you tell them why, they listen.

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:27

Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 35:28

I think that's what... Because before I was like, "Because I say so. Just go do it. Go. Just do

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:32

right, right, right.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 35:33

It didn't work. It didn't work like that. So

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:36

Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 35:36

they used to tell me, "Because I say so," and I'm like, "Yes, sir. And I will just skip 313. I'm not gonna touch it."

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:42

Right

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 35:43

But not anymore. It doesn't work anymore

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:47

No, and I think, I mean, definitely with the younger generations I think it really helps to explain why we're doing this, So they understand, that you're not just bossing them around telling them, "Don't do this, don't do that." You're explaining to them why we wanna do it a different way. We're trying to make this better, whatever it is.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 36:09

Yeah. And then our golf course started this program, right? It's called Whiskey Box.

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:15

Ah, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 36:16

So basically if you do something out of the ordinary, let's say you're driving, you see a piece of garbage, pick it up. Or if you're inside the clubhouse or the hotel, and if you see there is a wet floor and you grab a rag and you clean it, you get Whiskey Box, and then you can trade in for a gift card from other like Starbucks and some other grocery stores. So

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:38

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 36:39

that's kinda like a reward program that we have

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:42

Okay. Yeah. That is a cool program for sure.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 36:45

Yeah

Trent Manning 36:46

Get ready for tips and tricks

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:48

What kind of tips and tricks you got you wanna share with us?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 36:52

Crakes I don't know if you see it on the chat, but to hold my bed knives on the Bernhard grinders, there is a couple other holders that come with it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:02

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:02

So if you flip them around, you can see the bed knife, and you hold those brackets, or you use, use C-clamps, anything, you just hold them down. You can hold your bed knife in there, and you got more space instead of using the vise grip on the middle

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:17

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:18

especially when you need to clean it up before you put a bi- brand new bed knife or just to install the new one and torque it down. That's, that would be the trick

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:28

Okay. Yeah, that's a good one

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:29

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:31

Any other tips and tricks?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:33

I think the tip something that I started doing just because I used to procas- procrastinate a lot is one percent rule. Have a one percent rule,

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:43

Okay, what's the 1%

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:44

let's say I gotta do inventory.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:46

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:47

I don't like to do inventory. That's a lot of just sitting there and just pulling parts, right? So just

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:53

Nobody likes to do inventory.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 37:55

Just one percent at a time. Just one percent, every day. So

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:59

All right

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 38:00

if your deadline is December 31st, start on December 1st. You just do one percent at a time,

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:06

Yep, little bit at a time

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 38:07

you're gonna end up doing more than one percent every day, but there is days that you just don't wanna do it. You just get up and do one percent. Just

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:15

Yeah, I like that one. That, yeah. I could probably apply that one to my life in a lot of different ways to tidy things up for sure

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 38:25

Yeah. I usually do it with stuff that we don't really like to do, like, like that. Or organizing our tools also. Like, we need to get better on that, so that's what we started doing. Just like every day at the end of the day, if it's 3:15, we get off at 3:30, let's just stop what we're doing. We're not gonna do anymore anyways. Just, let's clean everything up and put everything back together

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:48

Yeah. Nice. Good. And I think it's important too that everything needs a place, Right? And if everything has a place, it makes it a whole lot easier to put it back where it goes. But when you don't really have a place for something, then that makes it hard to stay

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:08

spend 20 minutes looking for that 10 millimeter socket.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:12

That, exactly, yes. We've all done that multiple times, I'm sure. Yeah Well, let's talk about translating study guides.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:23

Oh yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:24

So yeah, how did this come about?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:27

So when I was doing the CTEM, well, you gotta talk to Diana, right? She's

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:32

Yep. Yeah. Yep. Diana's

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:34

her and Lisa from GCSA, they have pushed me to do stuff out of my comfort zone. Way out of my comfort zone.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:41

yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:42

Got no, no business. But we were talking about doing the CTEM, and she asked me, like, if I would like to translate the FTOs.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:53

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 39:53

And I was like, "Yeah, I don't see why." I thought it was gonna be picking up the book and going one by one. It's like, oh, it's gonna be hard. I was just like, and my brain was, like, Burning, for months. And eventually she says that Jason Fontana and myself were gonna be doing it. I was like, "Okay, I'm not gonna be the only one, and somebody else is gonna be doing it with me."

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:14

yeah. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 40:15

so that's not bad. I don't get all the the load on my back. So, then so we started doing it, and we have about maybe six that we have done already. There is one that was already printed on the last CTEM on Florida. There

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:31

Okay

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 40:32

was one already printed in Spanish

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:35

Oh, nice. Okay. Which one was it? Like cutting units or

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 40:38

no turfgrass

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:40

Turfgrass? Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 40:41

That's the one that was already translated, and it was already printed. And well, she's working on it. She's great. She's hustling, she's getting everything done. We're just helping her out. Eventually we'll get them all done

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:53

No, that's awesome. And that's so cool that you and Jason, I mean, two of our own are helping, do that.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 41:00

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 41:01

And yeah, do y'all need any more help?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 41:05

That would be a question for Diana

Trent Manning, CTEM 41:06

Yeah. Maybe I'll reach out to Diana and, I mean, not that I can help, but I can put some feelers out and see if anybody else is interested so everybody can share the load. Because, like, when we were writing the exams, there was, I don't remember if there was 10 of us or something on the task group, 10 or 12, and then there was probably 10 or 12 more that was helping write the questions for the exams. So I mean, there was probably 20 or 25 people. So, it kind of spreads the work out. I'm just thinking you and Jason doing all the work for these two study guides. I appreciate it, and I don't wanna steal anybody's thunder, but if you need more help or something, definitely, let me know and I'll see who I can get in touch with.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 41:55

Funny thing now that you mentioned, I met Jason on the task group, on the equipment manager task group.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:00

Ah, okay. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 42:01

So yeah, we're part of it this year

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:03

Okay. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. I don't-- Serving on the task group, I don't... I served longer than the first group. They kind of kept us together because there were so many things happening and it was new. But normally it's about a three-year commitment. Not that you gotta do it for three years, but they asked you back for three consecutive years. But it's so rewarding serving on that task group and the people you get to meet, just like Jason. When I was there, like, J.R. Wilson, me and him became really good friends serving on the task group. Chris Rapp, he's moved on, but another really good guy. I met Skip Hines there,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 42:47

Okay

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:48

and I've told that story, I think probably on the podcast before. But my first year serving on that task group, I was in the room with all these people I'd heard about, right? I mean, other industry leaders. And I was nobody. I mean, nobody knew my name. But walk in the room the, in the hotel, so this is like the day before, and Skip Hines is there and I think, I'm like, "I think that's Skip." So I kind of walk over and he's like, "Hey, I'm Skip Hines." I introduced myself, whatever. He's like, he's like, "I just got in. I'm really hungry. You wanna go get something to eat?" I'm like, "Yeah, sure." So, we go and have lunch or whatever it was and, I mean, I just felt like he didn't know me from anybody and he like brought me into the group, I don't, I just felt really welcome,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 43:37

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:38

by him. So, and that has always meant so much to me

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 43:42

Yeah, it is challenging because when we were in Florida this year, remember you had that dinner with all the managers? I got there, I didn't know anybody.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:50

Right.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 43:51

I was like a deer with the eyes like this. I didn't know anybody. It's like... And what's his name? I can't pronounce his last name. You had him here. He was on the Melrose program this year. Andre... I'm not gonna say his last name. I

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:04

Oh Strezpeck.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:06

Yeah, he is great. He took me in. He--

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:10

Strezpeck, something like that. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:12

the entire week or four days that we were there, he was always, like, helping me out. Like, "Come on, let's go." He's-- He likes to talk, so I was right be- right by his side almost the entire time. Like, he was just, like, talking to everybody.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:26

Yep

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:26

And also, another thing we're doing now talking on Spanish we have a couple of videos on the Learning Hub

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:34

Oh, okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:35

on Spanish. I don't know how you do it, but it's a lot of work to just put everything together to get something done. There is one about reel grindings, grinding a

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:46

Okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:46

on a Bernhardt grinder.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:48

Yep

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 44:48

I think that's the first one I worked on. And there is another one about a Workman, not a Workman, a TX Gator. We just pull the engine out and just service everything, just do the electric motor, replace the the brushes on it. Just a couple things here and there,

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:04

yeah. Yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:05

that you're supposed to do every year or, like, just every so often.

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:09

right, right

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:09

So yeah. And we might be teaching a class on the next on New Orleans

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:18

Okay, awesome.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:19

on Spanish. That's gonna be about ENCP.

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:23

Okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:23

ENCP level one and level two.

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:26

That's exciting. Yes. No, that's awesome. Because, I mean, that's, I mean, it's kinda a shame, to be honest, that there... 'Cause I know there's a lot of Spanish-speaking technicians working at golf courses, but they're not really in the group.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:45

Yep

Trent Manning, CTEM 45:45

And I mean, but it's gonna take somebody like yourself to bring them into the group. You know what I mean? I can't tell them to come in the group 'cause I don't speak Spanish.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 45:57

I'm hoping that if they see me doing, they're like, "If he can do it, I can do it too."

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:01

Yeah,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 46:01

that's my goal

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:02

Right. Yep. No, that's awesome. I mean, way to be a leader, for sure. Yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 46:08

I'm just trying

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:09

No you should be very proud of yourself. That's awesome what you're doing. Yeah. Anything else you wanna talk about or discuss?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 46:18

I think that's what I'll, that's I have been doing.

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:21

Yeah. No, I mean, that's really good. And I mean, anybody is welcome in the Real Turf Techs WhatsApp group, anybody. But if you wanted to start your own group with, Spanish-speaking people, that might be a good idea too

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 46:41

Yeah. Yeah, it wouldn't be a bad idea. I

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:44

yeah.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 46:44

try working on that. I don't... Actually, I don't know any Hispanics that work in this industry. Around me in my area, they're all, There's no Hispanic people working on the shop. Besides me and my assistant, actually.

Trent Manning, CTEM 46:57

Yeah I know I had two assistants that were both spoke Spanish. And I know here in Georgia there's quite a few,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:07

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:07

Working at shops

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:09

I met a couple of them that they're from California, and I was talking to them in Florida last last time,

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:15

Mm-hmm.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:16

so

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:16

And I don't know how many of those people get to come to, To CTS. Yeah. But we got a lot of work to do.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:26

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:27

But,

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:27

Gonna start somewhere, right?

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:28

You gotta start somewhere. You're exactly right. And yeah, the ball's rolling for sure. And just gotta keep pushing it.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:35

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:36

No, that's good stuff. You ready to do some rapid fire questions?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:40

Yes, sir

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:42

Let's do it. What's your favorite movie?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:45

I don't really watch movies. I watch more TV shows.

Trent Manning, CTEM 47:49

Oh, what's your favorite TV show?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 47:50

We watch a lot of-- Believe it or not, we're not on the medical field at all. My wife will faint if she sees blood. But we watch a lot of the medical things like The Good Doctor Chicago Med,

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:02

Okay.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:03

Grey's Anatomy, like all kinds of stuff that is about medicine. The Resident. I think those are the ones that we have watched in the past two years

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:12

That's good. What would be your last meal?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:17

Tacos?

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:18

All right, tacos. What, that, you gotta be, yeah, you gotta be more specific though. What kind of taco?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:25

My mom tacos. If you go that way, if it was my last meal today, and my mom's still with us it would be my mom's tacos. It will be pastor.

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:36

Pastor, okay. Yeah. Awesome. And then with the pastor, just onions and cilantro?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:43

Onions, cilantro, beans, and salsa. All

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:46

Beans and salsa, okay. With a good Mexican salsa?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:50

Yeah. Gotta be a good topic

Trent Manning, CTEM 48:51

Yeah, gotta be good. All right. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 48:57

I think I was just thinking about this question, right? And everything that I am proud of I think I'm more than proud, I'm thankful for having my wife by my side.

Trent Manning, CTEM 49:08

Oh, yeah

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 49:10

she has been there the entire ride. Since I was, Had two jobs, I'm working just being an assistant mechanic and working as a server in a boat, to now that I'm an equipment manager and I got my C temp and everything else we're working with. She has always been by my side. I think that's my biggest pride, having my wife

Trent Manning, CTEM 49:33

That's awesome, man. I'm so happy for you. That's so cool. That is. It's nothing nothing like having a really good partner in life.

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 49:41

Yeah. Good on that one, Raffel

Trent Manning, CTEM 49:43

Yes. No, that's awesome, man. Good on you. And thank you obviously for everything you've done for our industry too. The, that's with the study guides and all that stuff, and congratulations on being a C10

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 49:59

Thank you. Honestly, we just following some of you guys' steps. You're up, you're patting the road and I'm just going through it. You're making it easy for everybody else

Trent Manning, CTEM 50:09

thank you for that, but yeah All right. Anything else?

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 50:12

No, sir, I think we're good

Trent Manning, CTEM 50:14

All right. Well, thank you very much for being a guest on The Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Emilio Mendez, CTEM 50:19

Thank you for having me

Trent Manning 50:25

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.