What were they thinking?

Were there dots? I don't recall any dots;
that was 1983, and my first month on the job.Having never worked on anything but metrics, and never before employed at a bike shop, this was a classic case of God taking care of me. I needed a job. I had been working on my asphalt pad all summer, and I suppose building up a reputation. A guy knows a guy, who knows a guy, and out of nowhere I get a call, would I like to work for one of the biggest Shops in Winnipeg? HeckYa!. Next thing you know they are paying me the big bucks to work on "exotic" Italian dinosaurs, that nobody but my shop foreman knows anything about, and apparently, the new guy who can fix anything; which being me. It wasn't me who said I could fix anything. I said I would be willing to "WORK" on anything. And so here was this monster Ducati V-twin on my bench, and it needs a top end rebuild, and see what you can do with it; and by the way,it needs to be on the track ... the day after tomorrow. Everything was good until I hit; desmo-spastic valve gear; without a manual, and I'm a Ducati-virgin. Well the fact was that there was a manual, it just took me a while to find it. Com'on, I wasn't THAT smart, and still today, I know there's plenty smarter bike-mechanics than me.
The engine was back in the frame and ready to race, at the appointed time.
Somebody somewhere had a lotta faith in a metric-cowboy from Ft Garry, and that was the summer I became a bike mechanic, for a multi-multi-line dealer, with a high visibility in Italian jobs.