Saturday morning I dropped by O'Connor Classics in Santa Clara to pick
up some touch-up paint I had ordered from British Wire Wheel. Surprise
of surprises; Mike O'Connor said that BWW had shipped it to him at
no charge so he was passing it along to me at no charge. My lucky day!
On the way home from O'Connor's I stopped by Santa Clara Glass to see if
they could make a replacement rear view mirror lens for the snake. After a
quick look at the old one the owner of the shop said no problem,
except that he didn't have any mirror stock that thin. Taking the old
mirror along, I checked a nearby auto parts store where I found a
largish replacement lens for a truck side view mirror that was close to
the right thickness. I bought it and took it back to Santa Clara
Glass. The owner had my replacement mirror done in less then 10 minutes.
Since there was still plenty of mirror stock left over I asked him if he
could make me a second mirror that was a couple of inches wider than the
original. No problem; he had that done in less than 10 minutes too.
When I ask how much, the owner replied, "next time bring me
something serious; no charge!". I couldn't believe my good fortune;
TWICE in one day!
On my way to O'Connor's I had dropped a tire off at a tire store to have
a flat repaired. The clerk assured me it would be ready in "a couple of
hours". Three hours later I called to see if it was ready yet. "Your
job is the next one up", I was assured. I was a little irritated at
the inconvenience, but not greatly surprised. Flat repairs are not big
money makers for tire stores so these jobs tend to get low priority,
especially if the tire is left rather than waited for. My wife and I
had errands to run so I decided not to bother picking up the tire until
late in the afternoon which would allow the shop many many times the few
minutes they promised to complete the job in.
A bit after 4pm I called the shop again. "Be ready in 10 minutes".
This time I decided I'd better make a personal appearance if I wanted to
get the tire back that day. When I got to the shop I was told, "be
ready in a couple of minutes, Mr Dudley". I looked through the glass
that separated the sales area from the shop area. Just as I had
suspected, the mechanic was just putting the tire on the machine. They
hadn't even started until I arrived. I didn't say anything but I made
sure the shop manage could see I was watching. He went over and started
helping out.
Once started it didn't take them long. Of course me watching probably
speeded things up a bit. Within 15 minutes or so the manager came in,
"you tire is ready Mr Dudley; no charge!"
I figured this has to be a good day to buy a lotto ticket.
No, I didn't win the lottery; and I won't continue boring you with what
happen Sunday, which more than offset what happened Saturday. I guess
good and bad luck tends to even out over the long haul; if you're lucky.
Roland
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