Careful what you ask for

Well since I have this blog I might as well use it for something good. Which of course would be bitching about something that really annoyed me. Isn't that what blogs are for? Complain about things that you have no control over while you sit at your computer steeming over it? Yeah, that's what I was told they are for! Ok but really, I did have a bit of a problem the other day and I feel like venting about it. So here goes.

I have a peice of lawn equipment that has been around for like 20 years. My grandmother bought it for my father and we both use it. It's the tiller for the garden. Well, we have basically abused the shit out of it over the years. It's a bit rusted, the wheels are all bent, the pull chord broke a few times and I tied it together to keep it working. We leave it out in the rain, snow, sleet. Ok so you get the picture. I recently lost my digital camera or I would go outside and take a picture of this baby. This tiller tho has never failed us, it starts every time and runs like a champ. I'm always a firm believer that if something is working great don't go and screw it up.

Four days ago I go out to use this most durable machine (they don't build em' like they use to) and the pull chord finally snaps off completely (grrrrr). Normaly this is not something out of my realm to fix and any other time I would bust out the ol' tool kit and get going. I didn't. I had so many other things to do that I figured I would best be served if I just tossed it on the truck and ran it down to the local hardware store to have them fix it. I don't mind sending local places some business now and again, it's good to keep up relations with these local businesses and it's part of the charm I like about living here in New England.

Now, here I am pulling this (which looks to the hardware guys like a peice of junk and I swear I heard them laugh a little) thing off my truck and I tell the guy can you fix this pull chord and just change the oil and spark plug since it's here. He says to me, "So you want a tune-up." I looked at him and I repeted what I had just said, "I just want the chord fixed and the oil and spark plug changed." He looks back at me and says, "well that's a tune up." I said, "that's fine."

Ok maybe you see where this is going. Maybe this is my fault for not making sure what I was getting, but here is how it ends. I get the call to come pick my machine up. I show up and he tells me it's a $60 bill. I said well that's alot for those few things. He produces a list of what they did; Cleaned Carb, New Filter, New pre-Filter, Changed Oil, New Pull Chord, New Spark Plug. Ok, so I'm no dummy and there are a few things on the list I didn't ask for. Of course I confront the guy about it and he tells me, "You said Tuned Up." and of course I say, "No, you said tune-up, I said oil and spark plug." We go back and forth with who said what and what this and that entails until I finally did what any man in my position would do....I bent over and let this guy screw me. Now I don't often give in to situations like this, but I could see it was going no where and I wasn't gonna get my tiller unless I paid him. I was kinda in a jam there. Sometimes you have to pick your battles and for this one I just had to let it go. Needless to say I will never do business there again.

I know small business like this are having a hard time in this economy. One thing they need to remember is, if you keep screwing over your customers like that you will be without any to screw in the end.

and that my friends is Life in New England
Geoffrey D.