Violin! Woo!
My boss is awesome. How awesome? Like, gave-me-a-violin-for-free awesome. Really. It plays good and everything. And he just let me have it. Lemme 'splain: In March of 1998, there was this old lady named Mabel Grey who brought her violin in to get serviced. The work was done, to the tune of $112, and the store called to tell her this. Well, complications arose, and for various reasons (possibly including her death), Mabel never made it in to collect her violin. Almost 12 years later, I found it waaaay back under the counter, covered in dust and totally forgotten. I pointed it out to my boss last week, who suggested I try the number on the repair bill, just to see if Mabel was still interested in getting her violin back. So I called, and it turned out that her phone number now belongs to a restaurant called Salvatore's.
With no way to contact the owner and an outstanding repair bill, the store's policy is that such items may be offered up for purchase at the price of the outstanding bill. Knowing this, on Saturday I got the repair technician to give the violin a once-over, and he made a few minor tweaks (tuning the strings, pruning the horsehair on the bow that for some reason kind of exploded) and declared it to be in good shape. All this week, I've been trying to catch my boss at a good time to let me know of my interest in acquiring said violin, without success (I didn't want to make a special trip, and he never hangs around long after I show up).
And then tonight, just by happenstance, my boss wandered in as I was closing up shop for the night and I got to chance to chat with him about things. When he asked, "Anything I should know about?" I told him about a few little things business-wise that needed tending, and then went, "Oh, and remember that old violin under the counter from 12 years ago? The customer's number belongs to a restaurant now. I'll pay for it and take it, if that's okay."
Of course, in the few days since I'd first mentioned it to him, he'd completely forgotten about it again, so we pulled it out, and he looked at the slip, looked at the violin, commented on how prices had changed over the years, and then pushed the case at me and said, "Just take it."
"For $112?" I asked.
"Nah. No charge. Consider it a 'thank you' for all your hard work," he said.
I blinked a couple times and blurted, "Really?"
My boss, being well-versed in sarcasm, rolled his eyes at that, pulled out a calculator and figured out that the $112 repair bill worked out to a $0.03 loss per day over the past 12 years, which he said could afford. "If you want to pay for it, then I expect you to leave three cents on the counter at the end of the night," he added.
Me, being me, peppered him with a few more "Are you sure?" 's before thanking him again (and again).
So, you see? Awesome boss.
With no way to contact the owner and an outstanding repair bill, the store's policy is that such items may be offered up for purchase at the price of the outstanding bill. Knowing this, on Saturday I got the repair technician to give the violin a once-over, and he made a few minor tweaks (tuning the strings, pruning the horsehair on the bow that for some reason kind of exploded) and declared it to be in good shape. All this week, I've been trying to catch my boss at a good time to let me know of my interest in acquiring said violin, without success (I didn't want to make a special trip, and he never hangs around long after I show up).
And then tonight, just by happenstance, my boss wandered in as I was closing up shop for the night and I got to chance to chat with him about things. When he asked, "Anything I should know about?" I told him about a few little things business-wise that needed tending, and then went, "Oh, and remember that old violin under the counter from 12 years ago? The customer's number belongs to a restaurant now. I'll pay for it and take it, if that's okay."
Of course, in the few days since I'd first mentioned it to him, he'd completely forgotten about it again, so we pulled it out, and he looked at the slip, looked at the violin, commented on how prices had changed over the years, and then pushed the case at me and said, "Just take it."
"For $112?" I asked.
"Nah. No charge. Consider it a 'thank you' for all your hard work," he said.
I blinked a couple times and blurted, "Really?"
My boss, being well-versed in sarcasm, rolled his eyes at that, pulled out a calculator and figured out that the $112 repair bill worked out to a $0.03 loss per day over the past 12 years, which he said could afford. "If you want to pay for it, then I expect you to leave three cents on the counter at the end of the night," he added.
Me, being me, peppered him with a few more "Are you sure?" 's before thanking him again (and again).
So, you see? Awesome boss.