bicycle blunder, good customer service
This morning I took "T" to his bicycle "camp". We arrived a bit early. T told me that, yesterday, another boy had crashed by tipping over backwards doing a wheelie over a bump.
I replied that his bike is long enough that although a wheelie would be possible, it's too long to tip over backwards. (Maybe in extreme cases, but not likely.)
He said that his bike is too heavy to do a wheelie at all.
I said that it was possible, but one had to be in a very low gear. I borrowed the bike, downshifted to the lowest gear, and turned around. Pushing hard on the right pedal and jerking the handlebars upward, I got maybe two inches (5 cm) of air. But i also felt a big "pop" in my knee, then pain. Ouch!
Walking was so painful on my right knee that I borrowed the bike to use it as a wheelchair to get back to the car. I returned his bike and wished him a good ride.
Back home, I limped painfully down the driveway and up the porch. Inside "J" heard my distress and hot me a pair of crutches, left over from a toe surgery she had several years ago. They've helped.
Lately I've been working on a couple of little craft projects, replacing the broken sides and back of a sock drawer, and replacing the glide rails of a file cabinet drawer. I think I have all I need for the former, but I definitely don't have the screws I need to finish the latter.
Going to the store for parts would normally be simple. I was planning to go to Dunn Lumber after dropping off T at his enrichment class this afternoon. But I don't want to deal with crutches to go into the store.
So, I phoned them, and asked whether they could give a seven-year-old the screws if I phoned in the order. After explaining problems with picking out exactly the right screws, he said yes, the boy can pick up the order. Hooray!
I still have to sort through their web site, or perhaps the screw company's site, to find exactly the right screws. But with T's help, picking them up is not a problem. Other than making a mess in the house which would be easy enough to vacuum up I can probably do the assembly work just sitting on the floor, particularly if I can persuade T to retrieve tools and things that are out of my reach.
Anyway, it's beed a dumb morning for me, and an admirable morning for customer service experiences.