I was worried when I walked into the Harbor Freight in Beaumont. I had purchased an electric miter saw online and received a 30% discount for making a purchase near Christmas . . . but, there was a broken part, so I had to return it.
I wasn’t sure what the furtive, curly brown-haired clerk would do. I wanted to trade up and get the next bigger model (since this one was obviously too fragile). But, I also wanted to get the 30% discount again.
Curly looked at me with his crooked eye. He seemed to express a certain disdain for this gracefully-aging, obvious piller of the septuagenarian band of Americans, when he muttered,”I can’t do that”.
“Why not? If Donald Trump can incite a deadly, seditious riot and still have almost all of the Republicans in Congress excuse it, why can’t I have my 30% discount?”, I wanted to say. But, instead I just asked to speak to the manager.
The manager was a very portly man, with thinning hair, and a very friendly manner. I explained the situation and mentioned the Donald Trump thing, to which I drew the non-sequiturian conclusion about the upgrade and discount.
I may be aging gracefully but I was like a young Crouching Tiger . . a Hidden Dragon ready to pounce! . . or spew flames, or whatever.
He smiled, looked down at me and said, “Which one would you like” !!! I was like a young puma on the hunt, a Jaguar chasing down an unsuspecting jogger!!!
So, now I have the upgraded miter saw in my living room . . . and, am poised to start on the baseboards.
I tried to go back and thank them for their handling of this explosive situation, but they had moved on to other problem septuagenarians.
Sometimes, it is a curse to be so slick. 😊