He actually said that?

My brother Phil's got my back. He keeps the best interests of me and my business at heart.

I'll try to make this story as succinct as I can. We picked up a sewer machine from a new customer and installed a cable. Phil was to meet this guy at his car wash at 2 yesterday afternoon to return it and get paid cash; the customer picked that time himself. When Phil arrived, he wasn't there, so my dutiful sibling called the fella. "I can't be there for at least 40 minutes," the man explained, without apology.

"Then we'll have to reschedule," Phil said. He knew he had to get back to the Shop to help me finish a large order promised for first thing this morning.

"All right," the guy responded. Then he asked, "Are you going to leave the machine?"

Phil answered simply, "No." He is a man of few words.

When Phil was back at the Shop, he unloaded the machine and told me what happened. Cool, I thought, you did the right thing. We went about putting that order together.

A couple of minutes later I stopped to ask my brother, "Wait a minute. He asked if you were going to leave the machine?"

"Yep."

"He actually asked that?"

"Yep."

"The words which came out of his mouth were: are you going to leave the machine?"

"Yep."

I laughed out loud. I mean, what the hell? This guy we don't know from Adam, whom we were giving free pickup and delivery to, whom we did not charge an installation fee even though his old cable was very difficult to remove, simply expected us to leave him the repaired unit at his place without payment?

I have since been in turn astounded, angry, and amused by the chutzpah of the dude. It's confusing to me that he'd expect that, then I get mad that he would, and then I find the whole episode hilarious.

Are you going to leave the machine? I still laugh at that, all the time I'm writing this. I mean, what the hell?