I ran into an old customer at a plumbing supply yesterday. "I could tell it was you, Marty, by your distinctive laugh," he explained. I hear that often, enough to make a guy feel rather self conscious. But I guess better to be known than not.
Why was I in that plumbing store? I needed a vent for my kitchen sink drain. "Let me see if I have that exact one, Marty," the counter man was telling me when I showed him the old one. "If not, there is another that'll work, but you'll need to reconfigure the line a bit." On hearing that, I fervently, fearfully hoped he had the original type.
He did. For $5.60 I had the part required for the easy fix. I paid, and that's when Old Customer called to me from the other end of the counter.
We chit chatted a few minutes before I excused myself. "Gotta go put this aerator on my kitchen stack," I said.
Old Customer yanked both the old and new parts from my hand. "Do you know how to tell one of these is bad?" he asked.
Well, I already knew the one was bad. That's why I was there for him to hear my laugh. Yet he was bound and determined to show me just the same. "Hear that rattle?" he asked as he shook the old aerator. "That's how you know it's bad." Old Customer then shook the new part quite emphatically to demonstrate the lack of rattle.
But all I could think, in the moment of panic as he was delightfully showing me what I already knew, was, "Could you please not violently shake the one thing, the only one conveniently available, which will make my job easy?"
Fortunately, no damage was done. I simply didn't need the demonstration, as much as it pleased him to offer the service.
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