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grumpy, grumpy, grumpy
Jul. 6th, 2004 10:08 amSo, yesterday I stopped on the way home from the Vienna Inn (no, I know you're thinking glamourous--don't! think seedy small-town lunch counter+pub, popular in the way that only small-town institutions can be :-) where I'd waited fruitlessly for 45 minutes for my date to show up (hey, I had two glasses of chocolately Dominion Stout and two of the VI's famous chili dogs, so it wan't an entirely wasted evening). I stopped at one of the local bicycle shops to see if they did repairs and could give me an estimate on getting the bike that a former housemate left behind back in running order so I could finally learn this moving around on only two wheels thing.
I waited (I thought patiently) while one of the clerks finished telling (what he believed to be an amusing) story to the other, and explained my quest. He said, yes, they could give me an estimate. If I brought it in between 8 and 4 the next day, when they had their repair shop open, they could give me a realistic estimate. He could give me an estimate now, ha ha, but it would be $3,000, ha ha ha, and the shop would probably tell me $5, ha ha. So I should come in tomorrow from 4 to 8.
Me: 4 to 8 or 8 to 4?
Him: Ha ha, Ooops! Yeah, 8 to 4.
Other clerk: Ha ha, yes.
Me: OK, great, just checking. Well, I'll come in first thing in the morning, then, just after 8.
Him: Great!
So, of course, having gotten up early, borrowed the Honda from Chris, dragged the bike all the way from the back of the house to the front and, with difficulty, gotten it into the car, it's just natural that when I get to the bike store (Performance Bicycles, Arlington Blvd.) I discover it's closed. After some searching, I find a sign showing their hours (10-9 most days) below waist level and not on the front door, but some distance away.
I'm guessing with the amount of cleaning the gears will need, new tires, and probably rebalancing the wheels, this repair may be a couple of hundred bucks. Thing is, that store isn't going to get that couple of hundred bucks; they're just going to get a letter explaining why their competition is getting it.
I waited (I thought patiently) while one of the clerks finished telling (what he believed to be an amusing) story to the other, and explained my quest. He said, yes, they could give me an estimate. If I brought it in between 8 and 4 the next day, when they had their repair shop open, they could give me a realistic estimate. He could give me an estimate now, ha ha, but it would be $3,000, ha ha ha, and the shop would probably tell me $5, ha ha. So I should come in tomorrow from 4 to 8.
Me: 4 to 8 or 8 to 4?
Him: Ha ha, Ooops! Yeah, 8 to 4.
Other clerk: Ha ha, yes.
Me: OK, great, just checking. Well, I'll come in first thing in the morning, then, just after 8.
Him: Great!
So, of course, having gotten up early, borrowed the Honda from Chris, dragged the bike all the way from the back of the house to the front and, with difficulty, gotten it into the car, it's just natural that when I get to the bike store (Performance Bicycles, Arlington Blvd.) I discover it's closed. After some searching, I find a sign showing their hours (10-9 most days) below waist level and not on the front door, but some distance away.
I'm guessing with the amount of cleaning the gears will need, new tires, and probably rebalancing the wheels, this repair may be a couple of hundred bucks. Thing is, that store isn't going to get that couple of hundred bucks; they're just going to get a letter explaining why their competition is getting it.
