Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertoad
Poor Richard.
He fell in love with a Yamaha digital piano in the shop. (I did too. It's such a beautiful thing. I hope to have one some day.)
It's $299. He came in two months ago and put $100 down in a layaway on it.
But hard times have fallen on Richard, and he's getting evicted. He has a temporary job and is going for a better permanent job. But now he's just hoping he can stay with a friend for a while until he gets back on his feet.
He came in yesterday with $13 to his name and put $10 down on the keyboard to keep hold of it. He needs it; it's as important to him as life. I know this; I helped him set it up when he tried it. I saw how he felt about it when he heard it.
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I forgot to document this, but last Saturday Richard came in and made the last payment on the keyboard. It's his now, if he can keep it.
Sitting in the back doing my job, I didn't realize it was him until the last minute. But he was loudly joyous, and he and Alan recalled that it had been a year since he decided to put money down on this thing. I was the one who took his first payment. And I said it 10 months ago, but I will always remember how Richard fell in love with that keyboard.
Alan, being the unmovable sociopath that he is, did not take any joy in this day. Richard praised him up and down for keeping it in the back, and Alan hates that kind of treatment. Richard doesn't know that it was only the shop's laziness on layaway processing that kept the keyboard around for him, and Alan gave it no thought and deserves no credit.
In fact Alan gave a loud "Ugh!" after Richard left the store and he could feel free to register some emotion. Alan has contempt for anyone who wants to assign him humanity. His favorite customers are the ones who register no emotion and simply run their transactions.
Maybe he's right. Alan has seen plenty of people finish payment on items, only to bring them back a month later to be pawned.
Maybe to be happy with some part of the ghetto is to have your heart broken.