In the words of Alan Jackson....

....God bless the working man!

Couple of days ago, when all the slush was built up in the middle of the roads, and they all looked like two tracks, my wife drove over some chunk of something stuck in the muck, and it knocked a hole in my exhaust.

Now this happened at around 2:30 PM, and we drove straight to Midas, about six blocks. We were told that they were not taking any more cars for the day, and to come back tomorrow. That was on Friday.
On Saturday, we got there early, waited about four hours, kept being told 'should be about 30 more minutes' every thirty minutes, and finally left. I don't know what it would have cost me, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that they would have tried to sell me a new muffler and the Brooklyn Bridge, and charged not only parts and labor, but a service charge just for pulling into the bay!

Called around a bit and found a local guy, University Muffler, who said he wouldn't be able to get to it today, but could I bring it in tomorrow, Saturday?
Got up Saturday to a phone call with a minor family emergency, but enough that I had to call the guy and let him know I wasn't gonna make it. And wasn't sure when I could bring it in.
No problem, his shop wasn't going anywhere.

I called on Sunday morning, just in case he was open, and he told me he had two cars in already. I was thinking I was shit out of luck, when he said: "Should be done with these in about forty five minutes if I wanted to bring my car in."

WOW! Sure!

I got there within thirty minutes, and had to wait about ten more.
He pulled it into his bay, welded a piece of muffler pipe over the hole, and drove it out. Total time: 20 minutes.
I asked him how much I owed him, and he replied, while reaching for his receipt book, 'Oh, let's call it twenty bucks'. Read that again: TWENTY dollars.

I told him to shove the receipt, as this was cash, and I don't see any reason to get the government involved in my business, nor was I interested in paying Them for his work. I was gonna throw in another ten for a tip, but didn't have a ten on me. So I gave him forty bucks, and drove my now quiet car away.

I'd rather pay forty bucks for a job well done, to a hard working man, than five bucks to an hourly employee whose name I'll never know, and is just 'doing a job'. I doubt I'd have left Midas less than $70.00 or so poorer.

God bless the working man!
And it never hurts to pay it forward! III to III