Three weeks behind

Posted June 2nd, 2009

We have two lawn mowers. There’s the gas powered one that I use and there’s the old-fashioned reel style push mower that I keep meaning to use. I’ve had the push mower since I was a kid and thought it would be a good idea. About once a year I use it to mow our lawn and remember how much more work it is.

Last summer I had the big idea that it would work a lot better if I sharpened it. Some friend or other remembered that a hardware store near us had a machine for sharpening the blades. When I stopped in they said, no, they’d sold it a couple years ago to the folks who I use to service my gas mower. Two calls later I reached a dead end as the people my mower repair folks sold it to were no longer in business.

Then the weekend before last a friend told me about Buddy’s, a place near him that repairs this kind of mower. I must have been too busy to call them Monday. Tuesday was probably packed. My status report was due Wednesday. Thursday I had a meeting or something. I finally called them Friday morning.

An old guy answered the phone like I’d interrupted him, “Yeah.”

He didn’t ask if he could help me. He didn’t identify the name of the store. Once I confirmed that it was Buddy’s I asked if they repair manual reel mowers.

“Yeah.”

“Oh great, I’ll bring it in.”

“I’m running three weeks behind.”

“OK,” I said, “how late are you open today?”

“Four,” he said. I think he said bye before hanging up but I’m not sure.

And then I made a big mistake. I went back to working. I edited some books, wrote a bit of one that I’m working on. I talked to one of my editors for the Life series. Before I knew it it was three o’clock. I put the mower in the back of my car and headed over to Buddy’s.

I got there at quarter to four and there was no one there. No one. I knocked. I called the number and got the answering machine. I walked around the empty parking lot as if there was a secret entrance somewhere.

I was mad. Buddy, or whoever I’d talked to on the phone had said they were open til four and they weren’t there. I was halfway back home before I got it.

Buddy is much smarter than I am. I’m running three weeks behind so I find myself working nights and weekends to catch up. But I don’t catch up. There’s always more to be done.

Buddy is three weeks behind. But it’s a different sort of behind. He has three weeks worth of business lined up and each day he does a day’s worth of work and then goes home. How wonderful.

Should he have been there at four? I don’t know. I definitely shouldn’t have waited until the end of Buddy’s day to bring the mower in. Buddy is repairing mowers that no one else in town will touch. He’s got plenty of work.

There are so many lessons in this exchange and I haven’t even left the mower with him yet. I call the next morning.

“Yeah.”

“How late are you open today?”

There’s a pause at the other end. I feel the old man crack a smile. “Two,” he says.

“You going to be there til two?”

“Yeah,” he says.

I thank him and head out well before two. I get there and there’s an old guy wheeling a lawn mower in. He stops and looks at me. Doesn’t ask if he can help me. Doesn’t rush me. Waits a moment. It’s not Buddy but it is the guy from the phone.

“I have a push mower,” I tell him.

“Need sharpening?” he asks.

I nod. He nods. He then jerks his head at the front door and says “bring it in.”

I wheel the mower in. He looks at it and nods again. He walks me over to the register and nods to a pen and a cardboard tag and says, “Write your name and phone number.” When I look at him he adds, “I’d do it but my hands are covered with grease.” It turns out he also has just had surgery for carpal tunnel on one hand and is scheduled to have it on the other hand on Monday. He’s not exactly chatty but we’re having a conversation.

He tags my lawnmower and tells me, “I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“About three weeks?” I ask.

“About,” he says. “I’ll call you.”

And I leave happy and confident. I don’t have a receipt or a claim check but on the other hand I didn’t leave a deposit. I have complete confidence in Buddy’s and this old man on the phone.

So many lessons in this exchange.

This post originally appeared in the Pragmatic Life blog.