Chapter 2
Cash Only
Page 8
Diane watched as a man in a bright yellow hat hurriedly walked down the street and into the store. She saw Joe greet him at the door and wondered if this was the rent payoff they were watching for. No this wasn't how someone in an underworld crime ring would dress. Then she thought about how she wasn't dressed like her boss expected her to dress. Nah, she thought, this guy is probably just working down the road on the road construction. She paid close attention as he was in there and noted that he seemed quite happy as he left. She looked up and Kurt was watching too. Good, she thought, he's finally doing something he's supposed to be doing.
People came and left the rest of the day and nothing to note happened. As they were packing up for the day, Kurt made the offhand comment that it's a wonder he stays in business with all the unhappy customers. She just smiled at him and said, well the guy in the yellow hat was sure happy!" "That guy? Kurt didn't want to argue as he thought, “she smiled at me, and she’s into me I'm sure”. All Diane thought was "what an idiot" as she walked to her car.
Joe closed the shop and went into the back room. He sat down surrounded by the computers that had been dropped off the past few days. He opened and turned on a laptop and as it was starting, continued to start computer after computer. Each one whirred and beeped as it started. They were all fixed just fine as he expected. He hit restart on each one to be sure, and after a bit, turned them all off and started calling their owners. "Fifty dollars." he would say, "corrupted programs" or "virus infestation" or the old reliable, "loose wire". He would always end the call saying, "Low charges and cash only."
Joe didn't feel bad or awkward anymore for charging customers and not really having to do anything to fix their items. He had gotten over that at Jimbo’s. At the recycling yard, he had rescued many things that were broken and discarded. In fact, many of the things in the office had been cleaned up and repaired, ready for reuse. He went in the office and used the repaired hotplate to cook up the hamburger. It works just fine he thought. It wouldn’t make any sense to throw it away, this old hotplate still has some value left in it. Why shouldn’t it be resold to someone that can take advantage of a low price? The computers that I fix would likely just end up at the dump anyway. I’m just skipping a step and making people happy, so why wouldn’t helping things along to fix themselves be worth something? I’m just lucky!