I had a slow leak in my tire and since I bought them at Costco, they come with free lifetime repair.
The worker said it’d be fixed in an hour and he’d check to see if I was eligible for free tire rotation.
I did some shopping to kill time. When I was done I had this wagon full of stuff so I brought it into the tire service center’s waiting area.
One other gentleman, late 70’s I’d guess, with a walker, was waiting there so I sat near him, maybe have a conversation.
I took a seat and pulled my wagon between us so it was out of the way of the door.
He glanced at me then back to a Costco pamphlet he’d obviously read to death sitting there.
“Hey, how are you?”
“Hi.” He responded.
“Pretty cold out there, no?”
“Yeah,” he said. “It’ll be hot soon enough.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I looked at his Mets hat. “So, you play for the Mets?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m their starting pitcher. You play?”
“Me? I’m allergic to sports.”
He looked back at his pamphlet.
The frozen blueberries in my wagon were melting on top of my underwear so I took the package out.
“Whatcha got there?”
“I saw these and the price was right. $12.”
“$12 for a pack of drawers?” He asked.
“3 in a pack, so yeah, $4 each. But look at all they do…”
He tilted his chin out drew his head back and squinted to read the package, “Hmm.”
“See? They breathe, they stretch, they control odor, all for $4. Not bad, right?”
“You put it that way, yeah.”
“I mean, that’s a lot of work and in terrible conditions.”
“I’m a boxer guy. Always was.”
“I get that, the room and all, but the briefs- the briefs changed my life.”
“Your underwear changed your life?”
“I’m a different man today.”
He took the pack from me and read the back.
I went on, “They had others in the store, more expensive, but the package said they had wick technology.”
“Wick?”
“They wick, yeah. I’m not sure what that is or how loud it gets when it starts. I don’t want to be sitting in a movie theater and suddenly my underwear starts wicking.”
The worker at the counter stepped in. “Mr. Higgins, I have your info here. I recommend rotation.”
“My tires, right?”
“Yeah, what else?”
“Oh, ‘cause we were just talking about my underwear and I thought maybe you meant, you know…”
“I ain’t talking about your underwear. Rotate your TIRES.”
“Oh ok, then yeah, do it.”
He walked away shaking his head. I think I pissed him off.
The man next to me went back to reading his pamphlet.
I love Costco.