Wherein I give thanks to Walmart and a fire fighter
Last night I was working on my scooter and realized that I had no good way to extract the gear oil from the case. All the scooter forums I’ve visited recommend getting some kind of irrigation syringe or something to extract the oil with.
So I went to Walmart to look for an irrigation syringe so I could extract and inject new gear oil into my scooter. I looked around a little and must have appeared pretty lost. An employee named Ben came up to me and asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for something like a large syringe or turkey baster or something that I could extract gear oil with.
He took me to the turkey basters, but on the way he said, “I don’t think this is going to work, but I have another idea.” We looked at the basters and just as he thought they would have taken forever to get the job done. He said, “Come with me a minute.” I followed him back to the sporting goods area. He got on the phone, “John? Ben. Look, I’ve got a buddy who’s trying to get some gear oil out of a chain case. Do you have any large syringes with you? Great. Look, I’m going to send him over, will you set him up? Thanks.”
Then he turned to me and said, I’m a fire fighter with (redacted) City. Do you know where the fire station is? Then he explained to me how to get there. “My friend John will be there in 20 minutes and he’ll get you what you need.”
I arrived, waited about 5 minutes and a fire truck pulls into the garage. I see a man through the garage window who holds up a finger to indicate “just a sec.” He appears a few moments later holding out a 60ml syringe, “You Ben’s friend?” I gave him a big smile and thanked him, but it felt entirely inadequate. When I got home I called the Walmart to thank Ben, but I couldn’t get anyone in sporting goods to pick up the phone. Anyway, Ben, thanks again.
Whatever mixed feelings I have about civil servants and government waste are temporarily suspended because of your genuine concern for me and for supplying me with a 50 cent irrigation syringe that I couldn’t find anywhere else. You rock.