an observation of the forum as a metaphor
A young man prepares to leave his house one morning only to find that the rear tyre on the bicycle he is preparing to use is flat, “damn” he thinks,” just what I need on a cold morning like this “, so he retrieves the pump and sets about pumping the tyre but it does not inflate ”typical” he grumbles to himself ” this is going to make me late for work, I simply do not have time to deal with this” so he asks a neighbour to give him a lift in.
Later that day, during a work break, he visits the local cycle repair shop. The corner shop has been there for years, the windows are a little dusty and you can just see through, standing on the bench, in amongst piles of spare parts is a child’s bicycle the brightest pink you ever saw, much exaggerated against the blacks and greys of the tyres and the chrome of the wheels which are festooned in seemingly orderly groups from the ceiling on hooks.
The young man enters the shop from one side of the French doors which are covered in UV damaged stickers advertising products long gone, a bell hanging from the door rattles. He is assaulted with an overwhelming smell of rubber with subtle overtones of light oil, he looks down and follows the only available footway, which winds him past all manner of shapes and sizes of bicycles, eventually he reaches a counter which is almost completely engulfed by hanging packets of disassembled bicycle parts. Just as he reaches the counter a young apprentice appears behind the counter
“Good afternoon sir,” she smiles, “how can I help you”.
The young man takes the bicycle pump from his pocket and places it on the only available space on the counter.
“ Pedalo no able use, pump bad you fix yes” he enquires
“Of course I will try sir” she replies “please may I ” the apprentice picks up the pump places her finger over the end and actions it, the pump lets out a small squeak, she then has a close inspection of the valve connector.
She pauses for a second “ I’m sorry sir but the pump appears to be working fine” she offers, a little confused.
“No pump bad, I no pedalo no work today you no understand how I say” the young man suggests
“ I am sorry sir I do not quite understand, just a moment let me try this” she reaches up and tests the pump on the nearest inner tube that is within her reach. The apprentice then starts to shift though more hanging stock, she then passes out into the main shop, nimbly negotiating all the obstacles and testing the pump on every different type of inner tube she can think of , until eventually she returns behind the counter leaving the whole of the shop ceiling gently swaying with the tubes tyres and gleaming spoked wheels.
“Perhaps the pump is not best suited to your bicycle” she suggests “ If you let me know exactly what tyres you have I may be able to provide a suitable pump”
The young man, having watched the apprentice testing the pump, declares “pump bad why you try say sell me new pump you no able fix pump?”
“ No not all sir I was only trying to help, honestly” she replies nervously
The apprentice is starting to become a little frightened and at that moment from behind a low screen in a dark corner of the shop the shopkeeper himself appears, having been listening to the whole conversation, approaches and takes over behind the counter, this causing the young apprentice to be pressed into the myriad of goods behind her.
The shopkeeper picks up the pump faces the young man and enquires politely “Sir, perhaps you could bring the bicycle in so we could take a look?
Again the young man responds curiously “ pump bad why you want pedalo if you no able fix pump?”
“ I tell you what” says the shopkeeper “If you bring in the faulty pump together with the bicycle I will have everything fixed for you at not cost to you at all, absolutely Free, I can’t be fairer than that can I?” declares the shopkeeper
The young man pauses, looks at his watch and then turns to leave the shop, he winds his way back down the path to the door mumbling just enough to allow himself to be heard
“you call you pedalo shop you no able fix bad pump you no professional you say you no nothing you shop not good I think ”
As the bell begins to settle after the door has closed the apprentice turns to the shopkeeper to apologise, believing that the reason the shopkeeper had offered to repair the bicycle for free was her fault.
The shopkeeper sensing what she is about to say quickly reassures her “ Don’t even begin to think that you did anything wrong, you did everything right I am very proud of you.” He says smiling
“ I thought it might be to do with the language problem” she sighs with relief
“No I think it was very clear what he wanted to say,” he confirms
“So why did you offer then to fix his bicycle for free?” she asks
“Ah” says the Shopkeeper ”because I know he will never bring his bicycle in”
“How do you know that?” enquires the apprentice
“ Well” repies the shopkeeper “ there are three reasons that I can think of as to why that young man will never take his bicycle into any shop” and he starts to settle himself back at his desk in the corner of the shop
“ The first reason” he says as he is comfortably seated “ the first reason is………………..
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