An older man came into the shop today with a box. He set the box on the counter and proudly told me that I had probably never seen what he was about to show me. Just from that, I could tell the next few minutes were going to be interesting. Not so much because I believed that the man had some impressive item in his possession, but because the man was so pompous that I knew he was going to be completely ridiculous.
Opening the box, the man began to pull out various parts from a bathroom faucet. Only, as the man informed me, this was no ordinary faucet, but a $1,600 bathroom faucet. Apparently, the various parts had been dipped in platinum or gold. He then shoved a piece of paper with details about the faucet into my face with triumph, thinking he had proven the worth and guaranteed himself a generous loan offer. What this man didn't realize is that we never taken pricing information from customers. I took the paper, set it down, and then called a manager over because I wasn't sure if we even took bathroom fixtures. After a quick exchange with the annoying man, my manager disappeared to go look up information about the faucet and I was left alone with the customer. I tried to go about my other pawn shop duties, but the man kept talking to me--only it wasn't good natured chit chat, but self-important rambling.
He told me that he used to have lots of money and that he originally bought the faucet to impress his wife. I responded that she probably would have been more impressed if he'd spent the money on buying her jewelry instead. It was meant to be a joke, but I don't think he enjoying my sense of humor. He then mentioned that the faucet was the only thing he still had from his days of financial abundance. I asked him what had caused him to lose all of his money, but he didn't respond to my question. Instead, he told me that I would never have enough money to buy such an expensive faucet and that I would probably never even see one again. I shrugged and told him I saw no point in buying a $1,600 bathroom faucet. Completely unaware of my subtle hostility, he asked me if I had ever heard of the brand of the faucet. It was Kohler. Of course, I'd heard of it. I told the man as much and then began to ignore him.
He kept asking me questions but I didn't respond. I usually hate it when the phone rings, but when it rang this specific morning I was very glad to answer it.
In the end, my manager ended up turning away the faucet to the great displeasure of the older man. When the elderly jerk had left, I told him about the rest of my encounter with the fancy faucet man and we both had a good laugh.
What a freak!
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