A funny thing happened at the checkout #5
I am no auto mechanic. And when I had my first car on my own, I failed to check the oil, ever get it changed, or do any maintenance on the engine what- so- ever, and after 60,000 miles I ended up ruining it and selling it to a kid who worked at a car manufacturing plant. He bought it for next to nothing and could replace the engine at low cost.
So when I was driving home from work today and heard a very familiar noise coming out from under the hood of my truck, the ping, ping, pinging of the cylinders in the engine of a motor completely void of oil, I had an immediate flash back to the same incident years ago. Yikes. I had ignored the "check your engine oil" warning light one too many times. Again.
I guess the last time I filled it, more oil had ended up on the ground than I thought. Thought the check engine light was just complaining about being overfilled.
I figure if it's still running okay, it can't be that bad. Yet. However, yet comes quickly at times. Don't judge me. My vehicles usually last well over 200,000 miles.
I pulled off at the next stop-a farm implement store. Went in. Immediately began asking each clerk I encountered where the motor oil section was. Got nothing but deer in the headlights from the entire herd. This was a store I swore I would never step foot in the last time I was here. But, shit happens.
Finally, a man who appeared to be loading bags of feed onto a cart to move a display approached me and asked how he could help.
As I explained every detail of my pathetic, lack of car skills past history until the current situation, he helped me pick the right weight, high mileage, truck motor oil and followed me up to the checkout. Then he got in line behind me to wait his turn, which was when I realized he was not a clerk, but another customer.
He hadn't been moving a display. He was loading up on animal feed. He was a farmer. It was then that I also realized he didn't learn his customer service skills from being trained by this company. Obviously.
He was an entrepreneur. And quite a man. He avoided eye contact with confidence as I'm sure the expression on my face showed the exact moment it dawned upon me what a nice gentlemen he was. I thanked him again for his help when I left. He nodded.
Thank God for farmers. They keep us healthy.