Mr. Manager.

by Mike

Tires aren’t supposed to be flat, but if they must, it’s better that they be flat in the middle of a town.

We walked the bike to a repair shop only 20 yards away and I pulled it right into the small garage. The kid working didn’t really say anything to me, he just took the bike and started taking the wheel apart. I asked how much it would cost to repair – I thought his response was 5,000 rupiah (50 cents) but I must have misunderstood. It would probably be 50,000. Still, $5 is a good deal to repair a tire.

He couldn’t get the patch to work, so he said they’d need to use a new inner tube. He put the tube in, threw the tire back together and told us it was good as new. The price for a new tire? 30,000 rupiah. That’s $3. So I had been right – the simple patch would only have cost 50 cents. We paid $3.50 and he tried to give the extra money back to us, but we told him it was a tip, because he was so polite and a good worker. The kid handed all the money to the boss (pictured above) and the boss handed 30 cents back to the kid as his share of the tip.

So, about that manager: I could only understand that his nails were just one year old, believe it or not. In other words, it’s within our reach, but we’ll have to start today if we want those nails for next year’s holiday season. There are probably a lot of things he does with those things that would be entertaining to watch, but I think I saw the best thing – when someone paid with a large bill, he pulled out a wad of cash and leafed through the notes with his thumbnail. THAT would have been a rad picture.