Doing a Disservice
Feb 26, 2007 · 01:51 PM · permalink
This weekend I decided it was time to get a professional wax and edge tune—and while at it, to get my bindings checked since, lately, I’ve been having problems with heel ejection.
Because I was in Dillon, CO and it’s convenient, I dropped the skis off at Christy Sports—a fixture among Colorado ski shops. A youngish ski bum with standard-issue “vintage” beany and a dead expression—let’s call him Bill—assisted me at the counter. His peevish tone revealed how inconvenient it was to have a customer and, after a grudging explanation of the differences between a binding test and a binding fit, he asked me when I wanted to have the skis back.
Me: “How about tomorrow?”
Him: “What time?”
Me: “First thing?”
Him [derisively]: “Of course.”
When I picked the skis up the next morning his colleague—let’s call him Ted—dragged himself away from the pressing task of standing in the corner of the shop to assist me. In this instance, there was no actual hostility—just consummate apathy. No eye contact, mumbled one-word answers, and the sense that existence is a drag.
By contrast, I have heard nothing but good things about the service and prices at a Virgin Islands Ski Rentals. $35 for waxing and edging is certainly competitive, but I’d spend plenty more than I did at Christy to come away without regretting the transaction. Needless to say, I’ll be trying Virgin Islands next time so as not to burden Bill and Ted again.
Image from Despair.com
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