Winter

Winter at the shop is an exercise in patience. At times, entire days go by with no one stopping in. The floor is now completely stocked with new bikes just waiting for the first warm day of spring, when someone might stop in and take one home. Accessories hang from the slat wall and collect dust, and tires slowly lose air. Lunches are eaten without interruption. The day ends and I go home on time. Everything seems strange and backwards: With consumer spending going the way it has been, I hope spring brings as much traffic as we have had in the past. Not that it matters to me, since I don't have to pay the bills and keep the shop going; but it still matters that the shop does well, so I keep my job. As much as I don't want to worry, I still do. It seems that the layoffs and misfortunes with the economy have caused most people to take a look at their spending habits and make changes, and that's bound to affect the amount of product we sell this year. But for now, it's the waiting game that happens every year. Spring can't get here soon enough.

Although it's not all cold and boredom. I've actually had quite a few repairs come through, which combined with new bike assemblies, has kept me busy so far this month. And just the other day, a guy stopped in to have a look around and eventually asked me for the most ridiculous thing you can ask for at the bike shop: A tandem recumbent. (You might have thought this item would be the adjustable kickstand, but you would be wrong; that is only number two on the list.) I could hardly contain myself, this was the first request I have gotten for one, but I managed to take his number down so that I could call him back with a price (!) on the contraption. (No way I knew that off the top of my head) I'm not sure why they even make a monstrosity like this, but now I'm dying to know just how many of these things get sold every year. It's probably worth the phone call to the distributor just to ask that question. I would guess that Florida gets most of them (they also are the largest buyer of adult trikes) and they probably sit in a garage for most of their life while the strange old men who buy them try to talk their strange old wives into taking a spin on what they probably perceive as a dual-seat death trap. No worries here, they are too expensive for someone to buy on a whim, and we don't stock recumbents anyway, although we'd be happy to order one for you, as long as you pay for the extra shipping costs. Wierdo. Truth is, the guy probably wasn't interested in buying one, and probably just was one of those people that wants to know what everything costs- especially something like that. Oh, well- I'll humor him- it's not as though I don't have the time to quote him a price.

It's unlikely that warm weather will arrive anytime soon, but I'll wait it out, because I have had many jobs so far in my life, but none can compare to the crazy extremes of the bike shop. It's always interesting, and patience is just one of many skills you can hone in the shop environment.