When the little essay below came to my attention last week, it brought back something that I witnessed over twenty years ago. Here first is the little essay:
She asked him, “How much are you selling the eggs for?”What this reminded me of was something I witnessed back in the 90s, when I was visiting a church deacon I admired. While I was there, a man showed up to provide a quote on a small job the deacon wanted done at his house.
The old seller replied, “Twenty-five cents an egg, Madam.”
She said to him, “I will take six eggs for $1.25, or I will leave.”
The old seller said, “Take them at the price you want. Maybe this is a good beginning, because I have not been able to sell even a single egg today.”
She took the eggs and walked away feeling she had won. She got into her fancy car and went to a posh restaurant with her friend, where they ordered whatever they liked. They ate a little and left a lot of what they had ordered. When she paid the bill, which was for $45, she gave the owner $50 and told him to keep the change.
This incident might have seemed quite normal to the owner, but it would have been very painful to the poor egg seller if he had witnessed it.
The point is, why do we always show we have power when we buy from the needy? And why are we so generous to those who don’t need our generosity?
I once read somewhere: “My father used to buy simple goods from poor people at high prices, even though he didn’t need the goods. Sometimes he even used to pay extra for them. This practice concerned me, and I asked him why he did that. My father replied, ‘It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my child’.”
–Anonymous
The man asked the deacon what he would pay for the work, but the deacon asked him to say how much he wanted to do it.
The man, who seemed to need money pretty badly, gave him a figure (which I thought very low myself, but kept quiet because it was none of my business).
The deacon said okay, that’s what he would pay.
As the workman was leaving, the deacon said to me, “That turned out well. I would have paid him twice that.”
I had thought I admired this deacon.
| Copyright © 2018 by Victor L. Midyett |
My father always said never do business with a religious man. He'll cheat you on Friday and get forgiven on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteEd, your father was a pithy man, elegantly spoken! Of course, not all "religious" people will cheat you, and, in my opinion, the man in Victor L. Midyett's story didn't need to be "a deacon" in order for the point to be made. He only needed to be a man.
Delete"He only needed to be a man." I like that and I agree, for a true "man" possesses empathy in his demeanor and actions. Thank you both.
ReplyDeleteI like the point-we tip big at the fancy restaurant but try to skin the guy with paint on his shirt. I've been that guy, with a spray can in my hand. It's pretty great when someone recognizes that you need to make a living. We try to use local guys and always boost them a little. And get them work!
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