Interesting Wheel-truing Experience
So I had a young man bring me a wheel for truing. Off a bike given to him by his grandfather in Japan. I guess he's about 9th grade--his mother drove him over. Wheel looked fine, all clean and shiny. Charming people. Felt so good about the whole thing that I didn't even think to mention the "customer expectation defuser" ie "the finished product is only as good as the components you provide".
Although the wheel looked good, once I started working on it I discovered that the rim had a number of visibly subtle flaws which made it basically untruable.
So I did my best on it. A long way from perfect; but still probably better than 80% of the wheels running around this town. But far short of the standard I try to set. Sent the young man the bad news, included some up-close photos of the damage, threw in a new rim strip and called it OK for my normal $18 fee.
Woke up this morning and my conscience was bothering me. I REALLY HATE to work for free, but I also REALLY HATE to take advantage of people; and I just didn't feel right about charging the $18. So I bit the bullet and told him it was free--no charge. My conscience loved that.
Mom just picked up the wheel--I explained the wheel problems and told her it was no charge, but she insisted on pressing an envelope into my hand. A voluntary donation to the Foodbank.
I went home and opened the envelope. A $20 bill. Plus a lot of goodwill and potential for future business.
Happy ending. Hope I remember the lesson.