There a store downtown that only opens 2 days a week to sell the stuff that didn’t sell at all the ‘estate sales’ that they run. There was nobody in the tool room, so I went digging in the bins of tools. There was a $5.00 set of pliers that I set aside. Decent quality, but nothing notable. I dug deeper. Two nice needle nose pliers (I’ve been missing the ones I left in the shop I sold). Two ratcheting double ended box wrenches, a pair of cable cutters that might be better than my old Var ones, and two oddities: a dental mirror cleverly attached to an antenna, and a tripod gizmo, made to hold something about 1” x 2” x cracker thickness. None of them has a price. I spread them out on the counter. Behind the counter, one new person is training the other new person. The trainee holds up an item, looking at the trainer and says, ‘So, like, one dollar?’ Trainer says, ‘yes.’ Trainee says, ‘So like, a dollar for each of them?’ Trainer says, ‘Yes.’ I say, ‘Yes.’ And manage to otherwise keep my mouth shut until I was out the door, and said, ‘I made out like a bandit.’

The mirror/antenna thing has already been fitted to a ball cap as a rearview. I’ve been wanting one since I started using a helmet mirror 35 years ago.

It’s a good thing I passed on the $5 pliers. It might have made everything $5 each. Which I still would have paid.