Hunts and Fails S03 E01

By James Mulvey; posted January 8, 2018

View Original (997 x 1082) 199KB

 


This could only happen to me. A chain of simple events that had to occur in proper sequence with perfect timing for this Fail to happen, that it still amazes me. Don't forget to laugh. Laugh with me or at me, doesn't matter. More important people than many of you have been laughing at me for years. As long as it makes you happy.

We've all gone to antique malls and junk stores looking, hoping to find something that the 278 collectors ahead of us have missed. I am no different and have been doing this for longer than I care or can remember. On this occasion, we were at an antique store some 200 miles from home. It is a nice little shop that we visit every couple years. My sweetie had found an old Irish dish she liked and as is the norm, I had come up empty handed. While waiting at the cash for the clerk to ring it in, I noticed a pair of small Brookfield's, $2 each, on the counter beside the till. Out of habit I picked one up, nothing special, plain old aqua in good condition; then I picked up the second one. It had a noticeable chip out of the rear LWG, but was 1/3 amber. OK deal for $2. Told the clerk I'd take it and set it beside the dish. At that moment my sweetie asks me to come look at another pretty she had spotted. In a couple minutes we were back at the counter where the two items were now wrapped and bagged. We paid, then headed home.

The next day I unwrapped the insulator only to find the clerk had switched them.

While this loss is insignificant, a story hardly worth telling, it is a perfect example of how I seem to be a magnet for disappointment. I did hunt for it, found it, and then failed in my pursuit because of a perfectly timed innocuous momentary distraction. This is an exceptionally rare occasion when I am willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. I believe the clerk thought she was doing me a favour by replacing the chipped insulator with, in her opinion, the better one. Can't be mad at the girl even if I wanted to, but I still shake my head every time I recall the event.

The story would be different it the clerk had not been a perky sweet young thing, but was instead a smelly old geezer chewing on a soggy stogie stub stuck in the centre of a face that badly needed a shave. In my normal everyday disillusioned state, the ending to that version would be that I might question whether he had a box of aqua's under the counter and worked a bait and switch scheme to unload a bunch of no value commons.

Perception is Everything: truth, honesty and facts are not even in the top five, no, make that the top 10 of everyday life.

Hunts n Fails 101, rule #2. Never take your hand off a potential purchase until it is in your pocket. This is especially true at shows - a fact just about every collector can attest to ! [id=525678525;next episode]

519979677