May 28, 2008
Sticking It
I work next to a slightly shady operation named Al’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning. I call it shady because a few co-workers have had less than perfect experiences with Al’s. This morning, our faith in Al’s fell even further when we saw a small picket line protesting Al’s brazen ways.
That’s right. Al’s Plumbing ripped off his mother. The one standing next to him.
Apparently, Al’s sent out an A/C repairman that quoted her repairs at $1,500, which she went ahead and wrote a check for. Another repairman came out later to actually fulfill said quote, and after rummaging around a bit, told her that it would actually cost an additional $7,000 dollars to fix it. She (wisely) canceled the whole thing and found somebody else that did it for $600. But stingy ole Al won’t give back her initial $1,500.
These two were there most of the morning, but shortly before lunch, a police officer stopped by and talked to them for a little while and they left a few minutes after he did.
Sooooo?! Did the woman get her $1,500 back? Did Al finally see the folly of his crooked dealings? What is Al short for anyways? Alfred? Albert? Maybe Allison? Does Al even exist? Or is he just a figurehead or mascot created by some Franks or Rogers to make their business more personable? Maybe Al’s just a representation of “the man” for the purposes of this story to further illustrate the suppression of the common man by big business?
There goes my sleep for the rest of the week.