Wednesday, September 27, 2017

THE ROCKSTAR AND FOUR BOTTLES OF MOBIL 1

I was at Pep Boys yesterday morning, under somewhat embarrassing circumstances. They had gone out of their way to procure me 4 bottles of motorcycle oil on the day I needed it, getting someone to drive it over from the Queens location. After a couple of my friendly mechanic friends fell through, it was clear that I would need to go to a storefront mechanic, and they would have no interest in helping out a customer who "cheaped out" by bringing their own fluids and filter. So I now had a total of 5 containers, way too much to hold on to, so I headed in to Pep Boys and the guy that had gone above and beyond was at the register. "Domingo" had a broad smile on his face and a warm welcome. I plopped all the containers down and said, "you're gonna kill me" - plus, I could only find the receipt for two of the four bottles as I had purchased them at different times during that day. He said, "no problem, let me see what we can do." And as my mother used to say - we got to talking. He asked me about my ride and told me his dream was to one day own a Harley Fat Boy with saddlebags. He had such a nice way about him, and I told him so - he said he had just requested a raise from the 13 dollars he was making - to 20 dollars, which he was told was manager's pay, but they would see what they could do. I mean, this guy was a rockstar- before and after my sale. I said something like, "good for you, I appreciate people who know their worth." He told me he always worked hard, working as a dishwasher at Peter Luger, and a lot of the restaurants on Court Street. This was his first job with some growth potential, and he was doing everything in his power to be at his best. He went on, "you know, I was homeless." I was stunned, it was like one of those stop-you-in-your-tracks moments you see on Undercover Boss. He told me he had gotten a divorce, lost his job, his home, and before he knew it he was on the streets, going from restaurant to restaurant looking to wash dishes, never asking for a cent from passerby's. He finally earned enough to get himself an apartment, and one day, he told me, he was coming off the subway and recognized a homeless man who was asking for help. It was a friend of his from high school who had fallen into crack addiction. What did Domingo do? He said, "come live with me". He took his drugs and paraphernalia, brought him home. and back into the world. Domingo showed me his pictures on Instagram - the once homeless friend now living in Florida, with a wife and two kids, his drug addiction, history. I was blown away and told him so, "What a complete privilege to meet you, I heart you, Domingo!, you're an amazing man" He had managed to refund all of my money, and told me to come by anytime, he was there most days. I said, jokingly, "I'll prolly be back tomorrow to re-buy all this oil, ha!," which is exactly what happened. See, the biker who had offered to help me texted me this morning saying, "I just woke up and realized I left you hanging! When do you want to do this?" I didn't want to admit that I had lost faith in him and had returned the oil to Pep Boys. It would be my secret, so I headed back to the auto supply store to re-purchase the 4 bottles of Mobil 1, counting all my blessings along the way.