Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Kindness of Others...

My new classroom has tile. This is the first time that I will not have carpet, so off I went to find a large enough area rug/carpet for my meeting area.  I went to six different stores to find one that was cheap enough, as I know you can pay an arm and a leg for an area rug.  Walmart, 3 different home improvement stores, Costco, and another home store had the pleasure of seeing me.  I priced everything out and found one at the home improvement store, the kind on the roll, that they cut to size for you, but didn't get it just yet.  On the way home, while thinking about which is the best option, I decide to stop at a local, small business carpet store.
I walk into the store to be quickly greeted, by probably the owner.  I explained to him that I needed a remnant, no bigger than like 10 by 8, for my classroom.

"What?!? You have to buy that yourself?"

"Ummm, yes I do."

He leads me to the remnant area and the first one he shows me, I know that it is the perfect one, a plush grey and it is 10 x 8!

"How much is that one?"

He kind of has that pained look in his eye.  Now I know how much that one would run at all the other stores, so I was expecting something around $70-$80.

"Well it costs $60."

Then he pauses.  More pained looks.

"Ok, if you can pay cash I will give it to you for $40."

What?  That big rug for only $40!  The small little one I got at Walmart was $15 and an 1/8th of that size!

"Sold!"

Then he fills out the receipt for me and decides that he isn't going to charge me tax! 

He stated a couple times how crazy it is we have to buy all these things with our own money. HA, I think I am use to it by now.

For me $40 was a bargain for a big carpet piece.  I posted my story on PT and now other teachers are checking out there local carpet stores.  One even got hers for free (I am not jealous, still way happy with my carpet).  It just goes to show the kindness of others.

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