From the Annals of Hickstory

Heh, heh! I said "annals!"

Here's another Hick story I've been keeping from you. Only because I forgot. Not that it's particularly interesting or cringeworthy or heartwarming.

Last weekend Hick sold a guy a gun. He does that numerous times every weekend. He always gets their driver's license info, and keeps a record of the numbers off the gun. Hick deals in cash. No checks, no plastic, no bitcoin, no wooden nickels. His standard guarantee is: 

 

"I shot it myself, and I know it works. But if something's wrong with it, bring it back, and I'll give you a refund, or trade you another one." 

 

That's on any firearm that is not new in the box. Hick DOES bring all his purchases home to try them out. He loves guns like I love scratchers!

This specific guy called Hick, and said his gun wouldn't shoot. Hick set a time to meet him during the week, up at the storage lockers, which is in town, public, with surveillance cameras. 

Hick asked the guy a few questions about HOW the gun didn't work. Gunner said that it worked at first. He shot it. And then it wouldn't. Hick asked a few more specific questions, trying to figure out what was wrong. He had every intention of giving the money back, but he wanted to know as much as possible, so he could fix it and sell it again.

Gunner must have felt guilty. All at once he held out his hand for the gun, and pointed. "I shot it, and when it wouldn't shoot again, I took it apart, and I guess THIS PART fell off in the grass, and I couldn't find it."

"Huh. Well. It's only good to me for parts, now. It's an older model, and hard to get replacement parts for. I don't see many of these. But I can give you $ [3/4 of the price that Gunner paid him] back. Or you can pick another gun worth that much."

Gunner was relieved to recoup some of his money. He took it, and then bought another gun from Hick, paying the difference.

 

"I didn't have to give him NOTHIN'! He's the one who took the gun apart and lost a piece. If he'd just brought it to me, I could probably have figured out what was wrong, fixed it, and sold it again. But not without a that part."

Hick is a shrewd businessman. He knows he has a repeat customer, who most likely knows other gun aficionados. Hick knew what he'd paid for that gun, and didn't take a loss. Plus he made his profit on the second sale.

All's well that ends well in the annals of Hickstory.