Hick started out telling me how good his business was at the Storage Unit Store on Saturday. Then, almost as an afterthought, related the following story.
"I was standing outside talking to prospective customers when I heard a POP! Like a gun! I went inside, and some guy was telling this other guy, 'You know, bud, you just wasted a $50 cartridge!' Come to find out, this guy, probably in his early twenties, had been looking at the taser I got from backcreek neighbor Bev. HE SHOT IT!
He was lucky. The thing went right past the leg of his wife, and almost hit the other guy standing there. The wife started getting on him. Not exactly telling him he was stupid, but she might as well have. You could tell that she was not happy with him. He said, 'You stay here! I'll go down to the ATM and get some money.' So he was trying to do the right thing. I don't know what he was thinking when he shot that off!
Anyway, Shooter came back with $80. He tried to hand it to me. He said, 'Sorry. Here's for your trouble.' I didn't take the $80. But that taser is no good without a cartridge. I'll have to replace it to sell the taser. I'm asking $250 for it. They're $750 new. I could have just taken the $80 and give him the gun, but I'd be losing money. I took $60. The cartridge will cost me $55. I can't believe people! He's lucky he didn't hit his wife or that guy. Then they REALLY wouldn't have been happy!
I don't have nothin' in that gun. Bev gave it to me. But still, it's mine to sell."
"Well, now you can tell people, 'I know it works. Some idiot SHOT IT while looking at it."
"I knew it worked. Bev used it. Well, her husband used it. ON HER! She wanted him to, so she could see how it felt."
"Wow! Did it make her go limp and fall down? Did she start shaking?"
"I don't know, but she didn't fall down, because she was sitting in a chair. She said she couldn't move, though."
"They shot it IN THE HOUSE?"
"Yeah. I don't know why they do things like that."
I think Hick might need to put that taser up, to protect himself and others from stupidity. Put it in a case or something. So they have to ask to look at it. I wonder if somebody could sue him for having it where people can grab it. I'm pretty sure I know Hick's answer: "All our stuff is in a trust. You can't sue a trust."
My answer is, "Better safe than sorry." Even if Hick isn't really sorry.
Some people, you just never know what you will encounter.
ReplyDeleteI guess every bunch has its bad (even if unintentional) apple!
DeleteAlways wondered what it would feel like to get hit with a taser, also getting punched in the face by Mike Tyson...wondered, not going to find out. Pretty sure you can always find someone to sue, even the government has liability, put the taser under key, or have an intelligence test before anyone is allowed to shop.
ReplyDeleteI have never wondered about either situation. To save himself from making a test, Hick might find a bunch of handcuffs at the auction, and restrain people as they enter his shop!
DeleteI don't know much about tasers, does shooting it use up the cartridge so you have to replace it at a high cost each time? Or did that man somehow shoot the cartridge with another gun? I'm confused. I do think it should be locked away unless someone asks to see it, then Hick should stay right there to be sure no one gets tasered.
ReplyDeleteYes, the cartridge gives it the power to shoot the wires thingies of the taser. It has to be replaced each time. It's not like you go out shooting a taser for target practice! Although I guess backcreek neighbor Bev kinda did... For something that he's charging so much, I'm surprised he leaves it out. Shoplifters go to Storage Unit Stores, too.
Delete