X Marks the Spot(light)

Hick is like a wandering hobo, asking for odd jobs to earn a meal or a bed for the night. He doesn't need the meal or the bed, but he CAN use a discount on his storage unit rent. Last week he made a deal with the owner to change the burned-out light bulbs that are located on the front of the storage units.

Hick spent one evening noting which bulbs were dead, and marking them with an X. The next day he went around changing the marked bulbs. He came home that evening fuming.

"I don't know what's going on with the guy up by my storage units. I know his light was out. I know I put an X on it last night. But today when I went to change it out, there was no X. That darn guy must have washed off the X! Oh, well. He didn't get a new bulb. His unit will be in the dark."

"Maybe it's a different bulb. Maybe he changed it himself."

"That guy ain't changin' nothin'. It's the same bulb. Without the X."

"Maybe he thought some thief marked his unit, to come back later and break into it. So he washed off the X so the thief couldn't tell which unit he'd marked. Did you tell everybody you were marking bulbs?"

 

"No. Why should I do that? I had permission from the OWNER to mark and change the bulbs."

 

"He might have thought it was a prank. That somebody was singling him out."

"No. There were Xs all over the place."

Later in the evening, Hick checked his voice mail. There was a message from that guy.

"Hey, bud. I DID wash off the X on my light bulb. Nobody told anything about it. So I saw it and washed it off."

Hick did not have much of a reaction. I'm pretty sure he's not going to change that guy's bulb. Which seems kind of a petty way to punish a guy who's not a mind-reader or psychic.