I got a call from a lady asking for service this morning. I have Caller ID and didn’t recognize the area prefix as I asked where she was calling from.
“Chicago”, she explained that I’d made a key to her Jeep about a year ago when she was here in Houston. “You must remember me, I was the one who lost the key to a Jeep and you came out right away, I was in the taxi waiting…” Oh, yea, like I’d remember.
She went on and on about how the Jeep dealership in Chicago was unable to make a key, something about the VIN having been changed or not being in the computer; she wasn’t quite sure what all that meant. “Can’t you just send me a key in the mail?”
I recommended that she call one of Chicago’s many fine locksmiths, much as she had done here in Houston. “This way you’ll get to meet somebody new”, I chided her into admitting that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have to meet a different locksmith.
She knew that I kept a record of various key information by VIN as she read off the last eight of her vehicle. It wasn’t in my database; not that I’d have given that information to a stranger over the telephone, that’s something reserved for a face to face meeting where I can verify ownership. She called back once more thinking I was a different Jeep dealership and I again advised her to find a local locksmith; my service call to Chicago would be a little steep. I don’t think they’d let me take my tools on the plane anyway.
Several years ago one of my neighbors, a good friend from church, was in El Salvador visiting with his wife’s parents. While down there he lost the only set of keys to their car, a set of keys I’d made for him. He called and gave me the address in El Salvador and asked if I could send him a replacement set. I looked it up on the computer, clipped a new set and sent the keys off to him registered mail; the difference being that I knew my friend well enough to recognize his voice and trusted him whereas I had no such relationship with the lady from Chicago.
I got a call one afternoon from a “ship to shore” operator requesting my services once. I was laughing too hard to remember much about the call. I live in Houston; at least 50 miles from the Gulf, much less the fact that I had no intention of getting on a boat or a helicopter that would take me to a potential customer at sea.
The longest distance for a call for service I ever received was from Afghanistan. The call came in on a Houston area code so I thought it was a joke at first. The customer still had her Houston issued cell phone and was a member of the armed forces serving in the Army; they must have a special deal on “roaming charges”. I’d made keys for her once before and she had my business card in her wallet. She asked would I make keys for her truck and give them to her brother at the storage lot where she had it stored while serving in the military. His truck had broken down and this would let him have transportation while his was in the shop for repairs. Her brother had all the necessary identification and was listed on the storage lot lease so I felt comfortable doing business with them. How far is it to Afghanistan anyway?
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