Ahhooooooooum.

Thank goodness for a weekend away.

November typically features a dipping down of the energy from September until the resurgence that comes before Xmas. The parents with lists haven't started in earnest, so the offbeat interactions are limited to arbitrarily strange:

The woman looking for any scratched 7"s we'd like to give her... but passing on the 99 cent ones... free only, please.

The man who wants buttons for his daughter... but not music buttons, because his daughter isn't into music buttons... which leads one to wonder, ah, what time of buttons might a music store carry?

And my favourite:

Quick background note: At times folks bring in boxes of records that are less than absolutely necessary for our collection... when we make noises like we're going to pass on them they usually go from bartering for a small amount for each or a small amount for the lot or, ultimately, offering them for free to do whatever we'd like.

So, in this case... it's August, guy brings a box of records. The guy has other business in town and says he'll drop by later after I've had a chance to look them over. The records are mostly crap, damaged no-gos or more of the same titles we have 3-6 copies of already. However, as is usually the case, there are a handful that we can actually, probably, sell. Day ends. Guy doesn't come back in.

Two days later guy calls and asks about the records. I tell him I can offer $20 for the few we can use and he can have the rest back. He says he doesn't want the rest back, but will stop in on Saturday for the cash and to see which ones we took.

Saturday comes along. Guy doesn't.

Week goes by. And half of another... and finally I figure the statute of limitations have gone by. I've not put anything out yet because it isn't totally out of the question for dudes to change their mind after, say, talking to an idiot buddy who says something like, "Shit man, I would've given you $10 bucks for that Best of Steve Miller Band!" Then when dude comes back to find out I've sold it for 25 cents, he gets a little huffy. But. Two weeks after they've dropped them off and still no contact... shit is mine.

Late November comes along. Dude wanders in and says, "Hi, my name is ***** and I dropped off a box of records in August. You said I could have $20 for the ones you could use."

I have to point out here that this is not a bottle picking, King's place hanging out kinda guy. This is a wife and kids and weekends at the cottage kinda guy.

I say, "well, all my paperwork from FOUR MONTHS AGO is packed and sent down to Saint John, but if you have your copy of the receipt for the cash...."

Dude says, "I didn't get a receipt."

I say, "How's that?"

Dude says, "I didn't come back in for one."

I say, "Ah."

So. Beyond everything else, the question I'd like to ask is: Why today? Why after four months would it suddenly occur to him that he's owed $20? He was always cheerful and never demanding, even when he came back in... but that makes it even more puzzling. In the usual case, after four months and no contact, one would expect just a nice clean write off.

I wonder if anyone out there owes me $20. Maybe I'll start a store to store inquiry.