Before I get to the lamp story, I want to post a photo of my new dog Panda. My miniature Schnauzer, Katie, passed away in November 2010. On December 7, 2010 I got Panda, an eight week old Maltechon. Her father was a Maltese and her mother was a Bichon. She is one of the "designer dogs" that have become popular in recent years. The idea is to mix two pure bred dogs to create a dog that carries the best traits of each parent. It seems to work well. At this writing Panda is three months old and a real joy to own. She is a bit over seven pounds and will be no more than eleven pounds fully grown.
Now for the lamp: I was working on a customers piano when I accidentally knocked a large lamp off of a nearby table. I remembered noticing the lamp when I came into the room and thinking to myself that it had to be as ugly a lamp as I had ever seen. It looked like a first timers ceramics project gone bad! When it hit the tile floor it broke into many pieces and was beyond repair. Now I would not have paid three bucks for this lamp at a yard sale so I was surprised, when I offered to pay for the lamp, that my customer claimed she had paid $300.00 for it. Since she was a first time customer I had no real reason to trust her and suspected she was trying to make a fast buck at my expense. I explained that since the lamp was that expensive, I would file a claim with my insurance carrier. I took the manufacturer's name and model number off the base of the lamp and promised to get back to her in a few days. I tracked down the manufacturer and placed a call to their sales representative. I explained the situation and asked if my customer could have paid $300.00 for the lamp. The sales representative was bewildered. "I don't see how she could have paid that," he stated. I said to myself, I knew that woman was a chiseler! "Perhaps," the sales guy ventured," if she purchased it second hand, or, at a going out of business sale. List price on that lamp is $750.00." My next phone call was to tell my customer that I was putting a $300.00 check in the mail immediately. I guess the lesson here lies somewhere between the fact that there is no accounting for taste and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
