Both great grandfathers would be proud…
Miles bought a bike Thursday. He saw a bike listed on KSL for $75. New the bike costs $120.
When we went to see it, it had a flat tire. I sincerely counseled Miles not to buy a bike he could not test ride and suggested we return with a bike pump. The owner, who had an appointment to do his taxes and so was eager to get us (and the bike) off his property, immediately dropped the price to $50 if we would take it as it was, then and there..
After turning the bike upside down and running it through the gears and after checking the brakes---everything worked--Miles offered the guy $40. My jaw dropped. The man had already knocked $25 off the price. Where did Miles get the cajones to ask him to further reduce the price? The man countered with an offer to charge $45. Miles paused as if to think about it…..[Wait for it. Wait for it….] ….. While he was pausing the man (and he was a man….probably in his 30’s) said, “Okay. You can have it for $40.”
As Miles loaded his $120/$40 bike into the back of the truck I all but felt his great-grandfather’s smiles. Wright Hambleton Noel and Curtis Taylor Hislop knew how to “jew”* too.
*Both Lance and I’s grandfathers used the word “jew” as a verb that meant “to reduce the asking price by bargaining astutely”. Lance was in his 30’s before he learned the word had racial associations. To our grandfathers being able to jew someone down was a admirable skill and attributing that skill to someone was a huge compliment.
Miles bought a bike Thursday. He saw a bike listed on KSL for $75. New the bike costs $120.
When we went to see it, it had a flat tire. I sincerely counseled Miles not to buy a bike he could not test ride and suggested we return with a bike pump. The owner, who had an appointment to do his taxes and so was eager to get us (and the bike) off his property, immediately dropped the price to $50 if we would take it as it was, then and there..
After turning the bike upside down and running it through the gears and after checking the brakes---everything worked--Miles offered the guy $40. My jaw dropped. The man had already knocked $25 off the price. Where did Miles get the cajones to ask him to further reduce the price? The man countered with an offer to charge $45. Miles paused as if to think about it…..[Wait for it. Wait for it….] ….. While he was pausing the man (and he was a man….probably in his 30’s) said, “Okay. You can have it for $40.”
As Miles loaded his $120/$40 bike into the back of the truck I all but felt his great-grandfather’s smiles. Wright Hambleton Noel and Curtis Taylor Hislop knew how to “jew”* too.
*Both Lance and I’s grandfathers used the word “jew” as a verb that meant “to reduce the asking price by bargaining astutely”. Lance was in his 30’s before he learned the word had racial associations. To our grandfathers being able to jew someone down was a admirable skill and attributing that skill to someone was a huge compliment.
 Curtis Taylor Hislop |  Wright Hambleton and Marjorie Dionne Noel |
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