When I got the Stihl out of the garage a few weeks ago, I gave a few pulls on the cord, and without so much as a burp or a hiccup coming back, I recklessly decided that I needed to take her in for a spring tune-up at Billy-Bob's Chainsaw Repair
Billy-Bob (not his real name) used to work at a place downtown that sold and serviced chainsaws. They didn't sell the Stihl brand, but they serviced them. When the business went tits-up, BB set up a wee home business in the garage behind his house.
That's the kind of entrepreneurialism I'd want to support - the local guy setting out on his own.
My first foray into BB's business was when I bought a couple of saw chains there. They were so fucking useless that I switched back to the old one after cutting down one tree.
In fairness to BB, that particular tree was an Ironwood. They call them that for a reason. Take down an Ironwood in the dark and you'll see sparks coming off your saw.
Still, you want a new saw chain to last more than one tree.
So I gave BB the benefit of the doubt and delivered the Stihl for her spring tune-up.
That in itself was quite an ordeal. BB is not quite an "essential service" but not quite out of business either.
He has to holler at me from twenty feet away, "Sorry I gotta ask you, but have you been out of the country in the last two weeks?"
Oh fuck off!
Anyway, BB gave my Stihl the spring tune-up.
My wallet's been lightened to the tune of a hundred and fifty bucks. I take my beloved Stihl home.
I've got work to do. I pull on that cord.
Nothing.
I pull it again...
And again and again and again, without so much as a hiccup or a burp.
After about two dozen pulls over the course of the afternoon, I finally get a hiccup.
Then a cough...
On the next pull, my beautiful Stihl roars to life!
What bothers me is that if I'd had that much perseverance on the first go-round, I could have saved myself a hundred and fifty bucks.
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