There were actually two of them in a box of stuff, on a dealer's table that looked like someone emptied out a house with a shovel and a few boxes. These were the only two pencils in all those boxes (and I looked). One example had a barrel that was a little worse for wear, and the other had a nice barrel but was missing the top. Each had an $8 sticker on it, which I thought was a little steep, but since there's a neat story behind it, I switched the cap over to the one with the nicer barrel and took both up to the owner of the booth to chat.
"I took the cap off of the beat up one and put it on this one instead. Is that OK?" I asked.
He glared at me. "Well then, you aren't getting any discount," he snapped.
OK buddy, I'm thinking to myself. Most guys wouldn't even have told you what they were doing what I just did. I'm trying to be nice and honest here and there's no reason to bite my head off. Besides, with all this crap on your table, I'm surprised you even knew that you HAD these, let alone whether it was the good one or the bad oen that had the cap. And another thing, you . . . you . . .
Fortunately, all that came out of my mouth was "thank you," so I walked away with the pencil. . . .
NOTE: This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.
To order, here's the link: Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company
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