4 - Wednesday, August 7, 1985 - North Store News

Small not always beautiful

IT IS AN article of faith shared by the Tories,
Liberals and NDP alike. Maybe it is the last
vestige of our 19th Century laissez-faire capitalist
roots. I refer to small business.

Politicians from Dave
Barrett to W.A.C. Bennett
have always treated small
business as a kind of
especially-sacred thing.
Michael Wilson has in fact
based his budget on the
religious belief that small
business, less fettered, will
provide the energy to re-
juvenate the economy,
smoothly shouldering the
task the Tories had promised
to undertake themselves.

Small business is a_ big
deal. Not only does it fit in
with the small-is-beautiful
thesis, it also poses an alter-
native to government
monopoly. Small business
people are free enterprisers,
even if moderate socialists
do love them.

Hey, [| have a= small
business of my own! I'm a
believer.

Bui, you know, there are
times ... .

The Weedeater broke
down on a Monday evening,
with only half of the swamp
grass destroyed. The plastic
part down at the end where
the wire whirls like a pro-
peor had finally worn
through.

Fairly calmly, despite the
heat, | headed off the next
day to a Canadian Tire
outlet to pick up a new part.
Nope, they didn’t stock that
brand. Sorry.

There you got a classic
example of a big, indifferent
chain not serving you very

well.

So I headed off to a litle
lawnmower repair shop fur-
ther away. I'd been wary
about going there ever since

strictly
personal

by
Bob Hunter
Pe]

they fixed my lawnmower,
charging me nearly $40, yet
when the cord tore off in the
hands of a 10-year-old kid
hired to cut the grass the
next day, they charged
another $20, saying it wasn’!
their fault it had broken
again.

Okay, this time I would
deal very carefully with
them.

The guy at the counter
moved at a pace somewhat
less frenetic than my own.
There was a part on the shelf
that, indeed, looked like it
would fit my machine, but,
according to the catalogue, it
wasn’t the right thing. Might
as well do it sight, right?
Right.

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| explained, with due

solemnity, that } was having

family picnic on the
weekend and | wanted the
place to Jook nice. Could he
guarantee [’d get the part in
time?

Under my baleful eye, the
repairman called the parts
supply house and found out,
yes, they did have the correct
part. Yes, it could be picked
up any time. Putting down
the phone, the fellow ex-
plained, slowly, that for an
extra $5, we could get it
picked up by courier, and
have it here by tomorrow,
Otherwise, ‘‘You know how
the mails are."’

Agreed. 1 leave,
reasonably satisfied. He has
promised to call me the
moment the part arrives.

Wednesday comes and
goes. I gei nervous. I call a
couple of times. The line is
busy. I’m busy too. So it
isn’t until Thursday that I
drive over to the repair shep,
thinking, hell, they’ve had
two days. It must have ar-
rived. Maybe my answering
machine is screwing up
again.

Oops. There’s a different
guy at the counter. The
other guy? Oh, he’s off to-
day. Replacement part for a
Weedeater? Blank look. No.
Looks through the invoices.
Nothing here.

Painfully, I review the
events of two days ago. The
new guy makes a few calls.
It turns out the other guy
forgot to call the courier.
Sorry about that. Okay,
you’ll take care of it? Yeh,

sure, no problem. {t'li be
here by tomorrow for sure,

On the way home in the
heat, my Renault develops
vapor lock and stalls. It
takes three hours to get fix-
ed. | lose half a day’s work.

Friday comes. No phone
call from the repair shop.
Line still busy when | call.
Knowing there's a risk of the
car breaking down again, |
nevertheless decide to take a
chance, since there’s mail to
be dropped off, etc.

¥ get to the repair shop.
Ah, the first guy is back.
The other is gone. Vaguely,
the first guy remembers me,
l ask him about the part. He
stares al me, open-mouthed.
Well, doesn't that beat
everything? The other guy
must have forgotten to call
the courier, too. Kind of late
now to gel it before the
weekend,

It only took about half a
dozen deep Yoga breaths be-
fore | composed myself
enough to ask if we might
try that part I had spotted
on the shelf in the first
place, the one the catalogue
said wasn’t the perfect thing.

Naturally, it fitted.

On the way home, the car
gasped to a halt again. The
BCAA tow truck took nearly
two hours getting to me. Sit-
ting on the pavement in the
baking sun, I thought a fot
about karma.

And I thought a lot about
the halo around smail
businesses. Gawd, for a se-
cond there even government
monopoly looked good. It
must nave been the heat.

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Metcalfe’s

North Shore People

The elderly lady visitor was shocked. She and her 80-year-
old husband had checked into one of our major hotels a
day in advance of their boarding one of the Alaska cruise
ships. It was to be the trip of a lifetime and they had saved
for it for several years. They'd arrived from their home in
the deep south a day early in order to visit points of in-
terest in Vancouver and the North Shore, areas considered
by many to be two of the most beautiful In the world. But, f
as she and her husband discovered, in a late-evening stroll §
around the block, there are still many unfortunates who, §
jobless and homeless, barely survive within our affluent §
community.
A thin, poorly-clad young man, sitting near a pile of §
newspapers under thick, decorative bushes, asked polite-
ly if they had any spare change. After handing over a dollar, |
the lady inquired how he managed to live. He explained #
that he lived in the bushes and scrounged food from the 4
hotel's garbage. Horrified, the kind-hearted pair invited him

to breakfast with them the following morning and, when [f&

he refused because of his appearance, the lady promised fe
to deliver breakfast to him. Very early the next day, the
good Samaritan ordered from room service a giant repast
of sausages, bacon, ham, eggs, hashbrowns, toast and fresh jf
fruit, packed the laden tray out of the hotel and up the street Jf
to the young man's ‘home’. The fellow, truly amazed and |
very grateful, finished every crumb. Satisfied, the generous fF
soul promised on her return from her sea voyage to repeat By
the gesture. As she walked back to the hotel, lost in thought
on the sad state of life for some people, her toe sudenly
stubbed the curb and she fell heavily. Hotel staff rushed &
to her aid and a doctor was surnmoned. His diagnosis — [x
a badly broken hip. She spent a few days in St. Paul's &
then she and her husband, who'd almost collapsed with J
worry, were airlifted home, their lifelong cruise dream shat: @
tered. But as she was lifted into the ambulance, despite
her pain and disappointment, she whispered to the hotel
doorman, “If you see that young man, tell him [ll be &
back!”...... kak : 7
Big scoop for Deep Cove's fashin guru, Roberta Kelly, [
as she presented at the annual PNE luncheon the debut q
of the hot-off-the-press high fashion video from leading f
designer, Simon Chang, and the first glimpse of his
fabulous fall collection along with the styles of rising West Jf
Van star, Ruark Rosell Smith, sexy swimwar by §

Parah of Italy, fall exercise attire by Lynn Valley's Ines  @

Zagoudakis's Shape line and Lisa Clark's dazzl- ¥
ing evening wear, all modelled by former and current BC
Lions Cheerleaders.... My spies report that wellknown &
West Van financial advisor, Taylor Stoess and his wife,
Gwen, celebrated daughter Nancy’s wedding in Toron- #
to to broker Richard Self with a gala reception for fami
ly and friends at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
last Saturday... Same day, Spuraway’s Phil Smith, ff
Marathon’'s leasing manager, walked down the aisle with B
daughter Sharlein, as she wed fellow law student, §
Joseph Barnardo. The reception was held in Trader &
Vic's Trafalgar Room with Victoria pianist, George
Malysheff, entertaining. After a honeymoon in Dad's &
Whistler condo, the pair will head east to continue their J
law studies at the University of Toronto.... On hand §
for the wedding was former North Van resident Maurice @
Foisy, husband of the bride’s mother, Sharel, and Vice
Presient of CHQM, who is recovering well from a rup-
tured aneurism in the brain suffered a few months ago. He's §
being treated at the G.F. Strong Rehab Centre and |
hopes to be back on air fater this year.... Yes, that was f
veteran Hollywood actor, Darren McGavin, shopping &
in Park Royal Saturday. He's here to sta: with Margo &
Kidder in the opening segment of the H.B.O. series The
Hitchhiker being shot at Panorama Studios.... Win- §
ner of Raymond Salon’s Salute to Expo °86 Hair
Design and Total Look competition on board The
Constitution paddlewheeler last Monday was Lisa §
Hale of Salon One at 12th and Granville followed by §
Shawn Mitha of Park Royal South and Barb Paige
of Park Royal's Hair Today.... North Van author,
Norman Adams, has just released his latest book, Van- &
couver’s Top Ten, a unique guide to the best in the city

8 and includes such North Shore luminaries as North Van j

District Mayor Marilyn Baker, choreographer An-

na Wyman, the late Blanche Macdonald and the best

investigative reporters of his time, crusty old Jack §
I Webster.... And finally, spotted a sign in the window of

a drive-in laundry reading: “Ladies who care to drive by and J

drop their clothes will receive prompt and courteous atten:

tion!”.... Cheersl......

Need the latest on the
North Shore Real Estate
Market?

Call your Community
Specialists... Sussex
Realty
984-9711

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