As Floyd pulled into the parking lot he asked, “You ever been in here?”

“Nah,” Russ said, “I’ve been meaning to stop in but I figured I could get free coffee and a doughnut at your house, why waste my money?”

Floyd rolled his eyes and knew that Russ was being honest anyway. They went in, found a small table in the near empty shop, looked around and saw the sign that said “Rest Rooms” and knew they had chosen the right table. The only employee visible came over and asked, ”Well, well, well, what’s it gonna be, Old Timers?”

With that both Floyd and Russ became alert and slightly annoyed at the smart alecky tone of voice and looked at the young man. “Oh, it’s only Gus,” Floyd said, surprised. “I didn’t know you worked here, Gus, how long have you been here, pissing off people?”

With that, they all laughed, Gus gave Floyd and Russ each a menu. “When you’re ready to order, let me know,” Gus said and walked away.

As they read down the menu Russ looked around and said quietly, “Man, they’ve got some serious prices here, I’m not going to be coming here too often.”

Floyd told him, “You’ve got to get out more often, prices are up everywhere, it’s called inflation and not going to get any better.”

They finally settled on a roll and the cheapest coffee and called Gus over and gave him their order. Gus came back quickly with their order and Floyd said, “Hey, Gus, you didn’t answer my question. When did you start working here and why?”

Gus: “Well, I graduated last spring, with a BA in History, minor in Ed, sent out a few resumes and found that history teachers are not in short supply, didn’t get a single response. My mom has been helping me a little and she isn’t going to run for mayor again, she wants to move on with her life. Besides, it’s time for me to start paying off the loans that I stupidly used to get a degree that really isn’t very useful. I needed a job and when this place opened I was hired. I’m Assistant Manager but then that’s the title of all the employees. If anyone wants to complain and talk to someone in Management we just go get the person in the back. Solves a lot of problems.”

Both Floyd and Russ nodded, they’d heard the same story over and over on Fox News and from friends whose kids had been convinced by the school counselors that all kids should go to college.

Gus asked Floyd about the property he’d won, saying he’d heard about the many problems involved. He told Floyd he sure was glad that Floyd had bought his ticket and saved him a bunch of headaches.

After they finished the free refill Russ picked up the bill, went to the register and gave Gus a twenty for the 16 dollar tab and told him that included his tip. Gus told him to come back anytime, he was always happy to see familiar faces.

As they drove away, both sort of agreed that Gus was OK, trying to solve a problem that he himself had created. Floyd dropped Russ off and drove on home.

 

A few weeks later…

Coming home from shopping Floyd noticed a car in front of his house but didn’t pay too much attention. As he was opening the door to the house he heard a voice behind him, “Floyd, can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

Floyd turned and saw that it was Tony. “Sure, Tony, come on in, I’ll make coffee, that usually brings Russ, damn guy is like a bear, can smell the doughnuts from blocks away. What’s up, Tony?”

Tony began to explain, “You know I had to get the property surveyed to work with the pond by the back lot. Then I had to go to the Zoning Board and ask for a zoning change. Well, I did all that, not cheap but at least it’s done and over. The city stole two of my back lots for a park by the pond or else they wouldn’t change the zoning.

Here’s where I am at. I decided to build a strip center across the front. I’ve got a couple spaces pre-leased and the corner across the pawn shop I want to use for a gun store. See, here’s the deal, I take in a lot of guns, pawned or bought, I use a lot of space for inventory and I need extra security, always need someone that understands the law when I sell a gun, just plain an extra workload.”

”Yeah, I know,” Floyd said, “I’ve bought a couple guns and it’s a real pain in the butt. So, what’s that got to do with me?”

Tony: “Well, I need someone to manage the gun store for me. The store will be an annex from the pawn shop so there’s no accounting, payroll or administration to do, we’ll do that at the pawn shop. Someone that knows guns, security and can learn how to deal in the day to day operations. You’re an old army guy, you’re a hunter and have experience in gun safety. You can learn how to deal with the law and the form requirements, in addition, we’ll be right across the street. If someone comes in with a gun to sell, I’ll send them over to you. We often pawn guns that are never picked up. What I do is take the gun for a pawn, 90 days, after that I write a letter, telling the owner to either pick up the gun or come in and pay the interest on the loan. After the 2nd 90 days the gun belongs to me and we can legally sell it.

You would also buy guns but not pawn them, the pawns would still be done at the pawnshop. You would also work with dealers and dealers’ reps and buy new guns. I would want you to spend a few weeks at the pawn shop to learn how we control inventory and so on, give you a chance to learn the details.”

“Well,” Floyd said, “You certainly have me interested, I know a lot about hunting guns but I’d have to learn about the newer stuff. A couple questions I have though. I’d want to open carry while I’m working and would want to do the hiring and firing at the gun store.”

With that, Tony said, “I think we can work that out. When can you start at the pawn shop? We can use you now. Oh, also I’d expect you to work with the interior design and security people during the construction phase of the gun store.”

“Knock-knock-knock”

“See I told you, Russ can smell the doughnuts. C’mon in, Russ.”

Russ came in, both Russ and Tony greeted each other, exchanged pleasantries and Tony said goodbye and left. Russ looked at Floyd and asked, “What was all that about, Ol’ Bud?”

“Better get a big cup a joe and sit down, this is gonna take a while,” Floyd told Russ.