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I just received a very strange letter in the mail with three $50 dollar bills inside. It was from a guy who worked for me 35 years ago in Clemson, SC. He wrote, "Please accept this money I've owed you from when I worked for you." I had no idea what it was for so I Googled his name and the address on the envelope and tracked down his phone number. I haven't seen him since he moved back up north in the late 70's so I was very surprised to hear from him. When I asked why he owed me money he very sheepishly admitted that when he needed beer money, he'd take a few bucks out of our petty cash drawer. He's doing well now and owns his own company and said he was trying to make amends for some dumb stuff he did in his youth.
Pretty cool.......
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Wow, what a nice guy. Me might a related to George Bailey from Bedford Falls.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3813 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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Twenty five years ago, a former employee who had moved a couple thousand miles away sent me $200 and a letter apologizing for the way he'd worked. Ironically, I didn't think he was that bad, which probably says more about the quality of the other help I had at the time... or how clueless I was as a boss.
Twenty years ago, I was hospitalized three times in two months for pneumonia. The hospital demanded $600 paid to my deductible on release. We wrote a check but wondered how on earth we would cover it. That afternoon, there was a knock on the door. I struggled over and found a former employee there with $600 cash. She felt bad about getting me involved with a customer almost a decade earlier on her recommendation. The customer had stiffed us for $600. The former employee had recently come into some money and wanted to make things right. The money couldn't have come at a better time.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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looks like another fan of Earl, got his own list and working through it, hope you spend the money on beer cheers terry
-------------------- Terry Colley The VintageSign Co 42 barrack hill Romiley Stockport Cheshire, England sk6 3az tel 0161 494 5089 terry@bullandbrush.fsnet.co.uk Posts: 210 | From: England | Registered: Dec 1999
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Good things happen. What goes around, comes around. You don't hear much about these selfless acts, but they happen every day.
To David, that wasn't "luck" and we both know it.
When I was asked to speak at Rick Glawson's funeral by the family, I was broke and had no idea of how I was going to fly to California on a moments notice, along with hotel, rental car and meals. I maxed out one of the few credit cards that was not full and made the trip. The airfare was $455.
Rick's brothers did not offer any gratuity for me, but at a meal after the service someone came up and put something in my coat pocket. Folks had taken up a "collection" for me after hearing about the brothers. In a hurry to get the rental car back to Avis and catch my flight, I just put the coat in my luggage and flew home. The next morning when I was unpacking, I took the coat out and remembered something was in the pocket. There was a bunch of bills rolled up - total $455.
Later in the week I received a letter of apology from the brothers, along with a check that covered my rental car. Some folks here at home heard about my hasty trip and gave me some cash that covered the rest of my expenses.
Good things happen. For me it wasn't considered luck.
[ February 17, 2012, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Raymond Chapman ]
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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i have this so called customer. got to call him something))). ive know this guy since bout 2000. i met him somewhere and gave him my card. well over the course of the next 7-8 years, he has called me to come to his business 4-5 times in that time period. i dont mind.......USUALLY and i do get some work from most people. this guy ZIP, NADA!!!! and each trip i made to his business, was 2-3 hours of him talkin about what he wanted, i would go back to the shop work up some layouts take em to him...and never hear back. august 11, 2008 or 9, i take hennie to a buffet restaurant for her birthday which was that day. money was tight, well non-existent really. we was sitting there eating and i got got up to go back to the food bar. heres that guy standing there. we get into a little small talk, he tells me hes in this new chruch yada yada...he askes how my business is going so i tell him flat out...WHAT BUSINESS? iam doing nothing and its the wifes birthday and about all i can afford is this place for a birthday dinner. he talks a little more, and puts his hand out like a handshake, i obliged and he said hope this helps. i felt something in his hand and he said take this, i figured it was a $20, and i said thank you. got back to the table with hennie and told her, here is a birthday present..........and i laid the folded up paper money in front of her. she unfolded it and it was !100!!!!!!!! she had been wanting a new set of stools for the kitchen counter, and the next day she went to one of her relitives home, on the way was a school garage sale. she stopped and seem these 3 nice wooden stools with backs, but they wanted $50 each. so she passed and went to visit. on the way home the school garge sale was still there, but most that didnt get sold was being packed up. the 3 bar stools was still there, and was told $50 and she could have all 3 of them))))))) makes a believer out of ya.......when this happens.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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When visiting my niece in Key Largo, we were at a nice restaurant and having a conversation about all the bad experiences I had at car dealerships. When I asked for the bill when we were finished, the waitress said it was paid. We looked at one another and were puzzled. It turned out that a man at the next table said he enjoyed the conversation, he was a Rolls Royce dealer salesman. Bill
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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I cannot remember anyone coming through for me like that. But I am humbly grateful, I haven't been tested in such a manner as Ray illustrates.
I've been blessed enough, that I have been the guy doing the giving when I see someone in personal crisis on many occasions.
I've had the uncomfortable pleasure of seeing grown men cry when I've done this... but I'm not tooting my horn by any measure - I am sincerely, genuinely grateful I have been able to 'be there' for my comrades.
I feel that we are all just one slippery banana peel away from having a 'turn-in-the-barrel.'
I'd like to think when and if my time comes, some compassionate soul will pay-it-forward and ease my burden.
God bless those who have made things right through guilt, love, or a combination of both.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Wow... how soon I forget. I take it back. I did have an incident where I have been blessed through another person's generosity... can't believe it slipped my mind.
Years ago, I lost a good job. I decided to start my own 'sign' business with no real business plan, and was working with a plotter I had just purchased prior to my job loss... but had an old crusty computer.
My cousin, who lives in Texas... calls me up out of the blue to offer me some business advice and encouragement. In conversation, he learned I was using an old, dilapidated computer which was in bad need of upgrading. He gave me his credit card number and told me to buy the latest greatest hardware and build myself a new one. I paid him back with graphics work. We've actually traded this way many times - but he's always out-giving me. Love the guy. I must be nutz that I didn't think of that right away.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Well, as long as we're talking about some of the goodness on earth, here's another one - Carlos Capote, the fantastic lead singer and harmonica player of the Breeze Kings, a beloved Atlanta blues band, just had a kidney transplant last week. The local blues community had a big fundraising jam and auction to help him cover expenses and it was so packed there was a line down the street to get in. The kicker was that his wife, whose kidney was not a compatible match, was able to "pay it forward" by donating to someone else she matched in order for Carlos to get bumped up on the list. Otherwise, he might be blowing his harp in heaven about now.
While I'm on this, please consider donating your spare parts when you check out - somebody can use 'em and you won't even notice. Here's Carlos and the boys to play us out......
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67 YEAR OLD BODY PARTS..........aint in high demand)))))) besides that, most of em are worn out.
[ February 17, 2012, 11:45 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Not true, OP. A friend of mine from high school died of a heart attack last year and they used tissue from his cornea - the recipient? Another one of our friends from high school.....
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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