Going Once, Going Twice, And Your Job Is… GONE

Several years ago, I attended an auction of equipment related to my place of employment. We used quite a varied lot of hand and mechanized tools to repair and modify equipment used in producing feed for livestock.

I had bid on and won a few items for our department and had written down my winning bids in my own notebook so that I could be sure everything was in agreement with the record that the auction clerk kept. 

I gave the clerk my bidder’s number, and she pulled and added up all the tickets from my purchases. When she gave me the total, along with the adding machine tape of the calculation, it didn’t agree with my notes.

Me: “I think there’s been a mistake.”

The clerk instantly became angry and condescending.

Clerk: “There’s been no mistake! This is your total. You will be paying exactly what I’ve laid out.”

All righty, then. Yes, I’ll pay exactly what you say. So, when you balance your books later, enjoy explaining why you charged someone $180.00 for an item that had actually auctioned for $1,800.00