Driving Home The Point

(It is the Monday before Thanksgiving. My car has been making a horrible scraping noise for a few days, so I take it into my regular mechanic. I explain the symptoms and hand over my keys so he can see for himself. After a few minutes of test driving the car, he takes it into the shop, pulls something out of the bottom of it, and parks it back out front.)

Mechanic: *handing my keys back* “You’re all set. Have a happy Thanksgiving.”

Me: “Oh! Great! What was wrong?”

Mechanic: “The heat shield fell off and was bouncing around. There wasn’t enough of it left to salvage, but it’s okay.”

Me: “Okay! What do I owe you?”

Mechanic: *with a straight face* “You got a couple million?”

(I am very slow when it comes to figuring out whether or not other people are joking. I kind of just stare at him for a minute in response.)

Mechanic: “What, you’re not related to Trump?”

Me: “No, sir!”

Mechanic: *grinning* “Then have a happy Thanksgiving!”