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What a Difference a Day Makes!

Yesterday wasn't the most challenging day I've had at work, but it was up there.  After the fire that took our shop, things have been pretty intense.  Winter is typically a time for me to relax, recoup and mark random things off of my to-do lists.  This winter has proven to be quite different with those lists getting longer and my job getting more complicated.  There are good days and bad and yesterday wasn't a good one.

Today, however, was!  I've been working closely with a new customer who recently purchased a top of the line women's bike that made everyone in the shop drool with envy.  She decided that her boyfriend, who's also an avid cyclist, needed a new bike as well.  And, so, surprise mode began! 

She knew which bike he was lusting after...a gorgeous, Specialized S-Works Venge with top of the line components.  This thing was THE bike, y'all.  We made a plan to order it for him without his knowledge so that we could take her sweetie by surprise.  Luckily in this industry all you need is a couple of measurements to get a good idea of what someone is going to need without meeting them!  So, she snuck his current bike into the shop early this week so I could get a couple of those measurements off of it.  After a little bit of research, I knew what he needed and I "pulled the trigger" on his new bike.  Well, it came in early this morning and was built this afternoon just in time for the big reveal!

She asked her sweetheart if he could come and pick her own bike which had been serviced from the shop.  So, he comes in and I bring him downstairs to our 2nd story because I had to grab a couple of things for her.  I walk him to her bike and gush over how gorgeous and awesome it is.  I then point out a certain bike with a big red bow on it telling him that we got the oh-so-sweet men's version in today....and then out pops his girl with a big smile on her face exclaiming, "SURPRISE!".  He was speechless and I could do nothing by smile.  

It once again made me realize that what I do isn't always just "a job".  I get paid to do lots of things:  sell bikes, fit bikes, talk about bikes, inventory bikes... But I also get paid to help people surprise the person they love with something that makes them both happy.  I work in an industry that sells a certain lifestyle.  It's a lifestyle that (as I've mentioned before) brings so many people together.  It's why I get up everyday and throw on jeans and a black Peachtree Bikes t-shirt.

Kinda crazy the difference a day makes, y'all!
"When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle."  
-- Elizabeth West

"Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world."
-- Grant Peterson
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