Shady

I think I may have put myself and my baby in danger today. Well, not really. Actually...maybe.
This story involves a Christmas gift, but I don't think the recipient reads my blog, so I am not too worried about telling what happened. Anyway, I found a good deal on 8 pewter napkin rings, but I wanted to make the gift more special by having each engraved with the initial of the recipient's last name. I know, cool gift, huh? So I called a few places and one shop in my town quoted me a price of $2.50 each to engrave them. I thought that was an alright deal so I drove to the shop this morning to drop the napkin rings and place my order. The shop was in the back of a run-down building. There were no other cars in front. I walked down a long hallway and found the door to the business. Inside the door was one small room with trophies and plaques along every wall. There was a man smoking a cigarette behind a desk area. He was disheveled, dirty, and barely greeted me at all when I entered. I asked him if he could do the engraving I wanted and he said yes. He put a plain sheet of typing paper in front of me and asked me to write down my name and number and they would call me when the order was finished. I said, "You haven't even asked which letter I want engraved. Should I write that down also?" He replied in the affirmative. I asked if there were choices of script and he looked at me like I was crazy. So I asked again what exactly it would look like and he told me and drew a letter on the paper to illustrate it. I suddenly remembered I had not gotten a price from him so I asked how much it would be. He replied, "12.50 each." My jaw dropped. "What?" "Did you just say 12.50 per napkin ring?" (Remember, there are 8 of these!) Then he back-peddled and said he could do it for $7.50 each. I said there was no way I was going to do it if it cost so much. I told him how I had called a few weeks ago and was quoted $2.50 each. He said he would have to call someone, and proceeded to dial the phone, but then he turned to me and said "I'm not going to get him this early in the morning, he's out screwing around." He hung up and said, "Okay, Becky, I'll do them for $2.50 each." He sort of nodded his head and half-smiled as if he were talking down to me like you would to a small child if you were trying to appease them. I started wondering if he was drunk or on drugs. He was not acting very rationally. I felt strange as I left the shop, and in the back of my mind wondered if I would ever even see those napkin rings again. What is weird is that I read a review of this business before going there that had nothing but good things to say. I certainly wasn't impressed.