Marc & The Lawn Mower

Another tale from Thursday lunch.

Once upon a time Marc bought a brand new lawn mower. A little more than a year later it wouldn't start. He noticed the carburetor was drooling, so, as the warranty had run out, he decided he would attempt to fix it himself. He takes the carburetor off the mower, disassembles it and blows out all the little holes and passages with compressed air. So far, so good. Just to make extra sure, he gives a sharp blast of air to the fuel inlet, because it goes to the float valve, and that was the part that was actually malfunctioning. He gives it this big blast of air and the seat for the float valve pops out and flies into never-never land. This part is made of plastic and is about 3/16" in diameter, and just about as long. It was pressed into the housing.

At this point Marc figures he is toast. May as well just throw the lawn mover away, he'll never be able to find that part, and buying a new carburetor will probably cost as much as a new mower. So he sulks.

A day later he decides that maybe it is worth looking on the internet to see if he can find this part. He digs through a couple of web sites and, lo and behold! There it is! This outfit has all the parts you need for this mower, down to the decals. He doesn't even need to buy a whole carburetor, they will gladly sell him the one part he needs. $9 for the part and $6 for shipping for a grand total of $15! He is saved!

The ecstasy is short lived however, because his parsimonious-ness kicks in: $15 for that tiny bit of plastic? They must be out of their minds! So he goes and roots around on Ebay. And finds the same part for 39 cents, including shipping. So he orders it. It arrives a few days later taped to the back of a postcard. Un-frakking-believable.