I was at a garage sale with my brother-in-law who couldn’t make up his mind whether to buy the second-hand lawnmower that appeared to run well and seemed like a good deal, or to purchase a brand new one to replace his old one that had broken.

He needed a lawnmower - he knew that much - and he also knew that buying a new one would clean him out of all his cash. On the other hand, if he bought the second-hand mower to keep a little cash in his pocket and it turned out to be a lemon he would be up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Or rather, eyeball-deep in the weeds without a lawnmower. He just couldn’t make up his mind whether to take the chance or not.

I decided to help him along for his peace of mind and so I could find some shade. I pulled a quarter out of my pocket.

“OK”, I said, “If it comes up heads, you buy this one, and if it’s tails, you get a new one. Ready?” I made sure I had his attention. We both knew this was going to count.

“One… two… three!” I spun the quarter high into the air and yelled out “CALL IT!”

“HEADS!” he shouted back.

I caught the quarter and put it in my pocket. “So buy the damn thing already and let’s go. It’s hot.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Money, Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.