by Allen L Phillips
September 10, 2022
She came into the auto repair shop where I was working with my son. She said she had been referred by a friend who told her we were a family shop and wouldn’t take advantage of her. She said she was just a poor widow and wanted to know if we had any discounts. When we said no she said, “What about a senior discount?”
We told her we don’t offer senior discounts. We just do good, honest work and stand behind it. But you could tell she was in sales because in all the time we spent talking, doing the paperwork and she left her car, the question of a discount was still – somehow – unresolved.
My career in accounting and financial management for manufacturing companies was beginning to peter out in the 1990s due to declining local manufacturing and my increasing age. So when Todd called me and said he needed a service writer at the shop, I accepted. So began a second career in the auto repair business.
Late in the day, in July 1997, Todd asked me “What do we do about the senior discount for Pat Watkins?” I thought for a minute and said ”I don’t think she is old enough – check her ID”. A short time later she walked into the shop to pick up her car. I was occupied several feet away as Todd explained the work we did on her car and when she brought up the discount he asked to see her ID. After looking at her ID he turned to me and said “Dad, she’s older than you are”. We gave her a 10% discount on her bill.
She came in several more times after that and, while always good natured, she was concerned about the cost since it always seemed that her car needed expensive repairs. Finally she stopped coming in, her last visit sometime in 1999.
In January, 2002, my wife of over 40 years lost her long battle with cancer. It had been a good marriage and, having been living alone for the 9 months she spent in various hospitals, I was ready for whatever was next. I’d had a lot of time to think and memories had cropped up of juvenile discussions where guys talked about connecting with an older woman. So a few months later I dug through the files and found Pat Watkins’ phone numbers.
I planned my strategy. Though I had both her work and home numbers I wanted to call her at home and leave a message on her answering machine. I wrote out my pitch and rehearsed it – then about mid-day I got up the courage to call. “Hi, this is Al at Del Mar Auto. I remember that you said you were a poor widow and I recently lost my wife. I was wondering if you would like to get together for coffee.”
I assumed that she would call back later that day after she got home from work or even the next day, since I had only left the shop number. Best laid plans……It turned out that she was off work recovering from surgery and had just gone to the store. So when she called back about an hour later I was totally unprepared and got so tongue-tied that I finally said “Let me call you back”. My life-long lucky streak held – she thought I was just busy. I gathered my thoughts, rehearsed possibilities and called her again. When she answered, I said “Hi, this is Al Phillips”. She said “Who?”
She had never known my last name. To her I was Al At Del Mar Auto. Somehow we got through that glitch and met for lunch at the Beach House in Cardiff. We sat on their outside deck on a beautiful spring day and just talked. I said, “So you just had some surgery?” “Yes”, she said, “a hysterectomy.” Stifling my emotions, I managed an “Oh?”, and she went on to explain why – assuming that I was grown up enough to handle such a discussion.
Pat and I will have been married 19 years next month and we still celebrate that anniversary of our first “coffee”. When the Beach House closed in 2014 we moved to the Chart House next door. Since our move to Silvergate in Rancho Bernardo we celebrate at the Brigantine in Escondido.
Pat and I were both born the same year, she in early September, I in Late December. So every year for about 3-1/2 months she is the older woman and I am her boy toy. And we celebrate that!
allenlphillips 