Juicy gossip and the tightwads behind them

I don’t like to tell stories other people told me because it’s gossip and I generally don’t like being involved in such innuendo. One the important things to remember when telling someone else’s story is that you never know how truthful it is. That’s not to say people lie (some do). But when you’re telling someone else’s story you’re only hearing one side of it. Different things can be interpreted different ways. And if there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s there’s always two sides to every story. That being said, I hafta share a story someone told me today. I heard this from a coworker.

A while back, my employer purchased a bunch of computers from a small, privately-owned computer store. We bought eight computers at around $500 each. The store was very eager to work with us in hopes of having more business with the station in the future. Even though the little store was in a different county, the owner offered to drop the computers off at our offices just to show how eager he was.

That is a fact ’cause I saw it firsthand when the computers arrived. But the next part of this tale is what I heard from the coworker. According to him, when it came time to settle the tab, our accountant paid them $20 less than we were initially quoted for. Her reasoning: the store quoted us a price based on the taxes of the county the store is located in. Since we assumed possession of the computers in a different county, we should only have to pay local taxes. So our accountant took it upon herself to issue a new check reflecting the lower tax rate.

I can’t believe how low that is–talk about nickel-and-diming. I don’t know what the tax law is but even if you wanna assume she’s right, what kinda person does that? Twenty dollars of 4000 is half a percent–chump change. Is that worth haggling over? Even if we took possession of the computers in a different county–even if she’s absolutely correct–is that really worth it for $20? The seller was doing us a favor. If he does everything her way, we’ve created more work for him when he does his year-end taxes. Guy was doing us a favor. Let him have the 20 bucks just to pay for gas! This is a small business were talking about–not big-box retailer. He went out of his way to provide us with extra service and we decide to screw him over 20 bucks? What kinda person does that? Is there some inner need to prove how smart you are regarding tax law? Are you that cheap you’re willing to make life difficult for someone else? If I was there when it happened, I would have been tempted to take 20 bucks out of my own wallet and give it to him–that’s so embarrassing!

But I wasn’t there so I don’t know how much of the store was true. That’s the thing about rumors and second-hand stories–you never get all the facts. I’m sure our accountant has good reasoning for why she shorted the seller out $20. I’d love to hear them. But since I wasn’t there and I don’t dare ask, I only have one side of the story. I hate to assume it’s true…but if it is, that’s one helluva story.