Business as Usual

I dropped off 21 lbs of fish for one of my longest-buying customers last week for filleting and freezing at a local processor, Jerrys, who processes most of the fish I sell to people in town. Only I had written down that my customer wanted it smoked. So, she picks up her order and it’s smoked. She leaves it there and lets me know the error. Now I own 20 lbs of smoked fish, including the processing fees. Which, if you are going to make a mistake, is a nice way to lose money when you at least gain fish, rather than just losing money. So, my customer says – “Can you take 20 lbs more out to get it filleted and packed. Plus 10 more lbs. to make 30 lbs total”. I say sure. In a panic I call Winston to see if the boat has come in and if they have any extra sockeye. “Sure” he says. I get the 30 lbs of sockeye and take it to Jerrys. I check in my customers fish to be filleted and frozen. Then I ask the clerk if I can pick up the errant smoked fish so I can pay for the processing. Scott – the owner – brings out two boxes of smoked fish himself and says “hows that”. The box has a “paid” sticky note on it with my name, as he knew the situation. He didn’t charge me anything for him butchering and smoking the fish. Hows that for good people. I screw up an order. I get 20 lbs of smoked fish for it, and a reorder for 30 lbs. Then the processor doesn’t even charge me for the filleting and smoking. Maybe it’s the rain. Maybe it’s Juneau. But whatever it is, it’s good to be good people and know good people.

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