I received a frantic call from a friend asking for help.  She had been trying to sell her home for approx. a year and now had it under contract.  Her area requires an occupancy inspection and one of the failure issues was that it did not have hand railings for her four stairways.  Her home is a $1M+ home and the architect for the home was a Frank Lloyd Wright understudy.  She went to a local “stair” company and they would be able to start in 8-10 weeks.   She asked me to make/install railings and railing from Home Depot was not acceptable.  Her home has millwork throughout which has a very unique stain/finish.  I told her that I will not be able to match the finish but I will do my best.  During our conversation she informed me that she had old shutters in the basement.  The shutters had been removed from her master bedroom many years ago.    

 

I was able to re-purpose the new railing from the shutters and keep much of the old shutter finish intact.  My wife went to Sherwin Williams for me and they were able to mix a custom paint blend that went very well with the old finish.

 

My friend came by today to give me a check.  For a bonus she made me this awesome cherry pie.  The cherries were recently picked in Wisconsin.  There are 3 lbs. in this one pie.  She asked me how much she owed me.  I informed her of a price.  She wrote the check, folded it, and handed it to me.  I did not look at the check until much later.  I was flabbergasted.  The check was written for 2X the amount I asked for. 

The pie was awesome and the check was very nice.  It is nice to be appreciated.  Danl

 

Mmmmm... there’s enough pie for everyone, right?!

Glad to hear you had that feel good experience.  Kudos.

Great experience and a great ending, thanks for relating it to us, glad you were able to meet her expectations.

 

Herb

Edited August 13, 20187 yr by Dadio

Wonderful, great story. You'll ship that pie to us for the gathering next week, right? Man, 3# in one pie....whoa, baby.

Love the story. Bet the pie was delicious. I see you had the ice cream scoop at the ready, too. 

Great story Dan and even greater friendship. Obviously she trusted you to do the work and wanted to show how thankful she was for your willingness to help.

 

Can't wait to get to @Fred W. Hargis Jr's to taste that pie you're sending him. Don't worry about sending the ice cream, we'll get some locally

Danl that sounds exactly like the story I ended up with when you asked me to make the 12 days of Christmas for your wife when you were laid up with self inflected injuries..  I also was flabbergasted when I looked at the check you sent me.

  So I should say thanks ole young man.  

Also glad to hear your other half is up and at em. 

 

Don't forget to return the pie dish with a note!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan, that is a great story - I am sure your neighbor appreciated your willingness to help (well it is pretty obvious she was grateful).  

Bet the pie was delicious, but the story is even better. 

The pie was awesomely delicious.  I do not think any will be left by time the picnic gets here.  The ice cream scoop was for the homemade, hand cranked ice cream which my wife and I were the crankers and the ice cream was awesome also.  All this reminds me of a true story.  There was this man who was getting up there in his years and wanted to give some of his fortune to his nephews and nieces.  He gave each $10,000.  One of his nieces wanted to do something special to show her appreciation, so she baked him a pie.  For the longest time all you hear was how that old man never returned my pie pan.  Danl