It cost how much?

Before John left for outreach on Monday, he went to the mall to pick up a few things he needed to take with him. (Side note - yes, they have malls in South Africa!) I asked him to pick me up a silverware holder while he was there. You know, the little plastic tray thingy that you put your forks, spoons & knives in to keep your drawer organized. So, he comes back with this plastic one & says, "That thing cost
R99! That's outrageous!" So, that's about $10. Of course, being female, I would have found something else that was cheaper but would have served the same purpose. But, good hubby that he is, wife told him to get a silverware holder, and he got a silverware holder!

Later that afternoon, he decided to take the truck to the mechanic before he left because it was making a noise & he wanted to make sure it was ok while he was gone. The guys drives it around the parking lot & then pulls it into the bay. He starts taking the wheel off, fiddles with something, puts the wheel back on & drives it out. He tells John the brakes were fine, it was just a little peice of metal that was bent the wrong way. He's good to go & no charge. John tries to give him a little money to go buy a pint, but the guy says no, just come back when you need work. As John starts up the truck, the guy tells him to wait; he hears something. So, he climbs under the truck & then tells John there is a couple of holes in the exhaust pipe. They don't fix that there, but sends him 3 doors down to have it taken care of.

John drives down to the next shop & the guy waves him onto the ramp & proceeds to raise the truck, with him in it, up about 6 ft. in the air! He puts a metal sleeve over the holes & welds them on. After lowering John & the truck, he tells John it will be 50 bucks. John ask if that's American or Rand. Well, rand of course! So about $5 to have the truck fixed.

So, he spends $10 for a plastic silverware holder & $5 to have 2 things fixed on the truck. Makes lots of sense, huh? Good thing theyused metal to fix the exhaust instead of plastic. If it was plastic, we wouldn't have been able to afford it!