About Harold Pinter and Tools
Last week we had dinner with old friends, David and Mary, from Ottawa who were in town for their annual theatre swing through Niagara-on-the-Lake and Stratford.
Out of that dinner came the two items in this Posting---my thanks to our very good friends!
About Harold Pinter
Our friends told us that they had tickets for a Stratford play---The Homecoming by Harold Pinter---that they could not use. Would we be interested in seeing the play?
We accepted, with delight.
Last Sunday we drove to Stratford.
The play was powerfully acted and full of the raw emotions, the long pauses and the ambiguity that characterize Pinter's plays. I won't attempt to describe the plot---for that you may wish to read the laudatory New York Times review of the play, a review with which we totally agree.
After the cast had taken their bows, Pat and I looked at each, a look that said that we were totally confused and would spend the two and a half hour drive back to Virgil trying to figure out what the play was about (after 50 years of marriage there is a lot of communication in a single glance!).
As we started down the stone steps from the Avon Theatre to the sunlight of Downie St. I saw something I had never seen before at a theatre.
A well-dressed women, in perhaps her late 40s or early 50s, had planted herself, feet apart, on the bottom step facing the people coming down the steps.
"Does anyone know what this play was about?, she demanded. "Who understands it?"
People smiled, shook their heads, and stepped around her.
"What did it mean?", she persisted.
Staring at me, she asked, "Did you understand it?"
I guess the devil was in me, and I said "Yes".
"Can you explain it to me?", she pleaded.
"Sure, how much time do you have?", I said and then laughed to show that I was joking and that I was confused as she was.
"Why are you laughing? Is it because you think I'm stupid that I don't understand it? Or is it because you don't understand it either?', she demanded.
I assured her it was the latter---I wasn't laughing at her, I was just as confused as she was.
We moved on, while she continued trying to find someone who could explain it to her.
Pat and I did discuss the play during the two and a half hour trip home, and then carried on for another two and a half days.
We now think ('think', that is!) we know what the play is about. At least we have an answer that satisfies us.
I wonder if that woman has found an answer that satisfies her.
All of this demonstrates the power of the Nobel-prize-winning Pinter and his wonderful, and wonderfully ambiguous plays.
Tools
At dinner with our friends, Mary told about being at a party a few years ago in Almonte, Ontario. Seeing a man she didn't know, she asked him what his name was and when he said, "Leonard", a light came on. She said, "I didn't recognize you".
He said, "I was hoping you wouldn't."
She had realized that he was Leonard Lee, the 'Lee' in Lee Valley Tools. He went on to say that it got boring explaining how he had left the Canadian Foreign Service and started a tiny company to find or make, and then to sell high quality woodworking tools.
I love Lee Valley Tools and have been meaning for a long time to write about the company.
So, prompted by our friend's story, here goes.
For me, Lee Valley Tools is a case study of how listening to your customers, treating them well and selling only high quality goods can build a multi-million dollar business.
About listening to your customers.....
I have always found it strange that many surgeons apparently love to relax by engaging in woodworking. Strange, because I would have assumed that they would be worried about losing a digit or two when working with a lathe, a router or a band saw. Apparently not.
Surgeon/woodworkers loved Lee Valley's tools, and when some of them complained to the company that they wished it made operating room tools, the company obliged, with a line of medical/surgical instruments.
Gardeners complained about tools that rusted and didn't work. The company moved into gardening supplies.
Cooks complained about the quality of kitchen tools, and the company introduced a number of superb items.
Tailors and quilters complained about things like scissors and seam rippers, and the company responded.
And so on.
And then, about treating your customers right......
An electronic gadget that Lee Valley sells to keep cats away from flower beds stopped working.
I phoned Customer Service, got 'a real person' and explained the problem. He apologized and said he would send a replacement, which arrived by special delivery in a couple of days. A few days later, I received a letter from the head of Customer Service (a real letter with my name and a description of the problem---not a boiler-plate, one-size-fits-all response) apologizing for the problem and hoping that it had been rectified. If it hadn't, I was to call her.
I also like it that the company takes its business seriously, but not itself.
During a visit to the Lee Valley store in Burlington, Ontario, I saw a basket of "April Fool Tape Measures' at the check out. When I picked up one of the regular-looking tape measures, and gave a puzzled look to the clerk he suggested I pull out the tape. I did, and the tape was blank, no numbers or markings at all. He explained that each year the company tries to come up with an April Fool gift they can send as a gift to suppliers and contacts. This year they had a few left over and were selling them to the public. I bought one for a favourite friend who I knew would enjoy showing it to his buddies---and he did!
One of the problems of being a Lee Valley fan is that there is a huge temptation to pester your friends with recommendations about the latest 'really neat tool' you have found.
I'm afraid I'm going to give in to that temptation, and recommend a few tools that we like. (Christmas is coming, and it occurs to me they might make good stocking stuffers.)
The loupes provide 2X, 5X and 10X magnification and are great for Pat's work checking out artifacts at the museum and for my work cataloging 35 mm slides that I have inherited. They are also good for a great many other occasions when aging eyes need an assist, such as removing slivers. The kit costs $6.50
The compact 5-1/2 inch scissors are tough fellows that don't need babying. They cut paper and wire and are great for getting into those plastic-bubble-enclosed items that we all hate. We have four sets, stored strategically around the house. Cost is $6.95
Pat just loves this kit but says you have to watch---the blades are really sharp. Cost: $18.95
This is an astoundingly bright LED light with a comfortable head band. Pat uses it in sewing and I use it everywhere, and especially in dark corners of the basement. Cost: $12.50.
Now, this is NOT a potential stocking stuffer!
This elegant, but low-tech tool has apparently been around since the early 1900s. Grandpa (or grandma!) steps on a lever, moves the handle to the side, lifts up, and out pops the weed, root and all. It is great for dandelions and plantain. Just what we need as our governments---wisely---restrict the use of chemical weed killers. Cost: $28.50
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I should add that I have no connection with Lee Valley Tools, except as a totally satisfied customer and a fervent booster.
(I am indebted to the Lee Valley website---a site that I find very user-friendly---for the above images.)
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See you on October 2nd for Posting #123 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting, or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com.
Note:
I have now uploaded three Postings on The Icewine Guru blog: one about the dangers of the US income gap; one about a possible lesson the US could learn from Canada about how to deal with its unemployment crisis: and another about whether 'Western' countries should ban the wearing of face coverings by Muslim women. The topics are serious but I have tried to give them an entertaining treatment. If you haven't tried the Guru blog yet, you might like to browse these Postings by clicking on the link below. The next Guru Posting will appear on September 25th. http://theicewineguru.blogspot.com/
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