It Never Hurts To Ask

I like to buy chicken by the case when there's a good deal.  And, there's one grocery store about 20 minutes from our house that offers some fantastic by-the-case chicken sales from time to time.

I went today and bought a case of whole chicken breast (1.19/lb.) and drumsticks (89 cents/lb.).  After you pay for the meat you have to drive around to the back of the store to the meat department's loading dock, you ring a bell, give your receipt, & they bring the cases out to your vehicle.

Well, today when I drove around back, I noticed a couple shipping boxes sitting near the dumpster with some old pallets & about 15-20 wooden chairs.  It appeared that they were being trashed.

When the meat guy answered my ring, I asked him about the chairs.  He said they were being thrown away but he wasn't the guy to ask.  He said the maintenance man, who was working near where the chairs were, would be able to help me.

But, as it turned out the store manager happened to walk right by & we asked him.  At first he was a little reluctant.  They were the old chairs from their snack bar area & some of them were getting a bit loose.  They were tossing them because they were afraid someone might fall and get hurt.  And, he was a little nervous about someone taking them for liability reasons.

I really didn't have to say much.  I just listened to him & then said I completely understood that I'd be taking them 'as is' & would love to have a few of them.  And, he agreed!  

I only took 4.  It's all I could fit into my van.  And, I picked the ones that seemed the sturdiest.  I'm going to paint these black & use them with our dining set.  Right now we have 3 chairs, 1 bench (that's broken), & a mismatch chair (that's wobbly).  I plan to replace our bench and wobbly chair.  

The moral of the story?  It never hurts to ask.