Integrity-

Several weeks ago my Daughter and her husband borrowed my truck to get some home renovation supplies from Home Depot. When they returned to the truck they found the small window behind the driver side door to be broken, and a note left on the truck.


The note was from a Mr. Michael Gardner, who assumed responsibility and was honorable enough to leave his name and phone number. I postponed contacting him until I had researched the replacement cost of the window. The best price was $295 installed, on a used window!

Now my faithful little truck is a 1997 Ford Ranger. Nothing special, but a handy little burro. It has dents, it has scratches, and it has over 140,000 miles on it. I even live in that truck, part of the time, using a Sportz II truck tent. That price for glass seemed much too high, even if someone else was paying for it.

I contacted Mr. Gardner, and learned that a third party had actually caused the accident. A lady had lost control of her shopping cart, bumping the wood Mr. Gardner was loading and causing a piece to break the window. She said, "Oops! Sorry!" and went on her way.

Mr. Gardner was more honorable than that, and left a note assuming responsibility. I could not see sticking him with the full cost of the repair. I had already made a serviceable repair with a piece of clear plastic sheet and duct tape. Yet I might incur some further expenses when making a more complete repair in the future.

Mr. Gardner related that he owned Grey Wolf Computer Systems. I had been planning to add some memory to my computer, and this seemed a fine way to allow him to do something to absolve him of any further liability with regard to this unfortunate accident. I proposed that he could provide me with some computer memory as compensation for the damage on my truck.

He generously offered not only the memory, but to install it and provide a system tune up on my computer! He did so, and I now have a much better machine for general use and more specifically World of Warcraft.

Mr. Gardner displayed an unusually high degree of integrity in assuming responsibility for an accident that was not directly his fault. Certainly far greater integrity than Ms. "Oops! Sorry!" It would not have been particularly hard to justify simply driving away, knowing that the real cause of the accident had done just that. Mr. Gardner chose a higher road, and it was an honor to meet him because of that choice.

Regarding the "how-to" of my temporary repair, I did a bit of looking around after getting the surprisingly high replacement price. I found a duct tape the same color as the truck, which in this case was white. The material to cover the window space, however, was another matter. I looked at lots of things I could cannibalize to obtain a piece of plastic 16" x 20". Nothing was quite right, or else it was expensive.

Poking around at home I came across a poster frame that had a clear plastic cover, just a sheet of clear plastic. It was 16" x 20"! I taped the sheet over the window opening, after a bit of struggle removing the remains of the window from the frame. With care it provided a relatively good repair that looked pretty good. It will certainly do until I decide on a more permanent repair.

If you are by any chance in the Santa Cruz California area and in need of any computer services, contact Michael Gardner at Grey Wolf Computer Systems. He is a man of integrity in a time of compromised values. I am glad I got to meet him.