Goldstein's Men Clothing Store

Yesterday I saw Herbert Goldstein in the doctor's office.   Like us all, age is taking a toll. 

It brought back memories of he and his men's clothing store on the Square.   I have two stories.

One story is my sister gave me a raincoat for Christmas.  It did not fit.   My sister gave me the sales slip, from where she bought it, Goldstein's.   I carried it back to the store and told Herbert Goldstein the coat did not fit.  I tried it on to show him and he agreed.  He was very courteous.

He went right to work focused on finding clothing merchandise that would equal out the amount paid for the rain coat.  He found maybe a pair of pants, shirts, and socks that as he asked me did I like what he just picked out, some I did and some I didn't.  If I said I did, he added  it to his running total on the adding machine.  He had to add and take back stuff until he got the running total just 25₵ short.

He opened his cash register drawer and started moving things around and found what he was looking for: a coupon for either McDonald's or Wendy's for 25 cents.  He put that in the pile.

Even Steven!

Once an observant co-worker asked me have I ever noticed that there are no prices on merchandise at Goldstein's .  He looks at you and not the product when he tells you the price of it.  I suppose he judges just how much you can afford or willing to pay for the item.

After I heard and forgot that we went to Chattanooga  one day to the Train Museum.   At the museum gift shop we bought our boys railroad engineer's caps.  They are light gray with dark blue stripes, the kind I saw Donald Duck wearing once.

A few days later I wanted one just like theirs.  I called Goldstein's and asked a lady did they have the railroad engineers caps and described it.  She said they did.  I asked t her how much and she said $3.95.

The next day or so I went to  Goldstein's to buy that engineers hat or cap.  I went into the store, found the hats, found my size and carried it to the cash register, planning on spending $3.95 plus tax.

Mrs. Goldstein was at the cash register.   The railroad hat or cap did not have a price.  She held it up and asked  Mr. Goldstein, who was at a table  about 20 feet over straightening out the merchandise 

"How much are these hats?"

Then I remember what I was told.

He looked up and looked at me, not what she was holding, and said, "$2.95".

I wasn't sure if should be complemented or insulted.