I read just the first page of this thread and then jumped to the last one. Not to my surprise, the "lesbian" thing was still up.
As a reader who had never heard about some Charlie in Frisco before reading this thread, I found Geeto's story pretty "impersonal" from the point of view that he was describing his perception of the situation and how he judges he was not dealt with a businesslike approach. I also found that the "lesbian" was an irrelevant information, as it would have been whether they were black, old, chinese, thai, bald etc. It reminds me of my mother, that needs one hour to tell you the most inane story because she tells every single detail, from whether it was cloudy to the color of the shoes she was wearing. It is a PITA because you have to listen carefully and remind all the details thinking they will have something to do with the story, just to find out that they don't.... :-)
My .2 cents? If I have a tank for sale and on display, it is for sale to the first who comes with money. If it is a rare part, then the sale price will reflect it. If I want it just for the locals, I will hide it from sight and tell my friends to always ask me for the parts they need and don't trust that only what is on sight is for sale, or sell the good pieces to the locals and the junk to the walk-ins. The part is on sight, the sticker reflects the prices, the walk-in decides whether he wants to spend the money, end of the story.
Charlie could be busy dealing with his webpage, but probably he would do better dealing with the employees that are ruining his reputation. Unless he wants -seems like- to expand his business into the Web and open his shops only on demand of his local customers and/or friends.
