MY HYPOTHESIS—

Today’s standard of excellence is mediocrity.

The battery in my lawn tractor failed so I called the Interstate battery store on N. Mulberry St., in Mansfield to see about a replacement.

I gave them the brand name and model information from the old battery and inquired if they had a replacement.

"Yup, we sure do," chirped the guy on the phone.  "$39.95 plus tax which includes disposal of your old battery," he continued.

"Marvelous," I responded.  "See you shortly," I added after asking about their hours.

An hour or so later I arrived at their store and plopped my deceased battery on their counter. "I called a little while ago about a replacement for this," I told the clerk.

He took a peek at my battery, shuffled through some paperwork and announced, "That will be $59.95."

I looked over my glasses and informed him about my very recent phone call.  "What happened to the $39.95 model the guy on the phone told me about," I asked, with visions of 'bait and switch' beginning to float through my cynical mind.

He sputtered a bit then said, "Let me check," as he headed somewhere into the bowels of their store."

Soon he was back with a new battery and said "I can sell you this one for $39.95."  I looked at its performance numbers and told him it was 25% less powerful than the one that had recently failed.

"Where's the one they told me about on the phone."  It's out of stock," he said.

"Must have sold your last one in the hour it took me to get here," I offered and challenged him to explain why he was attempting to sell the lesser battery at the originally quoted price.

While he stood there and struggled with that combined concept, I left.

...and headed to Mid-Ohio Gravely where I bought the tractor originally and had an informative conversation about battery life.  I brought home my replacement--same terms as originally quoted by Interstate, my ex-battery supplier.