Quite a few years ago here at SMC, I got into a verbal battle with a bunch of turners. Their solution was to gift me with a Jet-1014 VS lathe and an incredible amount of tools, wood etc.
In 1999 while attending a 3 week company class in Waukesha, WI I was in a 6 man class. When we got to lab, we broke up into 2, 3-man lab groups where I teamed up with an engineer from Denver and one from Christchurch, NZ. The Kiwi and I share the same first names and we became instant friends. Our youngest son and his lovely wife heard me talk about visiting my friend in Christchurch and in 2008 for our 40th anniversary the kids generously gifted us with a 10 day trip to NZ.
Last year, after 2 years of planning, we took a 34 day once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. We spent 2 weeks in New Zealand, traveling by normally scheduled buses, a ferry and a couple train rides.
One evening in March last year, we as one of 3 US couples, arrived at a bus stop in Paihia, North Island, NZ at 9:00 p.m. as cyclone Lusi came ashore. There were no taxis but a local café owner drove us, 1 couple at a time to our respective hotels in his 2 seated pizza delivery van. The husband in back on his hands and knees with the baggage, while the wife rode shotgun and the café owner drove. The guy refused any form of compensation. Incredible!
Later while in Auckland, my wife kept a nice pen from the room of a nice hotel where we were staying. My wife enjoyed using that pen and it was a keepsake of our trip too! Last week that pen broke. I reassembled it. It broke again. She failed to give me all the parts, I glued it back together only to discover a part was missing, the pen inoperative and the missing part had to be installed before I glued it together. My wife enjoyed this pen as it was a keepsake and it worked well. She was saddened!
Last night, I sent an email to the hotel in Auckland explaining the situation, asking if I could purchase a replacement pen and pay for it and shipping with a credit card. Today I got a response from the Chief Concierge requesting our address. He stated he would send a couple out via regular post for free this time.
The friendliness and generosity of some people is amazing!