Well, that’s it. Mike’s career with They-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has reached its official and very clinical end. Stockholders everywhere, rejoice. We wish you well.

Goodbyes said, the only thing left to do today was to ship his computer back to its somehow-more-efficient-now-they’ve-let-an-exceptional-employee-go-to-serve-their-slavish-devotion-to-some-made-up-bottom-line corporate sponsor.

Apologies for the semi-accidental spillage of editorial commentary. That was entirely my own vitriol, and I promise to act more grown up-ish in the future. When I can.

In the meantime, I took Mike’s computer up to our local pack-and-ship joint to, well, pack and ship it. I asked the man behind the counter if he would ship via FedEx using the company’s account number (relax, they approved the expense).

It came out, in the course of conversation, that Mike had been laid off and I was there to overnight the remains of a promising career. No big whoop, and it was not an emotional scene.

He packed the equipment and labeled the box. I took my wallet out to pay, but he shook his head and said, “No charge.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said, “but I can’t possibly accept that. You packed this box for me, and I want to pay you.”

“No. Look, I used old materials that I had sitting around.”

“Yeah, but—”

“The thing is,” he said, “I’ve been there too. That’s why I own my own store now. You can’t trust anybody else, and we got to stick together.”

I thanked him with whatever sincerity those two silly, overused words can convey, and he wished me a “better day”.

That was a small kindness, but so much appreciated for its inestimable personal value. That gentleman’s empathy gave me pause to recognize, again, why it is important to buy local (I could have gone to one of the box stores expecting to pay a lower price for packing) – but also why it is important to be a small business owner.

A telemarketing representative called the other day to glean my opinions on grocery store brands. Apparently, there’s another ‘Super*Cheap’o Mart’ coming to town. The opinion I gave was this: “I have recently come to the realization that cheap goods come at too high a price for me.”

And wasn’t I right? Because I just saved $15 and my faith in humanity by buying local!

That guy’s shop is called Copy Right, by the way: Timberwood Blvd., in Charlottesville (up there by Forest Lakes, next to Food Lion and Tuesday Morning). http://www.copyrightva.com/

He does good work.