"Why Hasn't Anyone Thought Of This Idea?"

Inflation...  a nickel works, but a quarter works better!

My wife has a step stool that goes back to her teenage years singing in a band. When we moved to SoCal, she brought that step stool. It always came in handy where a full blown ladder would be too much. Unfortunately, she never ever used it again for it's original purpose. A sad event in my mind.

Over the years, it lost its sentimental value and became more and more a tool. Or so I thought.

Therese was really upset that I had personally wrecked the stool and any sentimental attachment by using it as most step stools are used for. It was laden with paint, plaster, glue and started to rust.

But, it is still alive and well. It has outlasted many lighter but less well made equipment. The only problem is that the legs of the stool have cut through many a plastic or rubber cup. After a few years, it inevitably cuts right through them and etches into the floor, the carpet, the grass, concrete, whatever!

After changing a few ceiling light bulbs I noticed it was needing replacements once again, and naturally, I had every size cups except the four that I needed. "You know, I thought to myself, it wouldn't etch right through the bottoms if I can put something metal inside of the cup... Like maybe, a coin."

"Genius idea, I said to myself... Absolute genius!"

Well, a dime or a penny didn't work at all, and a nickel worked better as I sized up one of the older cups by dropping the coin inside. A quarter, even though I had to struggle to jam it inside, worked best. "Inflation," I thought, "Wouldn't you know it?"

Later that day, I went to a local hardware store to find the correct size cup for the stool's lethal ways.
I complained to the diminutive, ball of energy, about the hassle of having to every five years or so, find and replace these cups. I showed her my wrecked sample with the hole cleanly cut out of the bottom, and she said...

"Well, I don't have it in white, only black, but I can tell you how to prevent the legs from cutting out the bottoms."

But before I could tell her of my genius solution, she said," I can sell you some metal washers just the right size that you can slip inside of the cup. It can definitely help make a difference!"

I thanked her for the added advice, bought the cups and the washers to fit and walked out, satisfied, but disgusted.

"Genius, eh?"

Copyright 2016/Ben Bensen III