mastercraftsman

I'm thinking of changing my job title to "magician." Around noon, I was deep into compiling lots of cad drawings, and needing my lunch break. Just then my boss sneaks up on me. "You gotta minute?" "Fuck it. Yeah. What's up?" "This Yayhoo out in the parking lot dropped that unit going to Raleigh." "He sign the recieving ticket?" "Yeah." "So maybe he'll buy another one. Cha-ching...." "Well, I think you should work some magic, cause I think it'll persuade him we're the best." "Ah, that's why I'm not a businessman..."
So I go outside. My windbreaker is a reversible black/white deal with a Mandarin collar, which I've velcro'd shut. An upset contractor nursing his accident eyes me.

"What are you, the wood priest?" My boss looks up. "More of a magician." I run my fingers over a large marring dent a foot long but only .06" deep. I close my eyes, remembering a chart, rates of expansion with humidity and noting tangental grain with downswept cathedrals. I call over Tim, the new guy, who is the most eager of the bunch. "Get a wet towel, quick."
The contractor is getting nervous. "Look, I got to know if this can be fixed or not 'cause this is a remodel and I'm scheduled to install it today. Am I eating this one or not?" My boss feigns indifference. "He says it'll be fixed. It'll be fixed. Go to lunch." "Really, I can't be risking some hokus pokus games here, maybe I should just call and tell them. I can't have that sanded out. I have custom made hardware to mount there and dishing it out won't let it set flush."
Meanwhile I'm telling Tim to keep the wet cloth on the massive door for fifteen minutes, then to put it on the vacuum bed of the cnc machine, with the suction pods on the defect, holding a heat gun on it for another fifteen minutes. then to sand it all in the wide belt down fifteen thousanths. I figured fifteen was a nice round noumber to remember even though not optimum. Then I started walking to my truck.
"Where are you going, aren't you gonna fix this?" "To lunch. See you back here in 45 minutes." Groans.
I got back in time to see the magic. It had disappeared, and my boss had put a dry cloth over the "wound," and pulled it away with much fanfare. The contractor was awestruck, and shook my hand vigorously and often before he left....