Layla tried to insist that I didn't have to pay for her, "You really don't have to."
But, I argued against that, "Look you drove and will probably spend more on gas, so I got this, really."
She gave a small nod and I handed over my card.
The waitress took all of the cards and rechecked to make sure she knew who was paying for whom. Once she was sure she knew she left.
…
Once she returned a few minutes later she put the cards down on their respective receipts and turned to leave.
But I stopped her, "Hey, excuse me."
She stopped and turned around slightly confused. "Yes?"
I continued, "I know this is going to sound weird but you wouldn't happen to know who did the tile here would you?"
She paused for a moment and said, "Actually I do. It was done by an old timer who used to frequently visit. But, he passed a few years back."
"Oh, I see. He did a great job. Thanks for telling me."
"Oh, it's not a problem. I actually get asked that a lot."
"I bet. He really did do a good job."
"Yep. Anyway I'll leave you to it."
"Thank you."
With that she turned and walked away.
Seth decided to make another comment, "Man you must really like tile."
I responded with, "Yeah, well I do like quality work and I have been thinking about investing in flipping houses or cars. I was more comfortable with renovating houses since I have experience and the housing market is kind of going crazy right now. Plus I feel like cars are notoriously hard to sell."
Now, I had never even had this thought until right now. But, I could teach a master class in Bull Shitting.
However, now that I have said it, a plan is starting to form in my head. I know that Layla is stressed about money and really wants to become a parts designer for cars. To do that she needs to get a mechanical engineering degree and a few years of experience for the licensing.
But, what if I make a company that takes absolute beaters and fixes them back up and puts them back out on the market. I could even make a Metube channel recording the whole thing.
Then in the background I could say that I am "inventing" new parts and she can help in her free time or even try to invent stuff herself. The inventing will be mainly run by AI but with the added assistance of my upgrade ability.
However, when it comes time to actually patent it I will use her name as inventor that way I could sell usage to other companies without too much trouble plus she would get loads of fame as a genius inventor and make lots of money.
It is a win-win situation except for the fact that she would never put her name on something she didn't make herself. I haven't known her long but I know at least that much about her.
So I will have to slowly feed her information and let her come to her own conclusions through numerous failures.
Man this is extremely manipulative and deceitful. I might be a worse person than I thought. But, we would both be happy from the situation.
This whole thought happened in a moment as the next Layla jumped in, "Cars are really hard to sell. Especially if they don't come from a trusted vendor."
Nathan chimed in saying, "And the housing market is going crazy, but most are looking at the new builds rather than anything renovated."
I could only hum in acceptance, "Hmm. I see, it was only a thought. But I guess it was short lived."
Everyone checked their receipts and were trying to decide on a tip when I just whipped out my wallet, withdrew a 20 and dropped it on the table.
There was almost a stunned silence until Emily finally spoke up, "You actually carry cash around?"
I nodded, "Yeah, I always carry $100 in 20s. Just in case you can't use your card."
Emily seemed kind of bewildered, "Really?"
"Yup, it is something my grandfather does and I picked up the habit. Plus if I ever need to tip I can just use a 20 dollar bill. That way it doesn't get taxed or the point of sale machine doesn't take its cut. $20 is $20."
Emily said, "huh I guess so, but what if the tip is more than 20%?"
"Well, I'm in a privileged position so if it is, it is not a big deal."
Nathan spoke up, "Man those POS machines really are evil, always taking a cut of any transaction."
"Yep, it sucks."
With that we all got up and left the restaurant.
While we were making our way back to the parking lot I pulled out my phone and Foolgled, "Is it legal to make your own car parts in the UFA?"
The answer I got was, "In the United Federation of Amerika you can make your own car parts for personal use, such as for custom builds, prototyping, or repairs. However any vehicle with custom made parts must meet state safety, emissions, and registration requirements to be driven on public roads. Modifications, especially exhaust systems, must comply with state inspection laws."
Nice. Dare I say God bless the Federation.
But that got me a little curious, for the repair side of the business could I just make the parts for a new engine and sell that without getting caught for patent infringement.
Another Foolgle!
The answer, "In the United Federation of Amerika, it is illegal to sell a patented product without the patent owner's explicit approval. However most repair shops either buy the parts from the manufacturer or pay for the licensing fee to be allowed to make the part in limited amounts."
My first thought was well if I just rebuild the whole engine with the same parts and serial number how would they know? I would just say on the videos that any of the cars we pick up have nice engines that just need a little cleaning.
But, I don't want to do anything that could put Layla in trouble because I wanted to save a few bucks. I will probably just have to order the parts, it's really not a big deal.