Since the movers lost a pedal on my bike and neither friends nor I could get the replacement pedals on the bike, I bit the bullet and wheeled my bike down to the repair shop tonight.
Herr Fahrrad Repair was rather grumpy, but I think he was already in that state of mind before I arrived. I asked in German if he spoke English because I couldn't think of all the words to make the request of what I needed on the bike and he said he spoke some. I told him, auf Englisch, that I bought replacement pedals and was wondering if I could pay him to put them on the bike for me. He said he had pedals for sale.
I said, "I have pedals that I just bought; is it possible for me to pay you to put them on?" He then asked if I didn't like his pedals. Crap! I don't think he took that very well, but I had just purchased the pedals and really didn't want to buy new ones. Since the store is also a bike repair place, I assumed that people could bring in bikes for repair. Yes, I know, I went in, asking if he'd speak English and if he could install pedals that I had bought somewhere else. That's probably not a successful combination.
I told him that I had just bought the pedals and he agreed to look at the bike. He said he could put my pedals on for 12 euros. I thought that was rather high but at that point what I thought was a simple errand had blown up in an epic unhappy experience for both of us so I agreed. It took him less than a minute to put the pedals on; it turns out if one has the proper tools (or any tools, for that matter! Guess what I didn't pack when I moved here?), it's very easy.
He ended up charging me 10 euros instead of 12. That was nice of him, and I left, hoping that I hadn't made him too unhappy with me. It's so frustrating when I inadvertently piss someone off and it's even more frustrating to have to shell out about $20 for new pedals and labor when it's the darn moving company's fault.
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