The other day, the plumber comes to take care of some work that needed to be done in our bathrooms. After he finished the work, we were talking over a cup of coffee about various stuff, and he asked me where I got his company name. I mentioned the Gilbert-Chandler Yellow Pages book we get dropped on our doorstep every fall. Guess he appreciated hearing that, because evidently those full-page ads are pretty damned expensive to run.

“What made you choose my ad over the others?”, he asked.

“I don’t know”, I replied, “perhaps if it was another day, I would have chosen someone else’s. I read auras, you know, and I guess that day there was a good aura coming off of your advertisement.”

He was quiet for a minute, then reached into his carry case.

“How would you like a refrigerator magnet?”, he asked, handing me one. “You know, businesses like mine do the Dex, the Yellow Pages, and Internet websites and the like, but me, I’ve always found that once you get a refrigerator magnet in someone’s kitchen and provide them good service, you’ve got ’em for life. I used to have me a huge rolodex of all my suppliers, but one day I tossed the damned thing out and just stayed with all the refrigerator magnets I’ve stuck on my file cabinets. Works best for me.”

Ah yes, technology at its finest. And yes, his magnet is prominently displayed on our refrigerator, along with the A/C guy, the pool guy, our landscaper, our real estate guy, and a bunch of vacation magnets from years ago. And I guarantee, the next time I need a plumber I won’t have to go through the Yellow Pages to find one.