Welcome back to Tire Mom! If you’ve been following the journey, you know that
everyone I gifted with tires was appreciative. The giving itself was never a hard sell, as you can imagine. Until I met Henry, Tire Mom #28. I saw him walking up to the counter in the warehouse tire department in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and he reminded me of my father-in-law. That had to be a sign, right? I joined him, introduced myself and told him my story. Could I buy his tires for him?

Okay, I’ll admit that some people blinked at me when I made that offer – or looked me over with cautious eyes – or asked questions before they accepted. Henry went way beyond that. Was this some kind of scam? Was he going to end up paying for the tires after I left? What proof did I have that I wasn’t trying to take him for a ride? (figuratively speaking) But most of me decided to try to persuade Henry.
Could I call one of my past recipients and have him give Henry a testimonial? Eyes still suspicious, he agreed. Fortunately Tire Mom # Whatever was able to take the call and gave me a glowing recommendation.

That won him over. Well, at least he accepted the tires. When I took out my credit card, he looked at the clerk and wanted to know if I could still scam him, even after the thing was processed. The guy behind the counter was patient – God love him – and reassured Henry that once I paid for the tires with my card, there was no way any financial responsibility could come back on him. Even after that, I wrote down Clayton’s full name so Henry could Google the obituary. I had to work pretty hard for that one.

If you want to comment – and why wouldn’t you! – can you tell us about a time when
someone had to be talked into accepting a gift from you? I hope you persisted. It is so worth it.

Stay safe,
Diana Hubner