I need to rewrap my handle bars.  I've switched from the noodle bars it came with originally to a set of steel mustachios bars.  My wife is better at wrapping them though, so if I'm really nice maybe she will.

This will bring the original parts count to 4, if you don't count things like bolts or bearings.  

Though I keep count, I don't actually mind the dwindling number.  When I got the bike it was hanging in a shed, missing a wheel and most of the components were rusted solid.  The frame was in great shape though, and much of the rust it has now is from winter biking since then.  

I like biking during the winter.  This one has been more bitterly cold than last 

year, but we have still clocked some miles.  The trails are for the most part pretty empty, and the folks who are on the trails are statistically more friendly.  Of course that is Minnesota friendly, where a "Good morning" is answered in kind.  I suppose that is a superficial way to determine friendliness but considering how snarky some people can be, I'll take the smiles I can get. 

Just today I had a customer thank me for being pleasant about fixing a ring my company made.  We saw it as something that we needed to do.   Without getting into too many details, the ring needed to be rhodium plated but our solution had been polluted.  So the plating on the ring turned a dark grey, rather than staying bright white.  By replacing the solution and being diligent about cleaning rings more completely the darkened plating should not be a problem again.  It isn't a problem to fix some things and being pleasant is part of customer service.

I don't think that this is limited to retail, I think that if people are pleasant everything moves more smoothly.