Yan Yutian ?

Dear Rube,

Every year at the convention's benefit auction, they auction off a lot or two of boxes of stoppers. At least twice in recent years, I've bought a lot which consists of at least 100 stoppers of all colours, materials and sizes.

As well, at least 20 years ago in NYC's jewelry district, I found a company selling onyx spacer beads. The flat round ones make superb collars. They were closing for the day, and didn't want to deal with me, a private buyer [they usually sell wholesale]. As I was exiting, I heard the owner ask in Yiddish if they could find a 'Tzenter', the 10th man for a prayer Minyan for Mincha, the afternoon service. The response was negative. I then offered to be their tenth, so the boss could say Kaddish for his late father of blessed memory.

After the prayer, I put on my jacket to depart. The assistant asked where I was going.
I said that they were closing, so I was leaving. He then said that the boss had said to let me have whatever I wanted, since I'd helped him honour his late father's memory.My response was that I did not want to be 'rewarded' for doing what any Jew should do [helping a fellow Jew honour his parent's memory], and I did not want to make him have to stay longer, since doubtless he'd had a long day.

He said, in Hebrew, "Behavior begets behavior", a classic ZaHaL [IDF] statement, and asked what my ID number started with [based on the first 3 digits, most Israelis can figure out when you were inducted into the IDF], and in which unit I'd served.
My problem was that I did not have the cash on me to get more than a few sizes of collars.

If I'd had the cash handy, I could have got 20 sizes from 3mm up to 30mm. Another problem was that I needed to buy 100 of each size. I would have needed about US$ 350 to get everything. I should have left him to measure out [they had special scales - he set the code and it measured out 100 of each], and run to an ATM, and got the cash.
But I felt guilty keeping him in after work, so I only have 2 sizes. But if one fits, they are really gorgeous.
Best,
Joey