I Want to Buy Some Peace of Mind There was a young man named Samer who decided to have his car fixed before taking it on a trip with his family. He took it to a garage near his house. The owner of the garage was a man named Abu Fadi. Samer said to him: “The car is making a strange noise. Check and see what’s wrong.” Abu Fadi inspected it for a while and said: “It’s nothing serious. It just needs a small part and a little work. It’ll cost you fifty dinars.” Samer agreed and left the car there. The next day, he came back to pick it up. Abu Fadi was standing in front of the garage. As soon as he saw Samer, he said: “The car is ready.” Samer was relieved. “Thank God. How much do I owe you?” Abu Fadi calmly replied: “One hundred and twenty.” Samer was shocked. “120?!” “Yeah,” Abu Fadi replied. Samer said: “But yesterday you told me fifty!” “Yeah, but when we opened the car, we found some other things that needed fixing.” Samer asked: “Okay, but why didn’t you call me before fixing them?” Abu Fadi wiped his hands with a rag and said: “Why would I call you? Are you going to teach me how to do my job?” Samer started getting angry. “So you fix things without asking me, and then charge me whatever price you want?” Abu Fadi’s expression changed. “If you don’t like it, leave the car here. What do you want me to do? Tell you your car is fine and then have it suddenly break down on the road?” Samer looked at his car, then at Abu Fadi. “So after all this, you expect me to go find another mechanic, have the car inspected again, and argue with you over the parts?” Abu Fadi shrugged. “That’s your problem.” Samer went quiet. He took the money out of his wallet and counted it. His friend, who had been standing beside him, was shocked. As soon as they left the garage, his friend said: “Are you crazy?! Why did you pay him? He’s the one who’s wrong!” Samer opened the car door. “I know he’s wrong.” His friend said: “Then why did you let him get away with it? You should’ve challenged the bill, found out what he changed in the car, and taken it to another mechanic!” Samer replied: “And then what? Spend two days arguing with him? Take the car to another mechanic and risk getting ripped off again? Keep wondering whether the parts are original or not?” His friend said: “But you lost seventy dinars!” Samer got into the car and said: “I lost seventy dinars, but I bought my peace of mind.” His friend stayed quiet for a moment. Samer started the car and said: “Money can be replaced… but who’s going to get rid of the headache?” That’s it. Consider it as if I bought my peace of mind for seventy dinars. “He bought his peace of mind… She bought her peace of mind… I bought my peace of mind…” We say this when someone chooses to give something up, pay extra, or walk away from a problem simply to get rid of the headache, stress, and trouble.