“You’re going the wrong way!”

A stranger was waving him down like that scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

“You’re going the wrong way!”

That was Matt’s morning.
Except instead of driving the wrong way…his truck was on fire.

He’d made it maybe ten miles when the smoke started. Nothing too dramatic. But just enough to make you glance at the gauges. So he pulled over.

A couple cars stopped behind him and a guy came running up the shoulder waving his arms.

“Hey! Your truck’s on fire!”

Matt turned around. Flames were already pushing out of the front licking at the wheel wells.

Within minutes the truck didn’t look like a truck anymore. More like something that lost a fight with a flamethrower.

By the time the fire department got there, most of what had been inside was gone.

But somehow his Vortex Spitfire optic survived.

When Matt emailed us the photos, I had the same reaction you probably just did...HOLY SMOKES!

Later when we talked, he said something that made me laugh.
“Funny enough, I didn’t even need you guys to replace it. Technically, it still worked!”

But the best part of Matt's story had nothing to do with the fire.

It was what happened after...

As he started replacing what he’d lost, he noticed how different companies responded. A few stepped up. Most didn’t. That tells you everything.

That reminded me of something we’ve believed around here for a long time:

A company’s values aren’t proven when everything goes right. They’re revealed when everything goes wrong.

Really wrong. Like, truck fire wrong.

So we replaced the optic. No questions asked.

Then Matt mentioned something else he’d lost in the fire. His Vortex binoculars. He and his wife Ashley use them when they go whale watching near Whidbey Island. The problem...they only had one pair.

And you know what that means…
a binocular tug-of-war.

So we fixed that too.
Two pairs.
One for Matt. One for Ashley.
Did I mention marriage counseling is part of our service? 😉

You see, most people think we’re in the optics business. We’re not.

We’re in the business of how we show up on someone’s worst day.