How not to make a sale

[muckefuck]

febrile, I thought of you today. They predicted snow--up to two inches accumulation, in fact. This despite forecasting a high of 37°. Didn't the meteorologists have the same chemistry courses I did? What we got, of course, was drizzle mixed with very wet snow that melted immediately. Later, the flakes faded and we were left with very icy rain for our walk to the carpet store and back. You might call it a "wintry mix". Still miss our fair freezing city?

Speaking of the carpet store, let me tell you a tale of two runners. One we picked out three months ago from a handful of samples on the floor. The salesmen told us they'd get the pieces from their supplier, stitch them together, and have the whole thing done within a week. A week later, they still didn't have the pieces. Two weeks later, the salesman handling our account was out and no one else knew the story. Two weeks after that, he was back, but didn't know what was going on either; he told us he'd call when he had some intelligence on the missing pieces. Six weeks after that, having heard nothing at all, monshu went in and cancelled our order.

Yesterday, we went to another carpet store. We browsed a dozen rolls or so on the warehouse floor, picked a design we liked, and asked when they could have it ready. "Today...business is a little slow." We said tomorrow was fine. When we stopped in this afternoon, it was all rolled up and ready to be hefted into a cab. I was a little disappointed that they'd simply serged the edges, and with a thread slightly different in colour from the rest of the edging; the other store had told us they'd use scraps from the pieces to border on each end. Of course, that reminds me of an old Jewish joke about selling bagels for less when you're out of them. So the runner ain't perfect, but it's on our floor now--and for over a hundred dollars less that the competition charged us (before refunding it when they couldn't be arsed to make good).

Guess where we'll be taking our business in the future.

As long as we were out in the wet, we decided to hit a homewares store and stock up on some inexpensive decorations. We got two table runners (one of which will be pressed into service as a tree skirt for the Norfolk), some candles for the advent wreath, and some tiny red ornaments. Now all we need are a cloth to protect the table and some faerie lights (steady and white is all monshu will allow in the house) and we'll be ready to decorate the tree. Even Mr "Christmas Is Not My Holiday" is excited!

Comments

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

I hate carpet. I'm quite allergic to dust and cat hair. I also grew up with hard ceramic floors (not tiles, though) and it's my favourite. They last forever and they're very easy to wash and keep desinfectated. Of course, they're cold if you walk barefeed on them in winter but that's what sleepers are made for.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

monshu's first choice for the den was tile, but we're concerned the floor is too uneven for that to work without a lot of messy adjustments. Recarpeting is the easy way out.

No t'enutgis, amic meu, si t'ho dic, però "sleepers" en lloc de "slippers" m'ha posat un somriure. Quan ma mare em va preguntar què volia per Nadal, li vaig dir "pantofles"!

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

Ah, gràcies per la correcció!
(jo no m'enfado gairebé mai perquè em corregeixin, eh? Al contrari, de tu se n'aprèn molt!)

Clar, no és el mateix una cosa per dormir que per lliscar-hi el peu :)

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

faerie lights

don't go all Celtic knotwork on me, please.

[febrile.livejournal.com]

Here in the windup to finals week, I think wintry mix might just break my spirit. Thank you for reminding me of my luck in my hour of need!

(Incidentally, for all but a few hours in midafternoon, I had to put on a light topcoat yesterday.)