the Clap

The other day I was on the F train, heading home from work, knitting the 2nd in a pair of socks for the huz, when a woman tapped me on the shoulder to chat. Now, you regular reader(s) of my blog know that this is not uncommon, especially on the train; people women will randomly tap me on the shoulder (on account of my headphones) and tell me one (or all) of the following:

1. how much they like/love/are impressed by whatever I’m knitting
2. relay a quick anecdote about their mother/grandmother knitting
3. how they used to knit when they were a little girl
4. how interesting/odd/nice it is to see a man knitting

Well, this woman was no exception, she tapped my shoulder on Delancy Street and talked me up ‘til I got up at 34th and hit all 4 topics; insisting that I was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. Though she used to crochet, she wasn’t very good and couldn’t imagine making a sock with such tiny needles (“especially four of them”)! She was an absolute sweetheart and totally made my day, as random well-wishers tend to. See, that’s the thing: I love having strangers (with whom I’d normally have absolutely no social interaction) randomly telling me how awesome I am; it’s become a bit of a drug.

High End Moral Dilemma #237

I go to the same Starbucks, every day, before i go in to work.  It's conveniently located up the block from my office and is barely a mentionable detour, on the way from the F train. Granted, it can get ridiculously busy and overcrowded, throughout the day, but it's the only Starbucks within walking distance. Oh and did i mention i'm currently in a battle for Mayor of this particular Starbucks, on Foursquare? i digress. I know all the baristas; most by name, but a couple only by face; and they, in turn, know me and my “drinks”. Most of them know that Monday through Thursday I get a venti bold classic with 3 pumps and Fridays are usually a 5 shot venti skim something or other (initially this was to limit my caffeine and sugar but has, more recently, been to save money). Most of them also know to wait for what kind of 5 shot venti skim beverage i want; sometimes it's a Caramel Latte, sometimes it's a Peppermint Mocha, once in a blue moon it's a White Mocha; lately it's been a Cinnamon Dolce Latte.  sorry, another digression...where was it? oh yeah...

Ho-Ho-Hold UP

The holidays are right around the corner and I’m totally not having any of it. I’ve been seeing all kinds of Christmas decorations in my travels around 3 of the 5 boroughs, since Halloween. Wasn’t Halloween, like, last Tuesday? “My” Starbucks has had their iconic red cups since November 1st and started serving Christmas Blend this past Monday. It’s all happening way too quickly for me.

Unwound II: the Response

received this morning.

I am so sorry that your experience with us was less than satisfactory. I would like to address each of the issues that you highlighted in your email. You may not agree with our standpoint, but we like to keep an open dialog with our customers so we may learn and grow. We strive to provide excellent customer service – most of the time we succeed but occasionally we fall short.


1. Pricing – we do sell our yarns for the suggested retail price. The Manos brand has had two price increases in the last 6 months. We are one of the top retailers for Manos in the US and as such we sell through our stock quickly, so all of our stock was purchased at the new “higher” price. Many other stores do not sell as much of this yarn and do not raise their prices until they have to pay the increased price for new inventory, this makes it look like they sell for less, when in fact they do not. There are other sites on the internet that sell the Manos spaced dyed colors for as much as $19 per skein.

2. Winding fee – you may not agree with this, but it is not a free service that we offer. If a customer purchases here in the shop, we do not wind either, but they may use a ball winder and swift if they would like to wind the yarn themselves. This is a service that takes time and we feel it is appropriate to charge the customers who want the service.

3. Photocopied tags – We do not photocopy tags. Occasionally we rip a tag and will replace this with a handwritten tag. We do have one skein of the color you purchased on our shelf with a handwritten tag. It is a cardboard type tag and was received from our supplier that way. The skeins may have seemed wound different because they are. The Manos yarn is made in different locations and done manually, so each person has their unique way of securing the skeins. We have seen some that were very “odd” and difficult to wind, I have taken several skeins off the shelf to check the weight. The other skeins of this color do weigh about 3.3 – 3.4 ounces. I checked other colors and they weigh 3.3 to 3.7 ounces depending on the color. Again, the reeling of the skeins is a manual process and is not exact (but average). You should have the proper amount of yardage. We have questioned our supplier about weights before and were told the amount of dye in a color can change the weight and the thick and thin part of the yarn can vary, so the yardage should be accurate but the weight may vary. I am sorry you feel you received skeins that were either used or short in their yardage.

 

You did question if the skeins were returned, I reviewed our history and find that we have not had a return for this color. When we have a return where we question the weight, we pull the skein out of stock and sell it at a reduced price in our seconds bin.

 

Have a great day.

while i appreciate the reply, i'm afraid it has not changed my opinion of the store.

• it's poor customer services to charge a winding fee.
• there's no way that the dye can make up for .2 oz in the yarn's weight
• i think i know a photocopied piece of paper when i see it

All Wound Up

There are few things that put marzipan in my pie plate, quite like poor customer service. Now, I’ll be the 1st to admit that, having spent a decade or so in retail servitude, I have pretty high standards when it comes to being serviced shopping. Here’s my latest tale of whoa…