I love supporting the lqs. I want them to survive and rise above the chain stores. I have no problems not being able to use a coupon every week, or the lqs not giving discounts unless you're a guild member. No problem. On top of this, I like developing relationships with my lqs and its employees. I like learning from them, getting their opinions on various projects..... etc. You catch my drift.
Now, tell me what you would do if you were in my shoes.
I have an lqs that will cut fabric for as little as 1/8 yard off the regular price bolt. Terrific. This morning, I went to the store. I was the ONLY customer there. So, I asked the employee if he wouldn't mind cutting 1/6 sections for me (which is slightly larger than 1/8 ) since I was working on a Dear Jane quilt, and really didn't need a whole bunch of extra fabric. In essence, I was asking him to cut me six-inch increments.
He said he would gladly do it since there wasn't anyone else in the store. If there were other people in the store, and it was super-busy, he would ask me to limit my selection to six bolts if all I wanted was 1/6" yard each. I can understand this completely.
If you do the math, if I bought ten "six-inch-increments" that comes out to 1 - 2/3 yards. I looked at the receipt. He charged me for 2 - 1/3 yard. So, an extra 2/3 yard. The fabric is $8.99 per yard. So, he charged me an extra $6 (give or take 20 cents for tax). In the grand scheme of things, $6 is not going to put me in the poor house.
But, when I pointed out the over-charge, he got completely defensive and reminded me that I had bought some fabric that was 'on sale.' I told him that the issue wasn't the price per yard. The issue was he had charged me for fabric that wasn't even cut at all......an EXTRA 2/3 yard.
Now, I went back and forth on this, and as much as I do appreciate the time he took to cut fabric from ten bolts:
1) He agreed to do this for me. I didn't force him to do it, nor were there any other customers who were waiting to be helped.
2) Eight of the ten bolts were regular priced fabric. Two were on sale at 25% off. So, it wasn't as if I was being 'cheap.' Plus, I even bought supplies on top of the fabric.
I thought that it was a relatively harmless and honest mistake. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I was just taken aback by his reaction and his comment about buying "discount fabric." If I was in his shoes, and a customer pointed out an error in calculation, the first thing I would have done would be:
1) Apologize; and offer to count out the yardages again.
2) Keep my mouth SHUT about any discounted fabric.
3) Not get defensive and offer to "make it right" so that both parties are happy in the end.
I know, in my case, it was just $6, but what if this guy is doing it to all customers? What if nine other customers came through the door, today and he did that to every single customer? That's an extra $60 for the store for "imaginary cut" inventory per day. That's an extra $300 per week that they're overcharging customers (they're open five days per week).
I think I was correct for saying something, but now I have a bad taste in my mouth about this store. Would you have let it go and not said anything at all, and YOU eat the $6 in fabric that was never given to you? I wasn't concerned about the six dollars as much as the 'principle' of it. What are your thoughts?