A couple of days ago I responded to this but before I completely finished typing my laptop locked up! GGggggrrrrr!!!!!
Crashnquilt really focused on one of the thoughts I had. This shop is in the business to sell fabric and make a profit to keep the shop open to keep the customers happy and return for business.....endless cycle. They have got to sell the entire bolt to make "X" dollars in profit. Does it matter if they sell it in 6 inch increments or by the yard??? Either way, the fabric gets sold and he makes his profit. Rocket science right?
YOU are a paying customer who chose to spend your money in their shop. Smart thing for them is to cut what the customer wants. Your purchasing power is NOT dependent on the number of other customers who enter the store ahead of you or after you or who is in line before or behind you to get fabric cut. Each customer, IN TURN, should be given the same gracious service, period. I've worked myself up now to where scenarios like that, I don't remain quiet and I don't deal with blatant rudeness, especially in service industries. I am also very patient and understanding as circumstances dictate.
What the son did was inexcusable across the board. I can't tell you what to do, but for me, it doesn't faze me that his parent owns the shop. Actually, it makes what he did even WORSE!!! I'd "kill" my kid to represent me like that in business and damage customer relations that I'd worked so hard to build up and depend on to maintain.
I hope you find a solution that is workable for you and brings resolution. Sorry you had such a bad experience.
I just had an opposite experience at one of my LQS. After selecting about 6 or 7 single FQ's, I kept switching them around, thought I had counted right but when ringing up the total she came up one off from my count. I questioned myself thinking maybe I miscounted as I kept swapping them around. Distracted with finishing the transaction and chit-chat I left. got home to discover I indeed had one more than she had rang up. Since it's out of the way I didn't go back immediately to pay for it. So, I did take it back after work one day. It was 2.75. I walked in and it was the very lady who rang me out with this that assisted again. I explained why I was there. All she had to hear was that I was undercharged and she started ringing it up without any other conversation. I was really disappointed, not that I was a hero for the day, but the fact that I went out of my way doing the right thing (of course that was the satisfaction, I'd never think of not paying for it regardless) however, I barely got a thank you at the end for coming back to "help keep their inventory straight."
Truth is, of all the shops by me, even being out of the way, it's the closest to me. They carry more vibrant, colorful prints than what I'm normally drawn to but sometimes I "need" a quick fix, so I end up there.