What Would You Do?

I had an interesting conversation with an irritated friend of mine. She’s not irritated with me, she’s upset with the way she was treated at a retailer’s.

She stopped in at her local JoAnn’s to pick up some interfacing for a quilting project. In a rush and out of sorts, she decided to rely on the sales clerk’s expertise to accurately calculate how much she needed to purchase.

She described the project in detail, telling them she’d done this same project before but couldn’t remember the yardage she needed to purchase.

I'm making a quilt. Most of the blocks are (x), but some are (y).
How many yards do I need?

The clerk’s response?

I’m not good at math.

I didn’t tell my friend this, but I clearly remember having to take a math test when I applied for a job in the sewing section of Hobby Lobby 15 years ago. Boy, how times have changed!

So my friend asked another sales clerk in the fabric section. Her response?

What you want to do isn’t possible. You’re doing it all wrong.

My friend was flabbergasted.

Ummm…this isn’t my first time at the rodeo. I have done this before. I just can’t remember off-hand how much interfacing I need and I don’t really want to do all the calculations right now.

The clerk said:

Well, I’m not going to help you. You are going to screw it up because you are already doing it wrong, and I don’t want to be a contributor to that.

My friend:

Just give me 5 yards and I’m out of here.

I was shocked that she went through with the purchase. Had it have been me, I would have said:

Excuse me. Could you please call your on-duty manager?
I need to speak to him/her right now.

Then I would have reminded the store manager, in front of the uppity clerk, that now is not the best time of life for retailers. The adage, “The customer is always right” may have been overstated at times, but it certainly reminded us all that a critical part of the sales experience is a purchaser.

So my question for you, dear readers, is: What would you have done?