Alterations Angst
Later this morning, a man will try to get alterations free on some suits I sold him earlier this month.
I may just tell him "no" and let him return the stuff. This will be maybe $100 out of my pocket. It was a big sale.
I may, instead, point out that
-The $750 he spent on the actual suits (accessories being a different matter) represented well over 450 hours of labor in a garment factory alone... to say nothing of the shipping and retail work investment.
-The $125 in alterations he is trying to welch out of represents over 6 1/2 hours of work for our on-site master tailor and is subsidized by our company. How much do you think a skilled craftsman like a tailor gets paid? They aren't flipping burgers back there.
-The $10 "gift" (an upgraded garment bag) that he demanded go along with the purchase came out of my pocket... albeit reduced by my employee discount. Men's Wearhouse doesn't do freebies. I, the salesman, did.
-I will be there even though I'm supposed to have the day off. I'm there because he and other customers asked me to be there. On *my* time.
I don't mean to play the sympathy card too hard. Men's Wearhouse makes a healthy profit, and I make a decent (if substandard) living at it. It just bothers me when people imply that my tailors or I are personally somehow cheating them. Oddly, I'm more protective of my pint-sized tailors' honor than I am of my own.
I may just tell him "no" and let him return the stuff. This will be maybe $100 out of my pocket. It was a big sale.
I may, instead, point out that
-The $750 he spent on the actual suits (accessories being a different matter) represented well over 450 hours of labor in a garment factory alone... to say nothing of the shipping and retail work investment.
-The $125 in alterations he is trying to welch out of represents over 6 1/2 hours of work for our on-site master tailor and is subsidized by our company. How much do you think a skilled craftsman like a tailor gets paid? They aren't flipping burgers back there.
-The $10 "gift" (an upgraded garment bag) that he demanded go along with the purchase came out of my pocket... albeit reduced by my employee discount. Men's Wearhouse doesn't do freebies. I, the salesman, did.
-I will be there even though I'm supposed to have the day off. I'm there because he and other customers asked me to be there. On *my* time.
I don't mean to play the sympathy card too hard. Men's Wearhouse makes a healthy profit, and I make a decent (if substandard) living at it. It just bothers me when people imply that my tailors or I are personally somehow cheating them. Oddly, I'm more protective of my pint-sized tailors' honor than I am of my own.