Warning: Rant ahead.Yesterday I wanted to make Brielle a new workout outfit. She wanted matching leggings and a top, so we went to our local
fabric store to buy some black spandex fabric.
I arrived at
the store with my 40% off coupon, which was a good thing because the fabric was several dollars more per yard than the other fabric store that I frequent.
We took the bolt of fabric to the cutting table, took a number and patiently waited for our turn.
I should have known that something was up when the lady in front of me finished and rolled her eyes at me as she walked away from the cut table.
When our number was called, I stepped up to the table, handed the bolt to the girl and asked for two yards.
She looked at the bolt and said "I'm not sure if there's that much here" then she unrolled all of the fabric and started to measure it. She seemed to be having great difficulty deciding which end of the fabric to start measuring from. She finally decided on an end to start with and tried to line it up with the yardstick.
I immediately noticed that the edge of the fabric had been previously cut at an angle, and she was measuring from the longest edge of the fabric. I pointed this out to her, and she tried several times to straighten the edge, she was about to trim it even and then decided that it wasn't that uneven (which it was)
She continued to struggle with measuring the fabric, complaining that the spandex just wouldn't cooperate, and finally measured the two yards and there was just barely an inch of fabric left over.
She asked another employee what she should do with this remaining inch of fabric.
"You can offer to sell it to her for 50% off."
She turned to me and asked if I wanted to buy the remaining inch of fabric for half price. I stood there dumbfounded and said "You're really going to cut that off?"
She looked at me with a straight face and said "Yes, unless you want to buy it. We will give it to you for half price."
Then I said "ARE YOU SERIOUS? I have NEVER been to a fabric store where they were this close on measurement and haven't just included the extra inch or two."
She replied "I'm sorry, this is my first day here and I'm just doing what I was told to do."
Then the older lady chimed in "We need to come out even on our measuring. it needs to be exact because sometimes they measure the fabric at the checkstand and we need to be correct."If you want to buy the extra fabric, we will sell it to you for half price."
I then pointed out to the older lady that the edge of the fabric had been cut unevenly on an angle to start with and the girl jumped in and said "It was only a quarter of an inch and I already gave that to you!"
I knew for sure that this wasn't true because I had watched her measure from the very edge of the fabric.
By now I was fuming. "What on earth are you going to do with one inch of fabric?!!! You can't do anything with one inch of fabric. You're only going to throw it away, I can't believe that you are really going to cut that off!"
"If you want it" said the older lady "we would need to charge you for it. If they measure it at the checkstand, the numbers need to add up."
I couldn't believe what she was saying. Never in my life have I seen them measure fabric at the checkstand at this particular
fabric/craft store.
So I told her to go ahead and cut off the inch.
She trimmed off the inch (with much difficulty, I might add) handed me the fabric and told me to have a nice day.
I went to the checkstand and paid for my fabric. Nobody measured the fabric again. I kind of wished that I had because when I got home, I measured the fabric and it was one inch short.
I measured it again, it was still one inch short.
I measured it a third time. You guessed it, One. Inch. Short.
This was spandex fabric and I think she might have stretched it a bit as she was measuring it, either that or the yardstick on the cutting table is short.
Over the years, I have spent literally thousands of dollars on fabric at
this particular fabric store. I have been buying fabric there for over 20 years!
Tomorrow I will call the manager. Do you think I should ask her to refund the money they overcharged me on that inch of fabric that I didn't get.
This really happened, I only wish I was making it up.