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Hello...this story comes from the land of dry cleaners.
I worked at a dry cleaners for 3 years and had some really crappy customers and some really insanely awesome customers as well.
And then there was the barterer.
The barterer came in one fine, otherwise lovely day with a dress to be altered for her daughter. Her daughter had tried on the dress and found it to be too larger in the chest. So the barterer comes in with the dress and asks to have it altered, we say no problem. She says, "It's not a hard job why do you charge $10.00 for it." I explained it was because our alterations lady basically got paid the piece as it was impossible to monitor her work by the hour and as she retained the larger part of the cut we had to make money on it some how.
During this exchange she decides that the dry cleaners is apparently a market in New Dehli and it is worth the effort to try to talk me down on the price... 5 minutes of haggling and she agrees to pay the price. So we took it in....the dress had not been premarked for this alteration nor did her daughter come in but our alterations lady was truly the s*** when it came to sewing so the alteration went perfectly.
Several weeks later the barterer is back with two more dresses to be altered in the same way. She even brought the previous dress in as an example for the alterations lady to follow. Thankfully she didn't haggle the price this time. The alterations get done and she takes them home.
Fast forward about a week and she is back with one of the dresses saying it doesn't fit, it's too tight and she needs us to redo it. We say no problem, that'll be $10.00 please.
Now bear in mind the next bit was repeated about 3x for each sentence...
"But I already paid for it to be altered."
"Yes Ma'am and we altered."
"But you didn't do it right."
"Well Ma'am we did it to your specifications. So I need to charge you."
As I said, this was repeated about 3x. Then we move to the territory of haggling once more.
"Well what if I paid you $5.00?"
"I'm sorry Ma'am but I have to charge you full price."
"But I already paid for it." (Do we see where this is going?)
"Yes Ma'am. You paid to have it altered and we altered it. We did it to YOUR specifications. I'm sorry if it is too tight but we will be more than happy to redo it. However as the alterations were done to YOUR specifications we can not be accountable if the dress doesn't fit. So I will need to charge you $10.00 to have it redone."
(It isn't as though mistakes were never made by us and our alterations lady. They were. And my boss made sure to rectify the mistakes and if the mistake WAS actually our fault of course she wouldn't charge and would often give a credit as well.)
So the barterer pays the money and leaves. We alter the dress and she comes back, all is well.
Skip ahead another 2-3 months. And she's back. By now everyone recognizes her car on sight and they run to the back to avoid her and somehow I'm always the dope that gets to deal with her.
So in she walks and I am waiting with my big, fake customer service smile and she sets down a load of shirts.
Shirts at the time were $1.55 for regular press and $1.75 for hand press.
As I sift through the shirts I discover a pair of pants in the load. (do you feel the headache coming on?)
I write down the price of pants $4.25.
"Why did you charge me $4.25?"
"Because that's the price of pants."
"But it's no more than a shirt."
"Yes Ma'am but they're pants."
Again, lather, rinse, repeat 3x.
"But it's no more than a SHIRT."
"Yes Ma'am, but they are PANTS. We have a different method to pressing pants than shirts. It takes more time and more effort to do so. So unfortunately, regardless of the weight of the pants they are still PANTS and I must charge you for PANTS." (I'm not yelling, I just stress certain words hoping that some level of subliminal effect will pierce her psyche and help her realize that PANTS do not equate a SHIRT.)
"Never mind, I'll take them home to do them myself."
It was all I could do not hit her with her own pants.
The part that actually makes me laugh about this visit, while we were finishing the order I called her by her name. She looks up, rather pleasantly surprised and asks,
"Did you go to school with my son?"
"No Ma'am."
"Then how do you know my name?"
"Well, you've come in several times and I have always been the one to help you. And each time has been...memorable."
(Later my coworkers told me I deserved a cookie for my tact and diplomacy.)
She left happy. I was happy she left. I never saw her again before I quit and I can't say I feel all that terrible about it either.
I worked at a dry cleaners for 3 years and had some really crappy customers and some really insanely awesome customers as well.
And then there was the barterer.
The barterer came in one fine, otherwise lovely day with a dress to be altered for her daughter. Her daughter had tried on the dress and found it to be too larger in the chest. So the barterer comes in with the dress and asks to have it altered, we say no problem. She says, "It's not a hard job why do you charge $10.00 for it." I explained it was because our alterations lady basically got paid the piece as it was impossible to monitor her work by the hour and as she retained the larger part of the cut we had to make money on it some how.
During this exchange she decides that the dry cleaners is apparently a market in New Dehli and it is worth the effort to try to talk me down on the price... 5 minutes of haggling and she agrees to pay the price. So we took it in....the dress had not been premarked for this alteration nor did her daughter come in but our alterations lady was truly the s*** when it came to sewing so the alteration went perfectly.
Several weeks later the barterer is back with two more dresses to be altered in the same way. She even brought the previous dress in as an example for the alterations lady to follow. Thankfully she didn't haggle the price this time. The alterations get done and she takes them home.
Fast forward about a week and she is back with one of the dresses saying it doesn't fit, it's too tight and she needs us to redo it. We say no problem, that'll be $10.00 please.
Now bear in mind the next bit was repeated about 3x for each sentence...
"But I already paid for it to be altered."
"Yes Ma'am and we altered."
"But you didn't do it right."
"Well Ma'am we did it to your specifications. So I need to charge you."
As I said, this was repeated about 3x. Then we move to the territory of haggling once more.
"Well what if I paid you $5.00?"
"I'm sorry Ma'am but I have to charge you full price."
"But I already paid for it." (Do we see where this is going?)
"Yes Ma'am. You paid to have it altered and we altered it. We did it to YOUR specifications. I'm sorry if it is too tight but we will be more than happy to redo it. However as the alterations were done to YOUR specifications we can not be accountable if the dress doesn't fit. So I will need to charge you $10.00 to have it redone."
(It isn't as though mistakes were never made by us and our alterations lady. They were. And my boss made sure to rectify the mistakes and if the mistake WAS actually our fault of course she wouldn't charge and would often give a credit as well.)
So the barterer pays the money and leaves. We alter the dress and she comes back, all is well.
Skip ahead another 2-3 months. And she's back. By now everyone recognizes her car on sight and they run to the back to avoid her and somehow I'm always the dope that gets to deal with her.
So in she walks and I am waiting with my big, fake customer service smile and she sets down a load of shirts.
Shirts at the time were $1.55 for regular press and $1.75 for hand press.
As I sift through the shirts I discover a pair of pants in the load. (do you feel the headache coming on?)
I write down the price of pants $4.25.
"Why did you charge me $4.25?"
"Because that's the price of pants."
"But it's no more than a shirt."
"Yes Ma'am but they're pants."
Again, lather, rinse, repeat 3x.
"But it's no more than a SHIRT."
"Yes Ma'am, but they are PANTS. We have a different method to pressing pants than shirts. It takes more time and more effort to do so. So unfortunately, regardless of the weight of the pants they are still PANTS and I must charge you for PANTS." (I'm not yelling, I just stress certain words hoping that some level of subliminal effect will pierce her psyche and help her realize that PANTS do not equate a SHIRT.)
"Never mind, I'll take them home to do them myself."
It was all I could do not hit her with her own pants.
The part that actually makes me laugh about this visit, while we were finishing the order I called her by her name. She looks up, rather pleasantly surprised and asks,
"Did you go to school with my son?"
"No Ma'am."
"Then how do you know my name?"
"Well, you've come in several times and I have always been the one to help you. And each time has been...memorable."
(Later my coworkers told me I deserved a cookie for my tact and diplomacy.)
She left happy. I was happy she left. I never saw her again before I quit and I can't say I feel all that terrible about it either.