We went to a family run furniture store that has been in the area for almost as long as our house. We first chose a daybed to put in the music room, then proceeded to select a couch. The criteria for the couch was a bit specific since it have to be less than 31 inches in one dimension so we could get it through the door. On the showroom floor were 11 versions of one relatively nice couch that would meet the height requirement, but I didn't like any of the fabrics. Next to it sat a lovely Dark blue sleeper/sofa with good high arms all the way to the front edge, and nice lines.
Measuring this sofa by finger-spread it seemed just the right size as well, so I asked the salesman to measure it for me. That's where the war began. He insisted it wouldn't work. He REFUSED to measure it. He spoke to me like I was a dumb woman who simply didn't understand about furniture moving. He muttered something about the arms going too far forward making it absolutely impossible. Jay and I both asked him to just measure, but that was out of the question. He repeatedly refused, insisted he was the Authority and that we didn't know what we were talking about.
I tried to explain to him that if the largest dimension in one direction (In this case the height) was less than 31 inches, the couch would pass through the door that way whether the arms included in that height were halfway or all the way to the front of the seat. He couldn't get his head around that idea for love or money. In this case it would have been for money. His parting shot as he walked away from us was that he simply wasn't going to sell it to us.
We had to wait for our friend to get off her cell phone conversation before we could leave the store. In that time, as we stood by the front door waiting to leave, the salesman had a change of heart and measured the couch. He came over to us after our friend was free to leave and said he had gone ahead an measured it and it might work if we'd pay his delivery men whether or not they could get it into the house. I told him it wasn't a matter of maybe; it either would or wouldn't fit. I told him that after his behavior I wouldn't take the couch if he gave it to me. And we left humming "Pretty Woman."
Kathy Seven Williams
Thinking politicians should work on commission - if the polls don't buy what they're selling, they don't get paid.
