I’m sorry, but I’m mildly cranked and I just have to rant. I feel like I’m allowed to now, especially, because I’m a shop owner myself.
I called a to-remain-unnamed needlework shop this afternoon in search of a pair of the airline-approved Dovo round-tip scissors. This is important because I NEED to be able to stitch on the 5 hour flight to Salt Lake City. No ifs, ands or buts. And I would seriously prefer not to run the risk of an over-zealous TSA employee deciding to confiscate my scissors, even if their own website says that sharp pointed scissors under 4″ in length are allowed.
So, anyway, I call and ask if they have them in stock. She politely puts me on hold and goes to check. She comes back and says that yes, they have them in stock. GREAT! 1 point to them. Then I ask her if it would be at all possible to get them out tomorrow via Priority Mail because I need them right away. This is where it gets dicey. She hesitates, so I kindly mention that I’m aware that their shipping department is a bit backed up right now, but I am leaving for a trip next Saturday and really need to have these so that I can take them on the plane. She says that they are backed up one week on order shipments. ONE WEEK! Holy cow! I would move heaven and earth to keep that from happening, if at all possible. But, she says that she will bump me ahead of a few other orders and see what they can do.
So, here I sit, with a $28 pair of Dovo scissors ordered that I may or may not get in time. Do you think that I am a satisfied customer? Um… no.
And here is where I proudly get to proclaim – NOT IN MY SHOP! I’m sorry, I know that they might be in a tough spot if they are that far behind in orders, but if I had gotten that phone call, my response would have been something like this:
“Yes, we have those in stock. I will make sure that they are packaged up and go out with tomorrow’s orders. Using Priority Mail, they should arrive sometime next week before you leave. If, for some reason, they do not arrive in time, please call me once you’re back in town to discuss whether you want to keep them or return them. But, I will do my best to get them to you next week.”
End of discussion. No excuses about how backed up the shipping department is or how difficult it might be. Just do it. If I were that woman, I would have personally picked up the package of scissors, walked them back to shipping and ask for them to be packaged up right that minute. Because, really, if you are that far behind with your orders, is anyone going to notice if their package arrives one day later? And with a package that small, how much impact would it truly have?
But that’s just me…
Needless to say, had I had any other options of places to order these, I would have started elsewhere. Gosh, I can’t wait until I have the money to be able to order stuff like that for One Star’s Light. I will try my absolute best to NEVER leave a customer hanging like that. I can either do it or I can’t.
“Do or do not, there is no try.” – Yoda
That was an absolute scandal! 😯
But unfortunately some stores are like that… customers are there just because they don’t have anything better to do than wait to be served properly, or at all or or or… I just hate that kind, and when confronted one like that will never ever return to same place again.
Share the name so we can boycott them. 8)
Fortunately there are stores like OSL! 😀
I’d be afraid of taking a $28 pair of Dovos on an airplane in case you get a more than zealous screener who decides that she likes them for herself and cites “increased security” to confiscate them. I keep a pair of rounded tipped Fiskar Kids for trips like that. Sure, I can’t cut quitet as closely as I’d like, but I can certainly get close enough to not catch tails while en route and then trim when I’m safely home.
Oh boy, that reminds me of so many stores that I “used” to shop in … there’s nothing better to make you start looking elsewhere than lack of service! I keep my Clover cutter for such trips – I accidentally left my Gingher’s in my carry-on bag a couple of years ago, and you only ever do that once! 😉
Oh no! If it’s the shop you pointed me to- cough once. If it’s 123 Stitch, cough twice. If it’s ABCstitchtherapy, sneeze. (Thought that might make you laugh.)
I ordered from all three of those! Hope it itsn’t one of them! Yikes! And these are biggie order for me.
But what happens if all the customers start calling and saying they NEED their items ASAP? What happens if a customer finds out other people are being bumped ahead of their orders. I know I would not be a happy, or returning, customer if I found out someone called and got their order bumped ahead of mine because they felt they needed their item faster than I needed mine. But that’s just me.
I would have phoned someone else. They are of the mind set “I could do my job just fine if it weren’t for these customers”. Which is the reason they are employed.
I am great at saying “If it weren’t for the likes of me, you wouldn’t have a job!”
They should employ some temp help to get over their bad patch, their back up on orders is not your problem.
Sadly, it seems that “most” ONS’s consider a week or so to be a reasonable turnaround time for shipping orders and I have actually gotten some pretty sarcastic/unfriendly responses when I’ve emailed business owners to ask where my order is that was ordered 2 or 3 or even more weeks previously. 🙁 I used to work in retail and we had to ship out within 24 hours of receiving an order, so I’m not really interested in all their excuses. I do hope you get your scissors!!!
I totally agree, Jenna. If your scissors don’t make it on time, you could use clippers or a dental floss container to cut your thread on the plane.
I agree with you completely. If the person knew she couldn’t do it, then she should have said so, up front. One of my biggest rants about Online stores (stitching or otherwise), is lack of communication. I like to know when you’ve shipped something, and if it isn’t in stock or it’s on backorder, then let me know. I’m a pretty reasonable gal, if you let me know what’s going on. Good luck with your scissors, I’ve been too afraid to try to bring some on a plane. Let me know how it goes for you!
I’m going to disagree here. The shop is behind, I’m sure there is a good reason, probably swamped with Market orders, or a recent sale, or sickness, etc etc. If I had an order that I had been waiting a week for and someone else’s order got bumped ahead of me, for whatever reason, I would not be happy and I probably would be ranting about it. I follow your blog, you’ve had this trip planned since last month – why did you wait until the last minute to order these scissors and now rant because they’re not dropping everything to send them to you?
I don’t think that I would take a $28 pair of scissors on a plane regardless of if they were certified as “airline safe” or not. If they weren’t confiscated by an overzealous TSA agent, I’m sure that I would lose them somewhere anyway.
My vote is for a cheap pair of kid’s scissors. I have never had any problems taking them on a plane…and I wouldn’t be upset if they were confiscated or lost (since they only cost a dollar!!) They work just fine for anything I can manage to do on a plane.
Just flew through some of the most conservative airports in the country. Pointed scissors under 4″–no one even asked to open my bags.
As someone who flys a lot for work, I’m with all the others who say they’d never take a $28 pair of scissors on a plane. TSA is so inconsistant that it’s enough to make you crazy. Load some needles before you leave or have some fibers cut to length and then buy some kid craft scissors (the plastic ones work just fine on fibers) to cut your ends. Your money would be better spent on buying one of the TSA lots of scissors on ebay that are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and if they get lost or confiscated it’s not a biggie.