Customer Service

I made an email post yesterday and Blogger totally ate it. I guess you'll get two today to make up for it.
I'm kinda stuffed up and achey headed today. I ran out of the fabulous miracle allergy pills then forgot to go buy more last night after stitchin and bitchin. I can't get more till at least 5PM today so pray the snot doesn't kill me before then.

I realized yesterday that I have never knit anything out of my own handspun that stayed around the house. I used some super bulky koolaid dyed stuff for my section of an art project thing that then got mailed off to someone else, but that's all I've ever really knit up. So, last night I started a scarf with some of the first of what I'd call usable yarn I produced. It looks pretty decent and feels really smooshy. I'll try to get a pic of it later for today's second post.

Last night at SNB the topic of poor yarn store customer service came up. I seem to get a lot of that. I think it's because I look young, carry a big bag, and sometimes have weird hair colors not found in nature. Store owners in general usually keep an eye on me, and I don't mind as long as they're nice and don't give me attitude.
I'm not a demanding customer. In general, if you aren't busy with another customer say hi to me when I enter the shop, maybe ask if I'm looking for anything in particular, then if I say, "Nope, just looking." you leave me alone unless I ask you a question, don't hover or stare me down, and I'm a happy girl.
The store closest to me (about 50 miles away) has some people working there who are nice as pie, one of the owners is an old biddy, and they don't seem to believe in putting prices on anything. Old Biddy gives the impression that if you have to ask how much something costs then you probably can't afford it, and she doesn't want to speak to you at all if you aren't a regular customer. I rarely buy anything when Old Biddy is working unless it's something I came there specificly to get.
Once I went there to buy Touch Me for the Vintage Velvet scarf from Scarf Style. Old Biddy was working and hovered over the area staring at me but not offering to help or even saying hi the whole time I was trying to pick out a color. Finally she said, "You know that's $16.95 a ball, right?" without me even asking the price. ugh.
I bought 5 balls anyway, but I was mad the whole rest of the day and still haven't knit the scarf because I get annoyed all over again just picking up the yarn. I've heard similar stories from other local knitters.
The thing is, she knows they're the only game in town. The next yarn store is a two hour drive away. She doesn't have to give good customer service if she doesn't feel like it or if you aren't the kind of person she likes. You're an addict and she knows you'll be back anyway. I do go back once in a while, but more often than not anymore it's just to look at colors and feel things in person so I can run home and order it from the internet. pthhhh!!

Disclaimer: There are also tons of local people who swear this lady is super nice to them and they've never had a problem. I think it's mostly because these people are either regulars (in which case she knows how much they usually spend) or they just look to her like they probably have a fat wallet.