Weekenders

I had a really nice weekend with hubby, can’t believe it has gone by already On Saturday we went for a walk into town looking for a suit for him to wear to a Christening next month. We are having a bit of a job finding one that he likes and we came away empty handed again. We shall try and have a better look when we go on holiday, there might be more choice than there is round here.

While we were wandering about, we also decided to have a look for a new chair to go near our computer. The one we have is great but often we want to have a look at things together so one of us gets the comfy seat and the other gets to perch on a dining table chair which is not very comfy at all. Where you are leaning round it leads to you having a bad back for the rest of the day. Anyway, brand new chairs are a lot of money and so we decided to have a look in cheap shops and charity shops around town. There was one that we quite liked but it was still quite pricey for a second hand thing so we decided to go and have a think about it. Then yesterday it was another surprisingly pleasant day so after giving some relatives a lift to the airport we decided to go for a ride out in the car. We went to a sweet little town nearby and had a stroll around the narrow streets looking in the shop windows and eating ice cream. We came across an antiques shop so decided it might be worth having a look in there for an old chair. It wasn’t like an up market antiques shop or anything, it had loads of stuff in it, all higgledy piggledy. Upstairs we came across 2 rooms full of chairs, there was one caught our eye straight away, it wasn’t perfect but it would certainly have fit the bill with a clean up. So we went back down the stairs to enquire. The shop owners were a little odd but obviously have been in the game for a while and he tried to claim that the chair had recently been refurbished (I think not!) and so he seemed to feel this justified a £400 price tag!!!! I politely said we would have to think about it … but we don’t have to think very long about being ripped off!!!! He wasn’t unpleasant but he had told a blatant fib and then started out a potential barter with a ridiculous amount so we didn’t really need to give it any thought at all.

The fun didn’t end there, we walked around a bit more and came across another antiques shop. This one looked even less likely for a bargain find to be honest and I should have gone with my gut instinct that it wasn’t the place for us, but we went in anyway. I realised my mistake as soon as we went in. As we walked towards the rear of the shop the lady and gentleman gave us, well I say us but me in particular, a most unpleasant look, the woman literally looked me up and down from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet with a most disgruntled look on her face. I might not have been as well dressed as I could be but how many people go around looking at weird old antiques shops on a Sunday dressed up to the nines!?? It really was one of the most horrible sensations I have had in a long time because she so obviously judged me before I had even spoken a word. I think I am a reasonably nice person and I try really hard to make sure I don’t judge people on their appearance because it is such a minor part of a person- we all have off days after all! Anyway, we obviously didn’t give off the kind of vibe they wanted in their shop so we had a cursory look downstairs where the furniture was but I had already decided I wouldn’t be spending any money there. This was only emphasised when they sent one of their equally odd staff down after us to follow us round…like we were going to steal a chair and stick it up our jumpers! It really ruined my afternoon and made me feel a bit shit about myself all evening. It hurt because it was a judgement made about a certain aspect about me that I can do little to change and to be honest I don’t feel I should have to! I was not dressed badly just casually with my hair scraped back in a clip. This isn’t my first horrible experience of shops in ths particular town I’m afraid and not the first time I felt very judged on my appearance. I know I am certainly not the only person this has happened to but I honestly do not understand why you go into any industry where customer service is a large element of what you do if you have such obvious distaste for anyone that doesn’t fit into the shape of your ideal customer!

The upshot is I would far rather go back to the charity shop and have a slightly scruffy chair for a quarter of the price where the money is going to a worthwhile cause and not to fuel some heartless snobs enterprise.  Rant over…