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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Some Jersey Girls Blow......

Me Away.

This happened last Sunday,
and it has taken me this long to cool off enough
not to use foul language while telling you this story.

I was given a design lead from a salesperson at work.
Anyway, it was arranged {without my meeting them}
that I go to the 'new home' on Saturday.
The new home owner is a 'snow-bird' and will only be living here about 5 months a year.
But it is crunch time right now for the snow bird
and their new nest.
If they want to have any furniture to use this winter in Florida
before it is time to pack up again and drive back to 'JERSEY', or where ever else they come from,
they must BUY and or ORDER NOW!
I get to the house and it is a group of women 
and one weird man.
I still don't know what his role was.

But the woman were all excited.....
Of course they are bombarding me with design questions-
(which I do not answer)
and the woman who is the home owner
 is telling me how she wants these 
'over the top'....
dripping with fringe, beads, and crystal 
window treatments.
I go back to the showroom and into my office 
where I do the floor plans and window plans.
No materials of course,
because the home owner {Jackie}
wants to pick fabrics with me on Sunday 
{the next day - kinda' have to drop everything for a snow bird's schedule}
for these fabulous draperies.
Okay, let's time travel back to last Sunday around 3PM
Here they come.
Jackie and her Jersey Girls.
I swear, this is what I have to deal with.
Not all the time.
But, most of the time.
They ALL come back to my office 
and the fabric area 
to show me pictures of the type of trims 
and drapery styles 
that Jackie is interested in.
And then....
'Jersey Jackie' asked me for 
the floor plans to the dining room.
I asked her why would she need the floor plans,
we haven't even walked the floor to look at 
dining rooms.
She said
"Oh, I just need to know the size of the room
 to make sure that the dining room I just bought will fit"
I said:
" I am sorry, the floor plans are property of the company"
and then
one of them said to me:
"I don't understand.....you are getting the window treatments!!"
I tried to explain that our service was free to buying customers only.
And that this was a strictly enforced company policy-
 No floor plans are given to anyone
until the plans are given for the furniture placement 
of  the furniture purchased here.
Then.....
this one says:
"I can't believe you won't give her the plans!!"
"You are getting the window treatments"

It was getting weird and rude.

I asked Jackie:
"if you don't mind.....where did you buy your 
dining room furniture?"
"and did you buy anything else?"
She said:
"I got everything at ASHLEY FURNITURE and CITY FURNITURE"


Again.....this one says to me:
"I don't get why you won't give Jackie the measurements"
"Why did you come out and take the measurements?"


I said:
"I have already told you why I will not give you the plans"
"If I am terminated for giving you the measurements....
can you immediately get me a job  
in a design firm?"
Finally- 
that put the 
"why won't you give her the plans?" to rest.

They wanted me to pick fabrics anyway.
I refused.
I told her that I have to match the drapery fabric to the new furniture's fabrics.
 I then said: 
"I am certain that  ASHLEY OR CITY FURNITURE do not have fabric samples.
*China container shipments don't normally include samples.

You could see them seething......
Inside, so was I.
These broads were totally rude and creepy

I told her that she needed to go back to the furniture store,
and use a paint fan to match colors to the fabric 
so that we would be able to pull the drapery fabrics based on the paint colors.

I walked them to the door and said my good byes.
They said they would see me the next day 
with the paint colors so that we could pick drapery fabrics...

They never showed.
They never called.
They never will.

They just wanted to shop me.

Imagine-
They want me to 
pull a design together,drawings,
and get estimates from my workroom,  etc etc .
Now, not only are they using me,
but it will trickle down to every person that I involve.
These women could care less who is trying to make a living.

As far as I am concerned 
this behavior is the same as pick pocketing.
In my family, this would never be condoned.
Is it a sense of self entitlement?
What is it? 
It always blows my mind 
that people can behave so badly.

In spite of all of this 
I had a very productive week.

XXX's


Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her BLOG..... Interior Design, Palm Beach, Boca Raton,Ft.Lauderdale,Design Service, Window Treatments, TurnKey Interior Design Service,Paint selection, Floor-Plans,Online Interior Design,jersey girls, pick pocketing, floor plans, free design service 
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26 comments:

  1. you are the best story writer! at least, in the end you outsmarted them. I have had very classy couples pull the same one on me after doing floorplans, furniture designs, fabrics, they bought one chandelier .....just to get their very small deposit back when the approved budget was for $50,000 for furniture. A a result my showroom no longer offers free floorplans to our clients.
    I am glad to hear you otherwise had a productive week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dayum girl...Your crazy weeks are the most entertaining...I say keep 'em coming!

    ;)

    Glad it was a good week...now go find us some more crazies to entertain us! Go!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As the previous comments : you entertain us all for sure but really week after week where do these people come from???? So glad you can post and amuse us all!

    ReplyDelete
  4. yep,
    this is the way we roll down here in boca raton !!!

    it is tooooooooo much.
    but one must have a seriously dark sense of humor to make it through/

    love you guys xxxx
    thanks for the comments

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry, changed my mind, didn't like what I had written!!!!!!!!!
    I finally realised what that little garbage can was for!!!
    Maybe that's where you should have put those supposed clients!
    My baby is still suffering jet lag and is sound asleep so I am catching up, have a wonderful week. xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. jules

    are you kidding me ????
    i love what you wrote!

    i know you put it in the garbage can....
    but i read it and loved it!!!!

    kiss your baby awake and have a sweet time
    xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brava!! You didn't let them take advantage of you. I can only imagine the train wreck of a dining room they'll end up with.

    ReplyDelete
  8. renee;

    what a good read on a monday morning! too bad for your case it's true, but i could picture it all!
    how you controlled yourself is beyond me, but in the end, "ya, got 'em"....(say that while smacking on a big wad of gum)
    my worst potential nightmare was someone that moved here from JERSEY!
    she wanted to play HGTV.....3 designers were to do all of the design, cost estimates, sources.....and then a presentation then she would pick one lucky sucker.
    "nat intrested honey"

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd say Narcissism would describe that kind of personality!!!

    Maya @ Completely Coastal

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh Renee I read Debra's comment. I think it's HGTV's fault with that show where they think that someone really does all that work just for the off chance that their plan will get picked. When it doesn't happen they cop an attitude.
    Shame on those Jersey girls but unfortunately it's not just Jersey girls their everywhere.
    Good for you for giving them Nutten!!! they needed a good kick in the pants! and btw the bill for your time!

    xx
    Carole

    ReplyDelete
  11. I used to own a high-end flower shop in Ottawa, Canada. We had an unusual pyramid-shaped box and beautiful wrapping for our bouquets. People would come in and ask if they could have one of our boxes. Sorry, no. Then they'd ask if they could buy one. Sorry, no. Then they'd get angry and ask why not. Because you're going to go buy flowers from the grocery store, put them in the box and try to pass them off as coming from our store. Because you're going to spend $10 on flowers and hope the recipient thinks you spent $80 on flowers. Because the recipient is going to be disappointed in the quality of flowers she supposedly received from our shop.

    My story isn't nearly as frustrating as yours but, yeah, there seem to be some awfully nervy, self-centered, cheap people out there who should be ashamed of themselves. Sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can't believe these women can't just measure the room them self.
    There are just some people that can't get it together. They really are in a confused state all the time.
    PS Those were just cheap skates, trying to look like what they are not. Fony people.
    Have a better day

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad to hear the week went well even though you had to deal with the Jersey crew! I'm not surprised they did what they did, there are a lot of dirtbags in the world :(

    ReplyDelete
  14. squeak
    i think yours is just as bad if not worse than my situation!!!

    angie
    the only thing i fear is a world of
    dirt bags~~~!!!



    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. when do we leave for india?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Renee,

    Time to print our all your blog posts and have it publish as a book.

    Which will result in movie offers from all the experiences you've had and that in turn will result into making you a very very rich lady.

    Who can then reward herself by living a stress-less life there after. How's that for satisfaction.

    As long as the door is open they'll keep coming.

    Cheers!

    Bette

    ReplyDelete
  17. bette

    yes.....
    THAT DAMMN DOOR!@!!

    xxx


    renae
    i am loving the idea if printing the posts out amd making a movie!!

    who knows?????
    afew more outrageous posts and maybe i will really have enough to do it.

    hugs and kisses

    ReplyDelete
  18. red ticking

    india - schmindia.
    i think the guy is a wack job.

    another great imaginary opportunity bites the dust!

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  19. It takes all kinds...always amazed at the audacity of people - on the bright side, it does make for GREAT blog posts!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm at a loss for words. Their behavior, & their taste just all go together don't they? Makes perfect sense. You are a smart gal for stopping them in their dirty, Liberace-style, scheming tracks Renee.

    You have bigger fish to fry. You are my hero once again.

    *smooch*

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yes, India did come to my mind too.
    Renée, you make me laugh out loud and then shed a small bitter tear!
    Hurrah for your creativity and talent!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Renee,
    You really do need to write a book. I was briefly in your neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago and ran across one of these errrr, women. God bless you for dealing with this all of the time - you're a trooper. Thanks for using your grief to make the rest of laugh. You're a gem! xo

    ReplyDelete
  23. anne,

    what a nice thing to say.
    i would love to.

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm sorry they gave you a hard time...the way you are telling the story is very funny :-)

    Cheers: Evi

    ReplyDelete
  25. absolutely ladylike,

    oh... it funny alright!!!
    this is how i get through my life here in nasty boca raton.

    ReplyDelete
  26. These 'wimen' are no better than drug addicts who doctor shop, going from office to office until they find a sucker who'll supply them with their next hit. No morals, no brains & definitely no class.
    Millie ^_^

    ReplyDelete


THE COMMENTS ARE WHAT MAKES A GREAT POST!!!

Thanks for participating!!

About Renée Finberg

I have been in this business since the age of 22.

I love what I do and cannot imagine my life without Design.

Design Challenges are great.

And because of those challenges

I have imported fine antique pieces from Paris,

Designed and Manufactured Furniture,

Created Fantastic Window Treatments,

And solved all kinds of spatial & architectural issues

With my unique style.

If I can't find it, I create it.

My rooms would make excellent movie sets.

I am a visual, tactile and audio sensitive individual.

Creating is what I live for, not math, not spelling, not science.

Just Great Design.

Just imagine how it would be if each of us,

If only for a few hours of everyday,We could be in a space that is our very own.A place that is exactly the way we want it to be

Surrounded by all the things we wanted to see,

The atmosphere we wanted feel, smell and the sound we wanted to listen to.

Private Paradise

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Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her Adventures in Design by Renee Finberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.reneefinberg.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at reneefinberg@gmail.ocm.

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