As I am finally over the cold from hell that has kept me exhausted and in bed half the week, I decided to go out and do some window shopping (and non windowshopping). Since I was in the area and had a few minutes before I wanted to go back to school, I decided to stop at the LYS nearby. Normally, a LYS would be the first place I would stop, but this LYS is one of those that carries nearly all Patons and other acrylics. Given my feelings regarding acrylics, even though they are the closest LYS to me I've only gone there once.
When I went in today there were two employees there, and one customer sitting there knitting. Within seconds of my arrival, a couple came in with a question. He wanted to know if they had any machine washable wool. Not a big deal, no? It's a very common question, and very easily answered. However, to my surprise, what did the employee say? She laughed, and then said that it was nearly impossible to find washable wool. Umm, what? She explained to him in a condescending tone that wool felts, so unless he wanted a felted sweater, he wouldn't be able to get 100% wool. He was confused, as he pointed out that the very sweater he was wearing was 100% wool, and it was machine washable. He showed her the tag, and she looked at it. In an effort to justify her statements to himself, he said something about maybe they washed the yarn before they made the sweater, or something to that effect. She said that that wouldn't work, and showed him what felt looked like, and his sweater was obviously not felted.
So then she goes on to say that he would have to get a blend in order to machine wash it, and showed him a Patons acrylic wool blend (25% acrylic) that was machine washable, and tried to sell him that.
I really was debating just leaving, and keeping my mouth shut. But I couldn't do it. This poor couple had come in looking for advice and help, and she was being completely non-helpful. So when there was a gap after her sales pitch, I volunteered that there was also superwash wool, which had been chemically treated so that it could be machine washed. I offered up a couple of brands that offered it. The saleswoman, angry, retorted " We don't carry that here." and went behind the counter. I shook my head in disbelief at her ineptitude, and left.
I still can't believe it. Just because you don't carry a product doesn't mean you deny its existence. Jesus. You educate your customer as well as you can, let them know their options, and hopefully you have something in stock that fits their needs. If you don't, you either a) offer to order it specially, or b) refer them to stores that do carry it. This is a common practice, especially in yarn stores because no one store can carry it all. But you don't deny that the product exists just because you don't carry it!!
Let's just say I'm not going back there again.
Music: Vesna by Vopli Vidopliasova
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