…first, consider that you’re calling over a SMALL PIECE OF FABRIC. Seriously. 8×8. Flannel and terrycloth. It’s not worth threatening phone calls, is it?
Second, consider if you’d like someone calling your mom, or your sister, or your wife and saying the things you said to me.
So my main sewing machine, the automatic thread cutter stopped working right. And it stopped working right just after I finished up an order, and with several days to go before I needed to start on the next order, so it seemed like a good time to take it in. Because the auto thread cutter isn’t something I NEED, so it’s a repair that can wait.
So I dropped it off, they thought it’d be done Monday morning. Nope. Need to hear back from Janome, who was closed for President’s Day. (I didn’t ask why a Japanese company is closed on President’s Day.) Last night, I got out the Second String machine. Today, I used it all day, and was just getting into a good groove with it when it started screeching. Loudly. So loudly that I got a headache.
Off it goes to the shop, right?
Now I’m down to my third string, which is a machine so old, it’s belt-driven, and it needs a new belt. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth getting it out and finding the right belt, or if I’m better off just waiting for the main machine to come back.
In the meantime, I’m not able to do any sewing. My serger’s back up (I cracked the needle plate, but that’s just a matter of getting the right replacement part), but I’ve serged nearly everything I can serge without needing to sew first.
Sigh.
But a shout out to Metro Sales and Service in Des Moines. (3846 E 14th St, 265-7504) They do all of my machine servicing and the gal who is usually working when I drop in is super nice. (She was excited to see my machine in the paper!) I have bought my most recent three machines there, too. (OK, the only three machines I’ve bought, ever.)
forgot to post this!
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090206/BUSINESS/902060349/-1/SPORTS09
I received a comment today that made me chuckle. Every time I send out an email to my announcements list, I get a dozen or so unsubscriptions. The unsubscribe process asks the person unsubbing why they’re unsubbing. I have never received a response other than “my kids are all out of diapers” or similar. (I have to resist the urge to email back with a reminder about the other awesome stuff I make!)
Today’s email brought me this reason: I think your business is not consistent and too sporadic. It’s wierd getting newsletters at random times.
And I had to chuckle. My business IS sporadic. And it always will be. I’m not sure what the person meant by that, but if it was “sometimes you have inventory and sometimes you don’t, you have no consistent restocking schedule, and when people email to ask when you’ll get more of X, the answer is usually that you don’t know,” well, yes. That’s Wallypop!
But I wonder how many people find my newsletter habits to be annoying? That one’s interesting. I am on several store announcement lists. Two that come to mind send a newsletter every month or every other month like clockwork. They often contain information that is largely worthless to me – “hey, we still have X item and it still has Y features.” I do admire their consistency, though.
A few other stores, I receive email announcements from them when they have something to say. An item we’ve been out of is back in stock, we have a new item, we have news from our store, we have a new employee, whatever. I like those better, personally. I only want to hear from people when there is news. if that means I hear from them three times one month and not at all the next, then that’s what it means. But every time there’s an announcement, there’s news there. Actual news.
I’ve taken to sending out announcements to the list when I have restocked several things. Then, I’ll also include general information with that announcement. I had toyed with doing something monthly for a while, and I was doing it monthly for a bit, but then I needed to send out more frequent announcements with the closing for maternity. Then I of course didn’t send anything while I was closed.
And now I’m not sure what to do. If I move to monthly emails, then what if I have news in the meantime? And will I remember or have time for a newsletter at the same time monthly?
Thoughts??
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