The Bad:
I went to West Elm this weekend for their "flea market" and was so very disappointed. They had several employees just standing around chatting, but none of them were willing to help me. In this flea market, they had a few pieces of damaged furniture in the back of their store for sale at "flea market" prices, supposedly. I found a side table I have had my eye on for a while. It was lopsided and basically broken, but I thought I would be able to repair it with a little TLC. Unfortunately, all the tables had three different prices on them! I asked an employee for help, but he made it clear he had no interest in helping me. He reluctantly gave in and tried to tell me that none of the prices were right and he would have to find out. He later said that one of the prices, the highest price of course, was correct and that the others were the prices of the stock pieces that make the finished piece. You cannot buy the pieces individually, so why not put one price on the table and stop confusing your customers. I decided not to get the table because the "sale" price seemed awfully high.
I continued through the store, only to walk up on the same table, but not damaged and regular price for less than the flea market one! I knew the price had to be wrong on the sale piece, so I searched for a salesperson. I found several chatting away in a circle, and when I approached them and stood awkwardly over their shoulders, they ignored me. I figured I did not want help from that kind of service, so I went searching for someone else.
I saw a lady walking in my direction, made eye contact with her, and she immediately looked away and looked like she was going to try to avoid me. I then asked her if she was busy. She responded, "Um....well, *big sigh* what do you need?" As if I would need to tell her first and then she would decide if she was busy. The sigh made it clear she was not interested in offering any service. I ignored this and pointed out that the broken table was marked a higher price than the table that was regular price. She responded, "How do you know?" I told I saw the price tag. Doesn't that seem obvious? Even if not, shouldn't she just go check.
I have worked many years in retail and have those days where you really hate your job and may not have done my best, but I have never given such poor service like this. So the lady takes the tag and walks off to the registers. Great, now there is no tag on the table and I might not ever see her again. She doesn't give me the impression she will be back to help me. Finally, another salesperson sees that I look stranded in the middle of the store, so she asks if she can help me. Relief! I am grateful! I explain that the situation and she says she will help, but she has to ask a manager. No problem. For fear of losing the one chance I seem to have at getting an answer, so I ask her if I can kind of follow her. She tells me that employees get in trouble for asking managers for help in front of customers. What?! Employees are discouraged from helping customers!!! This is insane. If an employee cannot help, they should seek out a manager and let the customer know that they are attempting to get answers. I have been a retail manager for years and would cringe if one of my employees even thought that was the case!
I sit where I am and wait for her to return. She does, but instead of telling me the price, she asks if I want to carry it out or have them put it in customer pick-up. She says if I want to pick it up she has to write a ticket, then starts writing it. I say that I am not sure I am going to get it because I do not know the price yet. She ignores this and continues to write the ticket, asking me for my information. I repeat that I want to know the price before deciding to buy the table. She then tells me the price, which is $40 less than the regular price! Really, $40 off for the broken version is your "flea market" price?! They had a coffee table there for $80 and a upholstered (ripped) chair for $70, but they wanted to charge me almost $200 for the broken table. I told her that I did not want to buy it for $40 less than regular price since it was lopsided and damaged. She immediately walked off. I left very disappointed in their service. I will not be returning to West Elm.
The Good:
Dallas has a new ladies' clothing store on Henderson! The new Milk & Honey is super cute, eclectic, and basically, a smaller clone of Anthropologie (but cheaper). The store was decorated in a really fun, down-to-earth way using common item in unexpected ways. I was excited to see that one of the light fixtures I have was displayed in their store. It looks like a barrel or apple crate.
Here are some pics from their store from D Magazine, who declared the store as "awesome." I agree.
If you are ever in the area, you should check it out! The store is next to We Are 1976, which is another really fun store to browse.
The Beautiful:
I received an email from Restoration Hardware that had beautiful pictures of -my favorite- neutral tone, all white rooms with their gorgeous furniture and decor. I love all of it! If I could, I would adorn my whole house in this look. Check it out for yourself.
