Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cutting table camaraderie

I’ve been hitting up Jo-Ann’s Fabrics quite frequently lately. Along with Michael’s, it’s one of my favorite places to go. To shop, to browse, to get ideas. All much more enjoyable without children of course, but still a good place to go when I’m bored. And at Jo-Ann’s especially, I’ve noticed a trend: everyone is friendly. It’s like some unwritten sewing/crafters code. Inevitably the person cutting your fabric will ask you what you are making with it, and since there’s always a line, everyone can hear. Then everyone starts piping up and commenting on your project, giving tips, personal anecdotes about when they tried that project, etc. Last night was no different. The man (yes, man) cutting my fabric asked me what I was making (scarves) and the lady cutting for the woman next to me asked her. She had Packers and Badgers fabric. She said she was going to cut each logo out and glue them to ornaments for her Packers/Badgers Christmas tree this year. (Only in Wisconsin!) She then asked the lady what kind of glue she should use. Well, if that isn’t an invitation for everyone in the store to offer advice then I don’t know what is! Of course I immediately suggested Mod Podge (I use it for everything!) and everyone agreed. The lady then promptly led her to the right place to get it and she came back asking for tips, which we happily offered. It’s a weird little subgroup and I love it. I know if I ever had a question about what I was making there are plenty of grandma’s around who are just waiting to impart their decades of sewing expertise on me, a young novice seamstress. (Not that I’m a seamstress, per se, but I typed out sewer, and well, who wants to be referred to something stinky?)

Anyway, totally random, I know. Am I alone on this? Surely some of you have experienced the same thing??

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have the opposite experience every time I go there! I feel like the employees ignore the customers and stand there talking to each other and I've asked a couple of times for items I know they have online and I've been told more than once "I don't know what that is-we don't have it" instead of asking someone else or looking on the computer system. Maybe we just go to different Joanns. bummer-glad you get good customer service tho

Emmy said...

That is awesome! They always seem to be in too much of a hurry to be chatty with me.

nicole said...

I know exactly what you mean. Being a pretty avid scrapbooker, you meet a lot of people online & in stores & it's awesome to be able to bounce ideas off of people who love a hobby as much as you do; because in real life, it's usually hard to find someone who shares my affinity for all things paper. While my Joann's is pretty ghetto, I do love Archivers :)

Becky said...

Yeah, I have the opposite experience too. It's probably because you're so dang cute!