Vlad the Destroyer

About 2 and a half weeks ago, a lovely young lady came into the gallery. She had seen a 1940's French caned bench on our website and had to have it. The bench happened to be in our Lambertville, NJ location and was not priced. I called Benjamin, the owner, and told him that I had a young lady in my presence who wanted the bench. Priced much higher, I offered her 1000$ off for that day only. Benjamin also offered to ship it out to LA for free. She was concerned about the shipping time as she was leaving town for several months. Benjamin said it should arrive in about a few weeks and I relayed, word for word, to my client. She bought it, and sashayed out the door with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step.

Let's fast forward slightly. Last week I received a phone call from Vas. Now Vas is our lovely young lady's husband. He was perturbed because I told her that the bench would arrive in 7 to 10 days and it's been 7 to 10 days, and where's their bench? I was very accommodating, as I believe in great customer service. I apologized about the misunderstanding and informed him that the estimate was a few weeks, not 7 to 10 days. He wasn't very pleased but we reached an amenable accord. If the bench were to arrive after they left town, I would hold it in the gallery until they returned. Problem solved!

Now it's this past Friday. I receive a call from, guess who...very good, you're right on the money! Vas. Vas is very agitated. He is angry that the bench hasn't arrived. He accused me of being dishonest. He stated that he went to this designer and to that gallery and to Miss So and So and told everyone the situation and they all agreed that it was very odd and unheard of. He reiterated several times about how this was their first experience with us and that it has been so awful! He was completely fed up and wanted his money back. I told him I would speak to Benjamin and call him back shortly. After debriefing Ben, he wanted nothing to do with it. No refunds, no exchanges, that's our policy...he told me to forget about it and not call the client back. I, am a man of my word. I told this to Ben, and that because I had already told Vas that I would call him, I had to.

And so I call Vas. My first words were, "I understand what it's like to not have something when you want it or when it takes longer than you hope. It sucks! I also sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding or miscommunication. When your wife was here, I repeated the information Benjamin told me word for word to her. To my absolute, best recollection, Benjamin said a few weeks, and I repeated a few weeks." Vas replied, "Fine, 2 weeks, even still, it's been longer than 2 weeks." "No, I'm sorry, I said a few weeks, not 2 weeks." Vas exclaimed that his wife told him that I said 7-10 days and that he would of course believe his wife. "Of course, I get that.", I say. I explained to him that unfortunately, I could not reimburse them because of our policy, which is clearly printed, in a large and easy to read font on the invoice. As I remained calm, polite and respectful, his agitation and language grew worse. He then said to me, and I quote,"I'm going to have my cousin Vlad come to see you while I'm gone. He doesn't speak English very well, but he'll get the point across!"

Close your mouth. Yeah, that was my reaction too. I couldn't believe this guy just said what he said! "I'm sorry, did you just threaten me?" And he said no, then continued, "Like I said, he doesn't really speak English, but he'll be there when I'm not here and he'll make my point. I don't have the patience for this shit!" CLICK!

And there you have it. Quite a day! I'm glad to see that people still have passion! Weeeeeee...

A good support staff is like a rusty crutch; kick it out from under ya, and next thing ya know, you're on your face tastin' dirt!

What the h, e, double hockey sticks am I talking about? Well, as you can plainly see, it's been an eon since my last entry. After the chiding and cajoling of those nearest and dearest to me, here I sit writing, as I should, even though no one has made any comments about entries thus far...

Muy mucho has happened over these past months. I'm still packin' the 15 pounds I put on during my depressed winter-state blues quartet trio, I quit my crappy job schlepping furniture
around, I de-installed my first solo photography show, , was late on the rent by a week and a half, have just about given up on the whole Philippines/film thing, and landed a gig as the manager of a gallery that showcases mid century contemporary art and design furniture.

The latter is, of course, the good of the bad and the ugly. I walked into the place while picking up for a client and met Benny. We instantly hit it off and he mentioned that he needed a manager for the joint. So I said "hello!" and the rest is history. The money is very good, especially as I sell more and more. Our inventory is excellent! I can truly get behind it because I love contemporary art and design. Heck, my life is art. I've come to realize that this is plain, simple, and my natural selection in this universe. I cannot function without it. I must create and be in a creative environment! Throughout the course of my studies and work experience, I have grown an affinity for innovative and groundbreaking art and design. That does not seem more apparent to me than in the spirit of the work that has materialized from the early to mid century and so it's a great place to be and to learn. And I've learned alot so far. The gallery is called Modern One. It's on Beverly Bvd, one block west of Fairfax. Please check it out.

So I'm listening to George Rochberg's Caprice Variations 12, Andante Con Moto, and through my new Klipsh Promedia Gmx speakers, I can hear him(violinist) breathing through his nose as he's working the bow across his violin, searching out the notes with his fingers. I can almost hear his head buffeting to and fro with each strum, and see his hair being pulled and tugged at each nod. Outstanding! but that's...for another entry. Good nite, and good luck.