Humanity

As many (or all) of you know, I make and alter wedding gowns for a living. I work out of a studio in my home, but I am a professional. I have a degree in my field and have been doing this for 17 years.

A few days ago, I finished major alterations on two wedding gowns for a bride. And I mean major. And the bride's alterations changed over the course of the 4 weeks I had her gowns. Mostly due to her mother's objections to the gowns not covering enough on top. So, I ended up doing the top of the gowns three different ways, in order to satisfy the desires of the MOB (Mother Of the Bride). It was annoying, but did not really matter as the bride was going to pay for the continual changes. By the time we were done, it was 2 1/2 weeks past her original pickup date and her bill had increased a bit.

She came to pick up her dresses, loved them, and was ready to take them. I was not satisfied with the fit of one of them and wanted to fix it (this was her first and only fitting with the third top). She said she did not have time to have them fixed before her bridals, so I said I would do a quick fix that would hold for her pictures and then she could bring it back for me to fix for real inbetween pictures and wedding.

She said yes, gave me a check for the $650, took the gowns and left. Normally, I do not accept checks because I have been stiffed twice before.

Now, I was looking forward to this money, because my grandmother is having heart surgery next week and I am going out to stay with my grandfather while Grandma is in the hospital. He cannot be left by himself. The money was intended to cover the cost of the trip.

Next day I got a phone call from MOB. She was not pleased with my work. It looked terrible, she said, and would not hold up for the wedding. I asked her to what she was referring and she explained that it was the quick fix I had done. I explained to her that her daughter and I had agreed on it and that it would be fixed before the wedding, but she was welcome to bring it to me right then and I would fix it. She got angry, began telling me it was all shoddy work and that the lace looked cheap. HAHA! It was Chantilly, beaded and VERY expensive.

I told her I would work around her schedule to get the dress back and get it fixed, as she was from out of town. She said okay, she would call me back and let me know what time. I never heard from her. I contacted her daughter (who had gone to Lake Powell), she said she did know what her mom was on about, she liked the dress.

I ran over to the bank, deposited the check and never heard from MOB or bride again. Until yesterday. I noticed my bank account was overdrawn and I was not sure how that was possible. I knew I had plenty of money.

Yep, she had put a stop pay on the check. Did not pay for the work. Took the dress and absconded with it, if you will.

Awesome.

Ruins one's day really. Disappointing. Make's one think people suck.

Here's the thing. Today, one of my online friends offered to deposit the money into my paypal account so I could afford my trip rather than wait for "wheels of justice" to get my money for me. I was floored. In a good way. I guess people don't suck. Just a few of them do.

I did not accept her offer as I can use my credit card if I need to, but it was amazingly kind.