Cate of the no sheep, Mrs. Yes and her family, Charlene & Miss R, The Boy and me all went on a road trip today. The ultimate goal was Gaspereau Valley Fibres, but we managed Just Us along the way, as well as a yard sale where Charlene and Miss R. picked up an awesome wagon and trailer (that's not what they paid for it!). How we fit three adults, two car seats with children in them, and a wagon and trailer into a small mazda, I'll never know, but we did it! Cate might even have pictures!
Gaspereau Valley Fibres was disappointing. Before heading out, I had read this blog post by Ariannah from a year ago. Doesn't that make Gaspereau seem like a lovely place? The shop itself is lovely, full of wool and other fibres from all over, a nice book selection, spinning wheels and other tools, all in a lovely setting with some sheep and some very attractive chickens. The service, however, left something to be desired. Certainly, no staff person offered us the service described in Ariannah's post!
Nobody greeted us when we arrived in the shop, even though there were no other customers there at the time, and two staff people. Charlene, Cate and I had arrived early, which meant we had to wait for Mrs. Yes and family, who were "cottaging", and therefore not coming from home. We had a quick look around the store with The Boy and Miss R., then went outside and waited quietly, down behind the store where we had parked the car, sat under a tree and ate our picnic lunch. The Boy and Miss R. had a quick game of hide and seek--our children are nice kids, and both very cute, and were laughing and playing. When Mrs. Yes and her family arrived, we left Mr. Yes outside with the children so that we could browse around the store without them. There were 4 children aged 2-8 (newborn Gabriel came in with us), and they were quite happily chatting away at a picnic table conveniently located under a tree outside the store.
When we returned to the store with no children (except Gabriel) and started browsing, I found a lovely row counter bracelet, that I decided to purchase. I picked it up and continued browsing the yarn. I was taking my time, enjoying the freedom to browse a yarn store while somebody else minded The Boy. I picked up many different yarns, browsed some books, looked around at various things. There was some Misti alpaca that I was seriously considering purchasing.
After a while, I realised that one of the two ladies working in the store seemed to be hovering, in fact, she'd been following me around for a while. Not actually saying anything, mind you, not making any conversation, asking if I was visiting, or if I needed any help finding anything. No, just hovering, and had been since I picked up the bracelet. Finally, she asked me if I was intending to buy it, to which I said yes. Her response was to tell me that we should go ring it in now, because it was turning into a bit of a picnic in the store (I think she was referring to the fact that Mr. Yes had just brought the children in to see if we were ready to leave yet--we'd been there for a good twenty minutes at this point, without actually being approached by either staff person until now). So, a staff person finally approaches me, but it's not to ask if I was finding what I needed, but rather it's to tell me that she thought I should pay for the bracelet in my hand now.
I'm a little dense, so I didn't realise right away how odd this was. As I was paying for the bracelet, I realised what was going on. SHE WAS WORRIED I WAS GOING TO STEAL THE DAMN BRACELET. I was nowhere near the door at this point, and was actively browsing yarn. In fact, I had fully intended to buy yarn at the store today, but she rushed me to the cash register without asking if I was done because she thought I might forget to pay for a $20 bracelet. Gaspereau Valley Fibres lost a sale from me today, at least $30 in Misti alpaca for sure, possibly more yarn if I'd been left to browse longer, or better yet, been asked if I needed any assistance or engaged in friendly conversation of any kind. I am stating right now that I will never spend another penny at Gaspereau Valley Fibres after my experience there today. I am very glad that Gaspereau is not my local yarn store, and thankful that the lovely people who run my local yarn stores would never make me feel like a thief.
It gets better too, but I'm going to let Mrs. Yes blog the next part, because it's her story to tell! Lesley, I hope you tell it well, because I'm still fuming about the whole experience today!
However, the day was not a complete loss. Just Us is lovely, and the wagon, well, the wagon will serve Miss R. well for a long time to come!
