Quilting vs Watching Television

Have you ever thought about how much better it is to quilt than to watch television? Well it is.



Let me explain why.



When you quilt, you do not need to wait on anyone to do it. You simply go to the quilt shop and get some beautiful fabric, go home, cut it out and sew it up. Simple as pie.



If you want to watch television, or a movie, then you must endure the stress that I have had this past couple of weeks.



#1. My Dear Hubby wanted to get new televisions for your home. This was a perfectly legitimate thing to want to do; after all, the ones we had were purchased in 1989 for crying out loud. He also decided that we should get flat screens and high definition units so that we could really enjoy the movies and sports. Now bless his heart, he was thinking of me also, and made certain it was not just one television/dvd player for the den, but one for my sewing room also. His work keeps him traveling a lot so he figures that I would enjoy the 'company' while I am sewing. Good man.



#2. We must make a trip into Kansas City to purchase these items from a big company with two short names with a squad of people who will also come to our home to install same. This was a very necessary part of the equation since DH does not do electronic things and I quilt. This done, we come home to await the arrival of said equipment.



#3. The day finally arrives for the big company with the squad of folks to come and install the equipment. What this really means is that I have to stay home all one day to be there at THEIR convenience. Ok, not to be fussy, I did it. They came, they installed etc. Only one little bitty problem.....the dvd player in my sewing room does not work. We have to wait for the big company to call me to arrange for me to be at home one more day so they can come and install a piece of equipment that does work.



#4. A week passes, no call. I call the big company and am told, "oh you have to bring the falty equipment in and then wait for a call to install".........are we seeing a pattern here??? Nope, not happening I tell them, your mistake, you fix it. After several phone calls, each moving up one in the food chain of the big company with two names, I finally get an agreement that their 'squad' would return on yet another day that I will spend at home.



#5. Squad comes, BUT they have not brought another dvd player. They return to the store to get one and return yet again to install. It is installed and up and running, they leave. The darn thing stops running.



Now I am a patient person, but at this point I am not a happy person.



#6. Phone call to the big name company, the squad, and now the cable company and we find yet another problem. It is now apparently the cable box that is not compatible with the aforementioned equipment. Great. Now I get to take another day off to get the cable company to my house. No, they must come in the evening, not taking more time off.



Did I mention that the most wonderful husband in the world is out of town? Not his fault and I do not blame him for this. Really.



#7. Evening of the next day falls, sure enough the cable guy comes to the house. Oh no problem he says, the cable to the television in my sewing room is not 'pulling enough power', easy fix. Just add an amplifier to this and all is well. It is working. HOORAY! It is now 5:30 PM and all is well!



Until I go downstairs and turn on the television in the den. The cable box says "Weak or no signal"......................AARRGG



#8. Yet another call to the cable automated answering machine. Don't you just love those? After punching many numbers and waiting for a long time, I get a real live human being...joy of joys. I am told they will call the repairman and he will be right back to fix it. They even have a 'supervisor' call me back to reconfirm that he will be there no later than 6:30. Ok, no problem, at least I am not supposed to be working.



#9. 7:15! You guessed it. No cable guy. Yet another phone call to the cable automated system and another long wait for a human being (are they really?). He puts me on hold and calls the service man who tells him that he DID come back to my house and as he drove up he saw me leaving my house...............interesting that he could since I was on HOLD all that time with the cable company. Nope, never left. We are sooooo sorry for the mixup, can we make another appointment for tomorrow?????????????



#10. Now, some might by now be losing their patience, or their tempers. Not me, not the kind, loving, understanding quilt shop owner that I am. I would never think twice about having to be away from the shop for yet another day. Or even consider how much this type customer service excites me. He will be at my home tomorrow evening, yet again.



Now, I have made the conscious decision that I do not want to watch television, movies or anything else. I want to just sit quietly and quilt. I want to hear only the sweet hum of my sewing machine and watch the beautiful passage of small pieces of fabric into larger pieces of quilt blocks.



I want that so much, I will probably start a new project just to celebrate the simpler things in life.

And I will use this experience to examine the customer service in my store. If any quilt shop offered the extremely poor service that I have encountered, they simply would cease to exist. As quilters we want it simple, we want it nicely, and we want it with a smile. That is just not too much to ask for, is it?