It's my lot in life to be surrounded by crazy people. The Wal-Mart is filled with people who will return anything for any reason. To wit:
This one woman Saturday wanted to return a skein of yarn because it wasn't the right color for a sweater she was knitting for someone. To ILLUSTRATE that it wasn't the right color, she brought out the one she was trying to color match and showed it to me.
I was like, "Umm, it looks like the same color to me, but we can return it for you if you want. Do you have your receipt?"
While she's digging around for her receipt (why do they NEVER have it ready?), one of the other girls who is a crafty type comes over and examines the yarn.
The woman explains why she is returning the yarn and says that it is not the same color yarn as the one in her bag that she's trying to match. And now she can't find the receipt. So I tell her she can get a store credit.
So now we get to the good part. When I scan the yarn, it comes up "ITEM NOT FOUND" - which means said yarn didn't come from the Wal-Mart. She starts squawking like a chicken with an egg stuck crossways.
"I know I bought that yarn here. I know I did. I bought it at this store. I bought this other one here too. Here. Scan it."
She practically tears open her bag and thrusts the yarn at me, desperate to prove that she bought a $1.97 skein of yarn at the Wal-Mart. I scan the other one. "ITEM NOT FOUND."
So me and the other girl start looking at the labels for clues as to the yarn's origins.
So now we get to the better part.
I notice it first. "Ma'am, this is exactly the same yarn. Are you sure this is a different color? Look right here. These two labels are exactly the same "CORNFLOWER BLUE #1789" - and the SKU number is exactly the same for both skeins you have. These two yarns are exactly alike."
Now, she thinks we're just calling her a liar, despite the fact that she's just plain crazy and can't return it at Wal-Mart anyway. "They're not the same. They might look the same under this nasty florescent light. But it really is different under natural light."
Whatever. We told her to go to K-Mart.
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13 comments:
I, too work at a Wal-Mart. One time I had someone try to return several skeins of yarn. She had receipts for all, except they were 4 years old. She got upset when I refused to return them.
I crochet, and I can tell you that it does, in fact, matter that the two skeins match. It's really aggravating to get halway across something, switch to the new skein, do a couple of rows , and be able to see the difference between the old and the new yarn.
Most of the more expensive yarn comes with a dye lot, and you definitely want to buy all your yarn from the same dye lot. Even with the cheap "no dye lot" yarn (which you probably sell a lot of at Le-Wal-De-Mar), it happens that the formulation is not always exact.
As for not having a receipt, and being at the wrong store, for that she's just crazy ;)
Agreeing with kamikasee. Did you check the dye lot? If they're different, it doesn't matter if the color names and numbers are the same. However, someone who buys cheap yarn without dye lots on them (Red Heart super saver, for example) takes that chance and ought to know so. And for less than $2 a skein, for cryin' out loud, keep the extra skein and make a hat for charity with it.
And of course, if you must take it back, take it to the right place.
I clicked on the comments just to see how many people had already reamed you for the subtle differences in yarn color. I knoew somebody would be jumping right on that.
Anyway, you should have poked the old hag in the eye with a spork.
The word of the day is Skein.
Anyway, you should have poked the old hag in the eye with a spork.
Inspectorguy...we obviously are of the same humor...I think this blogger should from here on out, refer to the asshats and fucktarts that saunter up to the counter in the most derogative of terms. Why? Because I like poking sticks at people and as is evident from the 'heifer' post a couple down, it enrages some of the readers.
**Poke poke poke with my spork***
The #1789 sounds like a dye lot number. Just like paint from the top and the bottom of a jar is the same color, products from the same dye lot are exactly the same color, by definition.
The dye lot comments just won't "dye down" heh! She probably bought them at The Rag Shop. Them Q-Tips have no memory.
Yes, the dye lot *should* guarantee that the yarn is the same color. In theory. But I've had yarn that's allegedly from the same dye lot that looks exactly alike in the skein, but creates a visible color difference when knit. So I can't blame her for bringing the yarn back...except, of course, that she brought it to the wrong store!
I once had someone trying to get credit for tires they swore up and down were from Sam's Club. I told him I had never seen them before and I had been there a long time. He got pretty perturbed and demanded to see a manager. Before the manager could get there I took a second look at the tires and found a "Sears" logo on the sidewall. His response was "Oh, well I bought the set for my other car here." Sure....sure you did.
The 1789 is probably actually the color code and not the dye lot. Example, 1789 - Cornflower Blue, 1790 - Light Indigo.
The others are right that color matching is very important, but that doesn't mean the woman wasn't a bad customer. She definitely was!
I see the dye lot issue has been covered.
Here's another trivia item. She pointed out that the colors look the same under flourescent light, but look different at home. This phenomenon is known as metamerism. Two items may match under one light source and then look quite different under another light source.
--- The Photographic Scientist
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