Do We Look Like Idiots To You?

Because that is what we were going for.

Today, we started on our quest to buy carpet. We've never done this before, so obviously, we needed some help. We headed down to Greenwood to Floors to Go in search of a reputable salesperson. Instead, we found Alta. We very carefully explained to her that we had three small children, so we needed something durable for our living room and hallway. Currently, we own a cream colored berber with a pattern in it, and we (I) have grown to loathe it, so if we could steer clear of that, we'd be in good shape.

So what does Alta lead us to?

Berber Carpet.
In Cream colors.
With patterns.

For crying out loud.

So, very kindly, I say, "I think we'll just look around a bit."

Alta heads back to the sales desk to do whatever it was she was doing before we wandered in her store looking like two deer in headlights, and we start meandering through the hundreds of samples on her floor.

Oh-so-carefully, we weigh our options, rubbing each sample that catches our eye, trying to decide just how many graham cracker crumbs could get lost in each piece before without successfully being retrieved by the vacuum. We compare prices, we compare name brands, we write every single stock-looking number down, along with the fancy-shmancy names (Shakespeare in Pork-Belly Pig Mocha for you?).

Alta comes back, and we show her our list. She glances at it, and leads us back to the berber in the cream colors.

Um, Alta, can we at least take some samples home to check our colors and see if we're anywhere close? "No...the only way we can do that is if a salesperson goes with the samples. I can measure while I'm out there, too. Would you like an 8 pound or 6 pound pad to go with that?"

Alta won't be getting our business.

So we head over to Lowe's. There, Jeff, got a "Hey buddy." I got nothin'.

In the end, we do what we always do for home improvement projects...Call Rick. He gave us the names of two people he would recommend. Funny...one is in Greenfield, and the other is in New Pal. (We've got to start thinking like Eastsiders.)

We also called Herman and Jenny Blue, our dear friends from church. When they were showing us their new home, Jeff and I both commented that we liked their carpet. We've already got the name of their carpet guy, but we wanted to take a quick glance again to see how close we came to finding something similar today. "Sure!!" Herman says, "Come on over!"

We had a lovely visit with them this afternoon. Not only did they answer our carpeting questions, Jenny had a sample that she no longer needed, so she sent it home with us. To top it all off, Herman offered us a beer.

I'm going to send Alta to their home to learn about good, solid customer service.