I just had a very unpleasant experience at Liberty Plaza. I have spent hundreds of dollars there over the past month, buying fabric and notions, and having costumes sewn for the Friends of the Arts production of MY FAIR LADY.
Today when I went to pick up the last of the costumes, I found that the seamstress had ruined my hand-painted fabric; had obviously ignored the drawing and written instructions I had given her; and had sewn something completely different. I had asked for a one piece, extra wide kimono-style dress. I got a two piece suit, with a very narrow skirt and short kimono style top.
The drawing I gave is shown below in my earlier post. It clearly shows that the kimono-dress is worn over a black skirt and high-necked blouse. The seamstress made the blouse for me, and fixed an existing skirt at the bottom for those parts of the costume.
She obviously knew what the pieces of the costume were supposed to be and how they were supposed to go together; But she decided to do something different with my hand-painted fabric.
When I returned this afternoon, the seamstress tried to say that she was following my instructions. Obviously, this was false. I repeatedly mentioned to her I had spoken to her personally and explained in great detail, as well as written on my sketch that the kimono needed extra gathers or something to make it wide. She also had my phone number, so I asked why she didn't call me if she thought the instructions were contradictory or ambiguous. (I didn't actually use those words--I said if you didn't understand...)
Instead of customer service and an apology, I was treated to being pinched in the arm very hard by this same seamstress.
Eventually, I got some of my money back, but not even all that I had paid for this outfit. I got tired of the argument as she and the other workers at Liberty all gathered around, telling me to lower my voice. They obviously didn't want other customers to know that they had a dissatisfied customer. But they also didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fact that they had 1) ruined my fabric; 2) cost me money and time; and 3) put me in a terrific bind for the show that is coming up.
The seamstress instead insisted that is was just a mistake. And after I got some of my money back,she'd kindly keep the suit that she had made.
What's up with that? I said I don't think so.
The real kicker is that after I left, she called the police ON ME! Yes, I was angry and raised my voice. I don't think that's a crime. But all along she thought I was a teacher, but today found out I was a lawyer. I think she called the police because she's afraid I would do something first and this is her way of "protecting" herself.
I have no intention of doing anything further, except blog about it.
And say I'd be really careful before using the seamstress services at Liberty Plaza. You just might get screwed.
You certainly won't get treated like a customer whose business is valued.
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Ranting and droning about Saipan, writing, and writing in Saipan as I search for my blog voice.
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Ranting and droning about Saipan, writing, and writing in Saipan as I search for my blog voice.
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10 comments:
I thought I had a bad day until I read this post. This is a horrible story on so many levels. Wishing you a very happy day today. You sure deserve it.
I have just read a blog putting the entire Liberty Plaza to shame without enough and reasonable cause other than just a sudden loss of temper due to certain misunderstanding. Let me just blog a little comment on how I heard the story from the people who personally witnessed what really happened and on how I read the story being immediately blogged in public.
This customer is very much eloquent in telling her story only in favor of herself. She had given all her story long-winded enough to ruin the entire Seamstress Section of Liberty Plaza and to make her readers believe that she was the one unfairly treated and harassed.
You know Dear Readers it is not the very first time this customer had made a transaction or order with this seamstress involved. She already had had many orders from this seamstress with full satisfaction for many times.
So I am wondering why with this very single transaction being honestly mistakenly made, she afforded to make a big disturbing scandal inside the store by disgracing the seamstress, shouting at her all out loud many bad words like “You’re a bitch”, “Give me back my fucking money”, causing a painful loss of self-respect to this pregnant seamstress.
The very HELPLESS 9-MONTH PREGNANT SEAMSTRESS did not even do anything to get back at this customer. Naturally who is she to fight back the customer? All this seamstress can do was only to apologize to the customer and try everything she can to make up to the customer for whatever is lost due to her mistake.
So when this seamstress tried to apologize to this customer by showing that she was terribly sorry for what happened and she even offered to pay for everything to make up to her order, and in fact this seamstress tried to touch softly the arm of the customer for a bit gesture to get her sympathy, this customer continued to show her intense anger and suddenly burst out her destructive rage by grabbing and pinching the arm of the seamstress that left a bruise mark as evidence while being witnessed by the people presently around.
You know Dear Readers this good-writer customer did not even mention all this in her story! Why? Why? Why? And she even reversed the situation in her blog on her 6th paragraph saying “Instead of customer service and an apology, I was treated to being pinched in the arm very hard by this same seamstress.”
Oh my golly! Who does she think will believe her? The seamstress is just an alien worker. She really knows where she is and who she is. And it can clearly be judged and seen between a 9-MONTH PREGNANT WOMAN and a RAGING CUSTOMER who is quite aggressive for the first move to attack.
Finally, I found that she is a lawyer. Tsk! Tsk! Lanya, how come she acted like a raging customer in wet market? How come she acted very unprofessional? Very uneducated! Why couldn’t she just settle this peacefully and professionally? How could she afford to ruin the name of a business establishment by just a single bad experience with it? As a lawyer, all what she did is quite unworthy of her.
You know Dear Readers, the Liberty Plaza can never count its long years in service if it tolerates any neglect or wrongdoing on the part of its staff towards their customers and I myself have proven it.
The seamstresses are also human like us. We are all susceptible to mistake. The customer is a lawyer, what if she somehow fails to win for her client? How will she feel if her client will do to her all what she did to the pregnant seamstress? Knowing that her client spoke to her personally and clearly; explained to her in great details just like what she did to the seamstress. She might have lost or delivered her child so untimely right in front of her raging client!
So for you on the other hand, raging customer, please think deeply next time before you go on. Keep with yourself the very honor of being a professional lawyer and not the dishonor of being a raging wet-market customer. That’s all….
Dear Mr. Dela Cruz,
1. The seamstress did not give me a gentle touch. She pinched me very hard in my arm. If she's told you differently, she's lying. I'm the only one who felt that. So no matter what anyone else says, they don't know. I know.
2. I was angry because she intentionally ruined my hand-painted fabric at a time when I had no further recourse, and needed it done by a certain date. I had given it to her about two weeks earlier and was anxious to have it finished on time.
3. I admit I shouted. I regret that. I admit I used the F word. I regret that, also. I lost my temper-verbally. You might too under the circumstances.
4. I agree with you that the seamstress in question is very talented. She has the ability to do good work. This is why I also know that the "mistake" was not an accident. I now believe that she is passive-aggressive and that is why she intentionally did exactly what I asked her personally face-to-face not to do; why she ignored the drawing I gave her and ignored all but one word I had written on the paper.
5. I had previously complained about her promising to have work for me on certain dates and making me come back again and again and again, while she took on other projects for other customers. I was satisfied with the manager's response, and thought this was better understood. But now that I have gotten the final outfit and see what she can do, I realize that she had hostility towards me that I didn't know about.
6. As for her being pregnant--that is irrelevant to this matter. I surely hope you are not suggesting that pregnant women can't do their work properly. (And although she is 8 months pregnant, due next month, she is young and healthy and could probably take me down in any physical fight, as I'm quite a bit older, over-weight and out of shape.) As for her being an alien, I have worked hard for the rights of all people here, including those who are contract workers. This is not about alien labor.
7. And just so you know that I do value discussion. My way of dealing with problems is words, not physical fighting or actions. Those words might be shouted or written or argued in various places, but they are words. I do not want any further issues on this matter. I have already blogged on other matters and this one will get lost in the detritus of the archives. But I am leaving your response in the comments. If I really was trying to be "one-sided", I would simply delete it.
(I am deleting the next comment, though, which seems to be sex spam).
That wasn't meant to be sex spam. I really just don't know what the term "wet market" means. I've never heard it before, but Dela Cruz used it twice:
"Lanya, how come she acted like a raging customer in wet market?"
"Keep with yourself the very honor of being a professional lawyer and not the dishonor of being a raging wet-market customer."
So I asked what it meant. If it means something embarrassing, you can go ahead and delete this too.
Thanks for the clarification, anon. I have no idea what it means.
You're very frightening Jane. You and your handpainted kimono materials. Frightening.
I would further hesitate to go there due to Juan Dela Cruz's response. What bat finds a blog comment, responds to it and then starts their own blog to counter a store complaint?
Frightening.
I haven't seen the blog. But actually an internet presence is a good thing for any business. Even if they start it in response to a complaint on a blog. If he's writing a blog for Liberty Plaza...
But I see what you mean, anon.
Let me comment one by one:
Saipan Writer: The seamstress did not give me a gentle touch. She pinched me very hard in my arm. If she's told you differently, she's lying. I'm the only one who felt that. So no matter what anyone else says, they don't know. I know.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - So then it doesn’t matter to you what anyone else says, you’re strongly sticking to what you believe is true to you. I am not a lawyer but I know that a suspect can never be sentenced or acquitted by his own words alone. Or even the complainant can never just bring his complaint and be heard by his own words alone.
If you were the judge, who would you believe between the two? The customer who’s claiming by her own words alone, without any witness, without any bruise mark, who’s shouting violently with bad words? Or the seamstress with a bruise mark on her arm, who’s trying to apologize, who’s admitting her mistakes, who’s been violently verbally attacked, who’s been pregnant for 9 months, who has enough witnesses to justify herself?
Please don’t get me wrong. I really do not want this to go this far. I am just clarifying that upon reading between the lines, the seamstress is not lying, but you are. I’m so sorry.
Saipan Writer: I was angry because she intentionally ruined my hand-painted fabric at a time when I had no further recourse, and needed it done by a certain date. I had given it to her about two weeks earlier and was anxious to have it finished on time.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - How can you say that the seamstress ruined it intentionally, if out of 9 pieces of your orders to her, she had finished the 8 pieces with your satisfaction? Is that your real way on how to rate and judge a suspect? Nobody is perfect? What if you have a client giving you her 9 cases for you to win, and out of these 9 cases you only won 8, what would you feel if your client accused you of having intentionally dropped the 9th case?
You have given it to her about two weeks earlier, but it consists of 9 pieces. You were not dealing with only one piece here, while in your story you did not mention that the seamstress had satisfied you for 8 pieces first before you were disgusted for only one piece. You’re so judgmental.
Saipan Writer: I admit I shouted. I regret that. I admit I used the F word. I regret that, also. I lost my temper-verbally. You might too under the circumstances.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - Okay. No comment.
Saipan Writer: I agree with you that the seamstress in question is very talented. She has the ability to do good work. This is why I also know that the "mistake" was not an accident. I now believe that she is passive-aggressive and that is why she intentionally did exactly what I asked her personally face-to-face not to do; why she ignored the drawing I gave her and ignored all but one word I had written on the paper.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - As I told you, you were not dealing here with only one piece of order but NINE pieces. It only shows an emphatic “IMPERFECTION”. What is the hard thing to understand or accept the fact of imperfection? Here let me give you some grounds:
a) You speak and understand fluent english / the seamstress does not.
b) Perhaps the seamstress understood your instruction differently from your explanation, and she took it all clear for her that’s why she did not call you.
c) Perhaps she was slightly in bad condition during her mistake.
d) Me too, I will judge her to have done such mistakes with intention if out of my 9 orders, she made mistakes on 7 or 8 orders. It is quite intentional.
e) And finally – THE SEAMSTRESS IS ONLY GOOD BUT NOT PERFECT!
Saipan Writer: I had previously complained about her promising to have work for me on certain dates and making me come back again and again and again, while she took on other projects for other customers. I was satisfied with the manager's response, and thought this was better understood. But now that I have gotten the final outfit and see what she can do, I realize that she had hostility towards me that I didn't know about.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - You know here, you really sound just having a one piece of order. You said “I have gotten the final outfit”, it really sounds only one piece of order for totality. But if you said “I have gotten the last piece of my orders”, then it sounds self-justifying to your accusations. You will be clearly referring to only one piece of your orders where the mistake was found, and you will necessarily be mentioning all the rest of your orders where you were satisfied. If this is the way you told your story, the readers will never conclude that there is an intention to ruin or any hostility on the part of the seamstress.
You said the seamstress made you come back again and again and again. Why didn’t you tell that in each AGAIN, a piece of your orders was finished with your satisfaction? Any customer will surely get mad if for only one piece of order, they will be asked to come back again and again and again. Please be reasonable. You are pushing the seamstress so much down under.
Saipan Writer: As for her being pregnant--that is irrelevant to this matter. I surely hope you are not suggesting that pregnant women can't do their work properly. (And although she is 8 months pregnant, due next month, she is young and healthy and could probably take me down in any physical fight, as I'm quite a bit older, over-weight and out of shape.) As for her being an alien, I have worked hard for the rights of all people here, including those who are contract workers. This is not about alien labor.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - Yes you are right! Her being pregnant is irrelevant, but not to the extent of having lost or endangered her baby because of your attack. You might just have forgotten her condition when you attacked her verbally. It doesn’t necessarily take a physical fight, a younger or older age, over or under weight, to take someone down. Even thru a single sentence, we can harm somebody, so what more on what you did to the seamstress. Be aware of it.
Saipan Writer: And just so you know that I do value discussion. My way of dealing with problems is words, not physical fighting or actions. Those words might be shouted or written or argued in various places, but they are words. I do not want any further issues on this matter. I have already blogged on other matters and this one will get lost in the detritus of the archives. But I am leaving your response in the comments. If I really was trying to be "one-sided", I would simply delete it.
Juan Dela Cruz replied - Thank you very much for valuing our discussion. I am very sorry to argue with you. I am just explaining. And since you are a lawyer, I am very much challenged to explain further for what I believe is right. The seamstress and all other workers like her who are just incapable of bringing out themselves in words are so unfortunate to just keep their insides within their hearts helplessly. I only did this in favor of the seamstress, that’s all.
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