Dance like no one's watching

    This is one of those your view, my view, we agree to disagree things but I just had to get it off my chest.  Next week is my company’s D&D.  The theme is "Shanghai Night" so it was no surprise that a lot of the ladies in the office wanted to get a cheongsam made for the occasion.  Cheongsam tailor contacts, unfortunately, are few and far between.  When news leaked that Booze Queen, Bubbs, J and I were making cheongsams for the dinner, stupid Bouncy asked Bubbs for the contact, which the latter gave.  Bouncy, being the big mouth she is, spread the word and soon, half of the ladies in the office descended upon our tailor.

    When I found out (I was in Bangkok when it happened), I voiced out my displeasure saying that the contact should have been reserved for us because now that everyone is using our tailor, there’s a high risk our own cheongsams will not be ready in time.  Bubbs however, felt that it was the tailor’s responsibility to turn down the others, if she could not cope with the workload.  But which tailor would turn down having more business?  Sure, the tailor would gain a bad rep if she could not deliver in time… but which self-employed business person would shut the door on new business?  As a business person, obviously the tailor took the risk of not delivering on the orders, as long as she could have more business.

    When I came back from Bangkok, I passed my cloth to the tailor immediately and told her to rush it, which she did.  However, the cheongsam was a little loose and so when I went for fitting last Friday, the tailor’s assistant pinned down the alternations that had to be done and I was supposed to collect it tomorrow.  Booze Queen’s dress fitted her well and so no further alternation was required.

    J and Bubbs went down to the tailor during lunch today.  J’s cheongsam was ready too so that was perfect.  Unfortunately for Bubbs, the tailor forgot what alterations were required for her dress and so she just left it hanging, untouched.  Bubbs was mad of course when the tailor told her that she wouldn’t be able to rush it in time for next week.  Bubbs insisted on collecting her dress tomorrow and so very grumpily, the tailor agreed to do it. 

    Now I’m worried about my cheongsam.  J saw it hanging in the shop, pins still intact, which means it’s not done yet.  I called the tailor a few times earlier this evening but no one answered the phone.  I’m going to call again tomorrow morning.  Argh.  I will sit at the shop and supervise if I have to but my cheongsam must be ready in time!

    You can call the tailor unprofessional, money-minded, greedy, whatever. The way I see it is, if you don’t want to be the bad guy and say "no" to a colleague (hey, I told Atas "no" when she wanted the tailor contact), don’t expect others (i.e. the tailor) to be the bad guy for you.