no need to be nasty.

Let me give a little explanation, before I go into my rant. I love J. Crew. I love that their distribution center is in Asheville, and that they have a clearance store, where you can get samples and such for super-cheap prices. Just love them. Every year for the past ten years or so, they’ve had a giant warehouse sale. Rows and rows of boxes lined up in the warehouse, and you can get super. cheap. clothes.

So why would it be any different this year?

Someone from the C-T caught wind over a week ago that the sale would be this weekend (it’s usually around this time this year) and blogged about it. No story, just a blog. And she confirmed it with someone at the warehouse. I called the warehouse on Wednesday and asked the person about the sale. I said, you guys usually have an anual warehouse sale. It’s huge. Will you be doing it again this year? The woman, “yes, on Saturday. It’ll start at 9 a.m.” To which I responded, “this is the same one as last November? The really big one?” Woman said, “yes.” End of conversation.

Melissa and I got to the warehouse at 7:40 this morning. Some other women were already there. Aileen and Mai soon followed. The receptionist inside said that they were lining stuff up in the warehouse for a sale, but was clueless otherwise. Later, a “supervisor” walked out and asked why we were there. Um. For the sale? She said that it was only a sidewalk clearance, but it was taking place in the warehouse. We were at the wrong entrance. We questioned her a couple of times about it, got the details and went to get breakfast before getting back in line.

Fast forward to 8:45 a.m. and another woman was explaining to everyone that they didn’t understand why we were here so early, and that this was not like last year’s sale. Did they want our money, or not?? The economy blows, people. J. Crew has reported losses this year. You should want our money!

We ended up being the first group in, and scored some items, but not like last year. Apparently, this sale is happening monthly, not just once a year, so they don’t have as much to put out each time.

Melissa checked out before us, and went into the clearance store, where they gave her trouble about bringing her bag in. She didn’t have keys to my car, so they said she could put it behind the counter….only the person behind the counter told her she had to put the bag in her car. Um. Problem there. I wasn’t with her.

We gathered in the parking lot after our shopping, and saw Laura and some other people. Another employee knew someone in Laura’s group and said, “the Citizen-Times published we were having the warehouse sale.” A conversation followed:
Me: It was a blog item, not a story
Her: It was on the front of the Citizen-Times site for an entire day.
Me: It was a few hours, and it was a blog. When I called this week, as a regular person, they told me that they were having the warehouse sale and it started at 9.
Her: Our store isn’t to talk to the media.
Me: I wasn’t calling as media. They still said it was at 9 a.m. and it was, indeed, the warehouse sale.
Her: (silence.)

Aileen and I then decided to go into the clearance store. I thought, hey, the husband gets a teacher discount. Wonder if I can use it, if I bring his check stub and our marriage certificate in? One lady was totally going to let me do it. A second lady said that they couldn’t allow it. He had to be using the discount – even though that SAME WOMAN has rung up MY check card buying MY stuff with his discount. He has to be there physically. The nastiness of a j. crew employee followed.

There was no need to be nasty. The company should WANT our MONEY. Why was it so difficult then? Yes, a blog announced some misinformation, but it drove a LOT more people to the sale.

On another note…..the girls that had been there early recognized me. Conversation:
Girl: Aren’t you one of the divas?
Me: Um. Yeah, I write on that blog.
Girl: That’s so cool! (tells woman with her that she reads the blog, and it’s about gossip stuff.)
Me: Yeah, it’s fun.
Girl to her friends: I feel like I’ve met a celebrity 🙂

And another side, side note….I did score some cool clothes. Two pairs of pants, two skirts, two shirts, two ties for the husband and a pair of flip-flops. All for under $75. Not too bad.