the cupcake goddess wondered what's on peeps' sewing desks at the moment.
not much.
however, many things happened this weekend, including snagging a copy of "pattern magic" at the ever enthralling chunk of new york that is the strand. the line there is often long and confusing. no one knows where it begins, it intersects with shoppers, it winds through aisles filled with goodness, and invariably someone will stop and pick something up before moving ahead in line, making the line appear longer than it is and generally pissing people off. it went a little something like this:
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oona stands patiently in the long and winding line at the strand, happily clutching a discounted copy of pattern magic. this book, she is certain, will change her sewing rut, well worth fifteen minutes of waiting. suddenly the line bolts forward as cashiers return from breaks. the gentleman in front of her is distracted by a brightly colored kiosk, and pauses to consider as the line ahead of him moves forward. the un-gentleman behind oona is not amused. he addresses oona.)
un-gentlemen: the line is MOVING.
oona turns her gaze and calmly replies.
oona: i think he's looking at something.
un-gentleman: MOVE, he's not buying anything.
oona: i'm sorry, would you please repeat that?
un-gentleman: i said he's not buying anything.
oona: alright.
the distracted customer has stepped aside, and oona closes the gap. un-gentleman finds his voice again.
un-gentleman: what did you THINK i said?
oona: i wasn't sure what you said, but it seemed rude, so i asked you to repeat it.
un-gentleman: well i don't appreciate some STRANGER calling me RUDE.
oona: (shrugging happily) that's okay. i'm done talking to you.
turning her attention to her magic book, oona moves forward. un-gentleman proceeds to spend the next fifteen minutes in line demonstratively offering "excuse me's" and "gesundheits" and "no, after YOU's" to everyone in his line of sight.
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Awww look at the un-gentleman trying to prove that he is one. That is so funny! ^_^
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the Midwest, but lived 13 years in NYC. Now I live in the Twin Cities area, Minnesota. It took me FOREVER to look at people or to not react with suspicion if some random person started talking to me.
ReplyDeleteI still walk too fast in a crowd and do the "I wanna pass you" dance if someone is moving too slow.
Rude people are just rude people, though - no excuse!
Oh Pattern Magic is so cool! Alas, I have no copy but have only seen a few projects done up. They are magical. And the sewing rut? I was in a major one last week. MAJOR. Sort of didn't ever feel like sewing again. Happily, this week, that is over.
ReplyDeletePeople are rude too. The funny thing is when you point it out to them, all of sudden they're hurt by it. Ha. The best part is you don't even know them. That just beats all! Way to go Oona!
xoxo,
Sunni
Ahahahahaha what a doofus! You totally called him I love it! I never can think in the moment how to respond to rude people, I'm usually struck dumb. Totally lifting your "i'm sorry, would you please repeat that?" line if I have occasion to- pulls them up short!
ReplyDelete●●●meg the pixie: he was trying HARD. i was very proud of him. and i love your avatar!
ReplyDelete●●●sunni: thanks goddess! you know, maybe it was the whole savings time switch. everyone seems in a funk that lifts a little more each day. i remember thinking last week, i can't take ONE MORE DAY of winter!
●●●magpie: ah yes, the dance. i made a pact with my dad that if he didn't drive fast, i wouldn't walk fast :)
●●●emilykate: it works WELL, my friend. gives you the chance to collect your thoughts. if i'm dealing with someone rude via phone, i say "i'm sorry, can you excuse me for a moment?" then i think of exactly what i'm going to say to the fracker.
Can I say major a$$hole??? Seriously,what a jerk! I like your line too Oona, have to remember that one, forces the un-gentleperson to repeat the nasty remark.
ReplyDeleteI have to get to the Strand when I'm in the city, good find on Pattern Magic but I can see why you're in a sewing rut--you gotta move that big old kittycat away from blocking your sewing machine--he does look so cute and cuddly though.
I think that guy would have really gotten on my nerves. I must say that you handled it rather gracefully.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm sure your toga dress was quite lovely. The thing with the Burda one was, in both the tech drawing and the actual photo, it didn't even look pretty. It looked more like the designer cut out the dress, had some random leftover scraps, and decided to shove them all in right in the under-boob seam just to use them up. And while I'm all for using up scraps, I prefer them to actually look good in the process, you know?
Wow, your cat is so fluffy! I love it. And what a great story, you handled Mr Un-gentleman so well. Perhaps he'll think twice before being so rude in public again. I think I better go take a picture of what's on my sewing table and post it tonight as well :)
ReplyDelete✄e: yes you CAN. you can even spell it out if you like. and i finally moved all 23 pounds of cat off the table and FINISHED something!!!
ReplyDelete✄becky: not only do i have a separate scrap dress to shoot, i'll be showing you the toga dress later this week... then you can decide ! :)
✄curiouskiwi: the fluff is mostly there to hide the fat.
such cute cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletehey hey hey!!!! got my gift and the lovely gentleman!!!! and I LOOOOOVE IT!!!!!!! :)
thanks sooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D
The dance! I do the dance in the street (not in the waiting line). In fact, I think i'm good at the dance. I've always walked quite fast - ever since I can remember, which was in kindergarten. I think it's mostly because I've been used to walking everywhere ever since I could walk. I still walk everywhere I can, even now when I study in a big city (in Czech terms :-).
ReplyDeleteBut I wouldn't do that in a waiting line. I always try to be polite in waiting lines and ESPECIALLY to the poor cashiers.
Good luck with your new sewing book!
***cara, i'm so glad!!!
ReplyDelete*** hana, i was back at the post office today and reminded myself, even on the walk there, to be patient. then three guys got in my way and when i passed them they whistled at me. so, you know, my saintliness went out the window shortly after.
What a horrible, horrible world you must live in! I must say my worst experiences with waiting lines ended when I stopped going to school canteen... now they're mostly nice. Boring and annoyingly long waiting, but people are mostly nice, or neutral, mildly annoyed by the waiting. None of your horror stories. I guess I'm lucky.
ReplyDelete>> hana, you crack me up!
ReplyDelete