Interesting assumption, Jackass

I had an interesting experience over the weekend. I'm amused in hindsight, and actually was at the time, but I was rather astonished too I have to say.

I realised on Friday that I'm going to need a tablecloth for the new kitchen table. The wood has a dark stain, and where I have it placed in the kitchen about half the table is sitting in direct sunlight for part of the day (it's by windows, but it's huge so options are limited). Not so good for fading.

Cue a tablecloth hunt. Well, once I'd been online and found out that Art de Vivre, home of the ladle and also gorgeous tablecloths (until this point, the tablecloth was going to be a no-brainer) appears to have shut it's website down (the website that was launched after they shut their retail store down). AAARRGGHH!!!

Sooo, I was in Newmarket on Saturday morning (things to do, a layby to pick up ...Incidentally, I think we've discussed the general merits of layby before, but I discovered a new one at the weekend. It seems that when you layby more than one item, like, say three, six weeks is long enough to forget about one of them. Score!) and popped into a linen shop as I was passing to have a look at their tablecloths.

The shop owner, a man, asks me "Can I help you?"

A good start all in all, except for the inflection he placed on "help". Sort of like he was going to have to clean his shop once he'd ushered me out the door.

"Do you have a range of tablecloths?"

His response?

To stay exactly where he was and say "They're very expensive".

I don't know that my eyebrows have ever ventured that high into my hairline before.

Interesting assumption for someone in the retail business to make ...and, I think it's a safe bet that he didn't know how much I spent on the ladle. Or how much I wasn't going to spend on a tablecloth (or anything else, ever, come to that) in his store.

You have to wonder what prompts such an assumption though. He'd obviously judged me, but on what? My jandals? The scuffed hems on my jeans? That I dared shop in Newmarket without putting any makeup on? My (beloved) cardi that had seen better days? Silly man. Silly, silly man.


Oh, and in case you're wondering ...? Yes, I made him show me the range anyway, and no, they weren't that expensive.