Signature Needle Arts

The online reference Thesaurus.com says that synonyms for “bamboozled” are: baffled, befuddled, confused, and hoodwinked. You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with anything Signature?” I am about to share one of the most fabulous, funny and astonishing things that has ever happened here.

As many of you know, we try and monitor the emails to customer service even at night and on weekends in case someone is having trouble finding something on the site, or has an easily answered question about what they should choose. We can’t guarantee 24 hour service but enough of you may have heard from us in off hours to know we do the best we can.

So…2 Saturdays ago in the evening I saw an email that was the kind I NEVER want to see whether it is day or night— an angry email, but one that was totally mystifying from a customer who had placed her first order a few days before for 2 pairs of single point needles:

There are a few of us at Signature who monitor emails even after hours and yours certainly got my attention. I am completely amazed at what you describe. We make all our needles and every single one is metal. We have NO bamboo, or wood, or anything not metal in our building.
Do you have access to a digital camera and could you send a picture? Did the package look like it had been tampered with? Honestly, I need to discuss this with others on Monday but please understand that there is NO way that bamboo needles left our shipping department. Simply impossible. Please forward any other information or observations if you would please. Once we hear from you we will be able to try and solve this mystery.

I slept very uneasily with this problem on my mind. What?? Who? How? Bamboo??? The next morning (Sunday) I saw another email from her. When I read it out loud to my husband Kent he started to laugh so hard he really was red faced and wheezing:

Thank you for your quick response. I was out of town yesterday and did not have access to a computer. On Saturday when my husband discovered that I had e-mailed your company with my complaint, he advised me that HE AND MY DAUGHTER had replaced the Signature needles with bamboo needles!! They knew I was VERY ANXIOUS to receive my first pair of Signature needles so when your package came, they carefully opened the package and replaced your needles with bamboo needles as a prank on me.

Unfortunately, they were not home at the time I opened the package and did not realize that I would react immediately and in the manner in which I did – they thought I would wait until Monday to call customer service and by then they were going to make sure I knew about this supposedly joke. I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR THIS CONFUSION AND INCONVENIENCE!

I really felt bad for her having been on the wrong end of family practical jokes myself and so I emailed her:

Good morning ,
First, thank you for solving the mystery. Several of us last night were trying to figure out what had happened. First consensus was that “going postal” had a new meaning and that some rogue post office knitter saw the package and made the switch. I really appreciate you letting us know. I shared the email with my husband who got to laughing so much he was wheezing. As the recipient of some practical jokes from my family I can really appreciate your reaction. My conclusion about my own family is that the creativity/imagination shown means that they must be quite intelligent. You can take some consolation that yours is smart too!So…enjoy your Signature needles and enjoy being part of such a creative family.
PS I wonder if my wheezing/laughing spouse would feel if I replaced his Snap-On screwdrivers with some from the Dollar Store? HMMMM.

I thought this was the end of the story, but unbelievably it was not. A final email came with “the rest of the story”:

I am soooo glad someone got a good laugh out of it. Since your husband sees the humor in it, I can come clean and say that your Signature needles were actually replaced with CHOP STICKS!!! I was so upset at first that when I saw the wood, I automatically assumed they were bamboo. I then immediately went to the computer and did not realize that they were chop sticks until after I calmed down and took a closer look.

I don’t know how smart it was of my husband playing a joke on his wife! Believe it or not my daughter is very smart and is doing an internship as a Physician’s Assistant. She takes her boards next year. I guess in the end they got me good!

Again, thanks for all your understanding and compassion.

I don’t really have any moral to this story except that when we want our Signature needles, we want our Signature needles!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Remember those who have done so much for us and our country. I think I am going to turn off my Blackberry.

And….. this blog is being put together on Thursday the 27th of May which , by chance, is my birthday. It started out quite spectacularly when I looked at my Blackberry only to find this fabulous review from the equally fabulous Clara Parkes at Knitter’s Review

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 10:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.