This is what happened;
I went to Eastleigh to shop. While I was there, I came across someone selling the dera fabric and stopped to look. I had been looking for it previously for a cover-up I wanted to make. I asked her the price and she told me the price per metre of fabric. So I went on to tell her that I’ll be back (I wasn’t speaking Kenyanese!) I went to first get what I needed from Eastleigh and then calculated the amount of fabric I would need if I were to purchase the dera fabric. After careful tailor mathematics, I realized that 2 meters would be just enough! Plus that’s all I could squeeze into my budget.
I went back ready to make the purchase. I took my time to look through the available prints and select the best. I finally did. She took out a thick stick that was marked using a marker pen and used it to measure the meters of fabric. I wasn’t at all shocked as I had realized most of the fabric shops there use sticks and not tape measures when selling fabric. I paid her and went on with my business. When I got somewhere I could sit and go through the things I had bought, I thought I should take out my tape measure and confirm the length and width of the fabric. The width was as I had estimated but the length was 70 inches instead of 80 inches. (1 metre is equal to 40 inches.) If you know about sewing, you know 10 inches could mess up the whole design and make the fabric useless. I felt really disappointed. On top of that, I was very tired, the sun had decided to show off on that day and where I had bought it was quite a distance! Moreso in the opposite direction from the stage. After careful debate, I decided to go back and ask them why they had given me less than I had paid for.
When I got there, I found a different person and explained my concern to her. She requested that I wait for the other clients to leave first and I did that. She then came to me. I first confirmed the rate I was given before making the purchase then that her stick is one meter. She confirmed those two. So I took out my tape measure and asked her to measure the stick. It was 35.5 inches!! She insisted that its what she uses and that is what she considers a meter. At some point, I started to question whether she gave me the rate per meter or ‘mti’ She even said my tape measure was faulty! Someone else came to the shop, I think they work together. We asked for his opinion. She said I was complaining that her stick wasn’t 1 meter so I gave him my tape measure and he opened 100 cm. I was happy because he was going to prove me right. He placed his 100 cm on the stick and when he realized the stick was smaller, he removed it. The lady was getting angry but so was I. I realized I couldn’t continue arguing with her anymore.
In the midst of all that, the other person gave me back my tape measure and told me that sometimes the sellers say meter to mean yard. I took out my phone to convert yards to inches and realized that 1 yard was about 35 inches. I then realized that it was a misunderstanding but who was at fault? I thanked him for clarifying that and went to tell the lady to tell the truth always. I asked her to quote the price in yards and not meters in future. I should have apologized to her though for saying she had stolen from me. I went away feeling like steam was coming off my face. When I thought about it on my way to town, I knew always to confirm the length of the stick in Eastleigh and to avoid jumping to conclusions. Above all, I knew Christine in primary school would be proud of me for standing up for myself without crying at the end of it! (If you have read this post, you know I cried a lot!)
That’s it from me this week.
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See you again on Friday at 10.00 a.m. EAT
//Till next time✌🏽//
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