We have a cool three-papasan (bowl chair) set on our balcony. However, the fabric covering the cushions is horrid. So I'd been on the lookout for a nice batik fabric so our curtain designer could make cushion covers for us. He told us he'd need 18 yards.
I passed by a little batik stall on Oxford Street and asked the woman if she could get 18 yards of fabric made in a certain pattern that struck me. After some arguing, she got me to pay in full up-front, because she was a "good Christian" and promised she "is not cheating me." The cost she gave me was 5.50 cedis per yard. This was a Thursday and she said it'd be ready next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Tuesday morning came and she called me, informing me she had been sick recently and hadn't been able to go to her batik maker. The fabric should be ready on Friday.
Friday comes. Monday comes. No word. Tuesday I call her.
She tells me, "Yes, it's ready." So I come to get it.
When I arrive, 14 yards are waiting for me. I ask where the other four yards are. She said, "O, there were extra costs for the dye and the fabric- because this is a special order. I didn't know if I should use my own money to get the 18 yards."
Yes, she should have. I didn't order 18 yards in the expectation I'd be getting 14. And I would have told her that, if she'd called me when she learned the news.
As I looked around the stall, I saw she had two other 2-yard pieces which had same pattern as the 14 yards, so I bought them and left. I wasn't at home when the designer came to get the fabric, but Jens was. And the two men agreed that the 14-yards of fabric and the 4-yards of fabric were too noticeably different.
Thursday I called the batik lady again to let her know she needed to go back and get four more yards identical to the fourteen. And she needed a piece of the 14-yards of fabric so her batik maker could copy it. I spent half an hour with her hashing out the costs she expected. How much are the dyes, and how much does fabric cost per yard? There was also the workmanship fee. I took away from that cost what I'd already paid for the 4 yards of different fabric. And I made it clear she should call me if ANY issue came up. This happened Thursday evening and she said it'd be done by Tuesday or Wednesday.
The next Thursday (this is three weeks after the original "it'll be done in five days") I come to her. She gives me the four yards. Then she tells me a story.
She had to travel to the batik maker's house by herself. She went to the batik maker's shop, but he was in the hospital. So she had to travel to his house, with his brother, in a taxi. It was in the north and she didn't know how far it was or how much she should pay for the taxi. So along with the costs of the fabric, she needed an extra 16 cedis for her transportation.
I paid her just to have this whole gong show ended. And then I gave the fabric to the designer, feeling that for a cheap batik pattern, it really wasn't worth it at all. I would have gotten a better deal going to a big fabric store and paying 8 or 9 cedis per yard, when they would have had the entire quantity I needed at once. And it would have been better quality, too.
We get back from our trip to Zanzibar and the designer brings over the cushion covers. When he gets to our balcony he seems surprised. He tells me he thought we had two large papasans and two small. We only have one large, and two small. So now we have two covers for the one big cushion.
I'm sure if the designer had had the right numbers, I wouldn't have needed those extra 4 yards at all.
Total cost: 99 cedis originally plus 3 cedis transportation the first time she went to see him; 22 for the extra but different four yards. Another 16 for the extra four yards. 16 for transportation. And three weeks of time. Then 50 for the designer plus another two and a half weeks. What a nightmare... although pretty benign, all things considered.
But it's over. We have batik cushion covers for our papasans. And when those wear out, I'll go and buy the next batch of fabric from a big fabric store. No question about that.
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