Almost time for a new weekly update, although there isn't much to report on the visual front, the piping and aircon ducting are still going on and tiling is almost complete and the wardrobes are in. Although there is still work to be done, it really makes big difference. Part of me can't wait to see the place done up and the elements that I can't wait to see are the choice of tiles, the floors, the glass railings on the stairs, the wood grain in the living room.
However, we've come to the part of the renovation where the pace moves very, s-l-o-w-l-y. Everything else however, moves very quickly. We put the place up for sale, partly on a lark, thinking that no one would really pay what we wanted for it. Well, you can guess the rest of the story. Someone did come along. Funny how a big risk, a new purchase, an old estate, a load of renovations, an untenanted situation, changes from a big risk of having overpaid, to a small risk with yet the exact same fundamentals.
So the long story short is that, we are selling. It is a good price and they seem nice people. We'll find somewhere else to live and start over; we could definitely use the financial boost. In the meantime, we still have to finish the renovation. I guess they are getting a good deal, a brilliant location, a brilliant view, a brilliant if I do say so myself, renovation, delivered to them at a price for which yes, I suppose they've paid for much of that. The downsides? Well, the same, odd shapes, odd walls, no facilities, one car parking.
How do you synthesize four people into what was essentially two people's view of a home? Well, that, I have yet to answer. Can it be done? We'll find out. I wander around the place and it no longer feels like home and there are days I can't really care if it is finished or not. I do want to see it finished but it's become more like I pay for their way. And when their way is the washing machine and dryer in the storeroom or no unfinished grey brick walls or dark wood finishings, it's strange, boring and somehow feels angrily out of sync.
What will I do about the new couch I bought? When will my lamps find a home? Where will we go next? Where should we go next? I stayed awhile to watch the sunset off the beautiful unblocked tree top balcony view that is no longer ours and watched the twinkling lights come on one by one in the neighbourhood and tried not to feel sad. I think I succeeded. We're young, we have each other and we can now own most things we'd want. If we had kids, they could go to college anywhere they choose. That's not so bad, right?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Bouquet inspiration
A couple of bouquets to emulate, these are two effects that I've yet to try. The first is the bright clashing colours effect- I love how the purple irises aren't really used in a toned-down, coordinated with foliage and tan-braided-leather kind-of-way, rather, they are thrown together with pink, beige, orange, green, yet in a way that isn't completely ugly. It's actually much, much harder than it looks to strike that balance between colourful and classy. I'm not entirely sure this is my style but I'm hoping there will be a bride who will request for this (somehow) and I'll get a chance to make a country-hopping colourful bouquet.
The second is the truly wildflower look, a little uncoordinated, a little unkempt, a lot of small flowers in odd angular shapes and a slightly faded overall colour. Coming from the tropics, I can understand why people don't request this look, we tend to yearn toward a temperate bloom of colour and petals, rather than a slightly grassy, botanical garden look which is too reminiscent of what happens naturally when you don't weed in an equitorial backyward. Still, it's very pretty and Austenish, again, I need a bride who likes it!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Our cupboard in Malaysia
Contractor T: Can you please advise, this is already done (with attached photo)
W: What does already done mean? Does it mean you already made cupboard with Elevation 2 instead of Elevation 1?
Contractor T: Yah
W: Ok lor. Just carry on with what's already made.
In other news, some new gorgeousness out of Restoration Harware sale. Must be careful, or I will bust both our budget and weight allowances.
Coral goodness
Now that E's wedding is fast approaching, I'm quite excited. We're trying for shades of coral but you know how in Singapore that is easily cream or pink. She also gave license to kick it up a notch with pink tulips and green and white striped parrot tulips (very Kate Spade). The brief for the bridesmaids is still cream, white, blush. How exciting- this is going to be a girly wedding, I can feel it in ma bones!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Some new photos, Week 6 and 2 more weeks to completion
Some new photos, a lot of time was spent getting the air-con wiring and electricals up. You can now see the beginnings of the false ceiling in and the toilets are generally done. This is the kitchen area.
Still a lot of work to be done though, all the glass work is not in, neither is the woodwork, cabinetry, last pieces of plumbing, light fixtures and plastering.
What I like is that the dining room turned out much bigger than I thought, with space for a full 2.5m table and a lovely high ceiling.
Still my favourite part of the house, the stair well leading upstairs and the glass-side of the master bedroom that lets light flood into the stairs.
These are the smaller rooms upstairs and the lovely second bedroom, with an awesome view.
The masterbedroom, which is nice and large and the bathroom with a view.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tapz and Things
Although we had done renovations before, we were relatively new to the bathroom fittings arena and with the number of things that we shopped for and bought, I should highlight some of the better deals. A long post, this time.
Kitchen
Most places will sell you a package of a hob and hood with a matrix of prices. These are so common and popular that they are relatively straight forward and it's difficult to really deviate on pricing. Also, contractors are most familiar with these brands, which helps in the installation and ducting process. At the various Balestier outlets that we visited, we were quoted about $700 for a hood and hob combination. This can go down as low as $500 and as high as $1800, depending on the brand, the shape of the hood and whether the hob is gas or induction (induction hoods are seldom less than $1100). Familiar brands would be ones like Brandt, Rennai, Turbo, Teka and Electrolux.
Some of these sets can also be upgraded with an oven, usually a 60cm (and here the brands are far more diverse). Fridges, dishwashers, dryers and washers are generally bought seperately, with most of these appliances costing anywhere from $600 onward. One good store that we went to was Rina Electric, at Shaw Center, they had the requisite high-end items like Miele ovens and Quasar hoods but they also had a good Borsch set of hood, induction and gas hobs, oven, fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer for $9000, or Brandt set for $8000. This was not such a bad deal if we considered that even on mainstream packages, the pricing would also have added up to similar.
I'm a little biased when it comes to kitchen sinks, for me, the bigger the better and I like them straight edged, that is, industrial-boxy and with 90 degree angles, as opposed to the moulded round edges that are more common. I'm also picky about kitchen sink taps because I want them to have enough reach to come over the sink and wash out the corners of a basin, have clear hot and cold directions and be able to swivel without causing gaps in the fitting joints . (What can I say, I use my kitchen sink a lot and I grew up with a kitchen sink that moulded because of the frequent backsplash). The best I saw were Franke sets that had beautiful deep straight-edged sinks and lovely fluted bend taps from $300-600 at Hong Soon and some Rox sets at Hoe Soon for similar price. For a large sized basin, thicker steel and good design, be prepared to pay at least $399+.
If you are looking for a really bargain deal, I did find $80 double-kitchen sink inserts in Hong Soon and pretty nice $80 double-kitchen sink from Spain online. The contact is Thomas Tang 67461909 whose company bought a whole bunch of items for a development and has leftovers. (I discovered this by looking online for second-hand, resale kitchen or bathroom appliances. This company also has tap fittings from Spain, very heavy-duty bathroom and kitchen mixers in regular chrome and goldplate chrome for $80 each.
WCs and Basins
There seems to be a dearth of WCs in Singapore, even after several tries of relentless searching, it was hard to find free-standing WCs that would look a bit less pedestrain. Unfortunately, we didn't have the option of using wall-hung WCs (or fortunately, given that those are at least $1000 a set) but we did use them for another project and there, there seems to be a consensus of brands around Geberit and Liebherr flushing systems. WCs themselves are actually a lot less important than the all-important flushing system, because the bowl is just a conduit. So we didn't stinge on flushing systems (I grew up living in an old house where the flushing systems were screwed up by a poor contractor, so I know first-hand that this is the first thing to go and very painful to live with), but tried to economize on the WCs.
For the wall-hung WCs, we were in touch with the excellent Aamor Pte Ltd in the Cendex Center at Lower Delta Road, who are a wholesaler/distributor with a wide range of product, without retail margin. Since we were using concealed systems, we paid up for the flushing mechanisms (which are still a great deal cheaper here than at other stores) but chose Oxo and Geoceram WCs ($200-300), which were still very streamline, as opposed to splurging on upscale brands like Duravit ($600-900).
For the unit WCs, we went to Tapz Gallery primarily because they had a good package, which involves buying a WC and getting a choice of basin for a $50 top up. This wound up being a lot more cost effective than the clearence basin sales Hong Soon experience which you've already heard me whine about. Each set, inclusive of all the additional fittings and valves, ranged between $230-330 depending on the WC chosen. Without the additional basin, most WCs there were about $180-220. When shopping around, I realized that (a) that's about as cheap as WCs go and (b) other stores also have packages and each store may have distinct brands of WCs, so definitely shop around and be aware of stock issues as they do tend to hold small inventory.
Most of the basins in Balestier and in Hong Soon are unbranded Trendz basins- I found this brand and factory in China and do you know, you can have anyone's name (ie. even your own) printed on the basins? So don't be fooled, they may have made up random brand names but most of them are exactly the same generic product. There may be a few recognizable names like the Imperial, Johnson Suisse and Toto, I have no idea if they are really different though I'm sure the brand and store will tell you they are. For the basins that we did not get on this promotion at Tapz, we bought them from Aamor, again, the less pricey $160 Oxo and Geoceram rather than the $600 Scarbarah and $900 Duravit. If you are wondering how basins can possibly cost so much, both the Geoceram and Duravit were the same size and shape (rectangular semi-recessed basins), however, the Duravit had narrower and shaper edges, so the seams of the rectangle were thinner and more defined.
Mixers, Taps and Showers
For the basin mixers, bath mixers and shower sets, we quickly discovered that shower heads are relatively cheap (sometimes as low as $30) and even basin taps may not be that expensive but then the stores will charge you a ridiculous price on the mixers. We had been frequently warned by other house owners and renovators not to cheap out on tap fittings because they leak and corrode, causing a series of problems and then you have to replace them anyway. In one of the stores, Home and Bathroom Building Products on 566 Balestier, we got a good lesson in looking for bathroom appliances, they told us to look for (a) weight, which was often correlated to the quality of the fittings and also would determine how tightly the tap could be shut (b) a reputable name and also country of manufacture (c) rubber stoppers at the base of the spouts, for easy cleaning, as opposed to wire mess which will rust and (d) brass interiors to the fittings, rather than plastic which corrodes with hot water.
We also discovered at the store, that Hansgrohe was doing an aggressive promotion to break into the Asian markets (which I think they've been very successful at) and gain an upper hand on older brother Grohe. The trick is, basic lines like their Focus E2 and S2 series (<$300 for a set of 3 fittings), were discounted to very attractive prices, while the newest lines, like the Axor Hansgrohe fittings, were ridiculously expensive (think $800-1600 for a set of 3). The price that we were quoted for Home and Bathroom was $316 for a set of basin mixer, shower mixer and shower set with head and rod, then $356 for the same set with a bath rather than shower mixer (two spouts, rather than only one for the shower hose).
The price at Tapz Gallery for a similar mix-and-match set of unbranded or China brand product, was also more than $300 (primarily because of the shower mixer, for which they charged $116), so amazingly, the far superior Hansgrohe package was actually better value. One of our friends who owns a bar and had used Contractor T. commented enviously on the Hansgrohe fittings but when he found out how much they cost, he was shocked as he had paid far more for his fittings. Of course, these are not the ultra-modern-cool state-of-the-art Hansgrohe product that you see in luxury hotels but I do think they are far more sleek than what is commonly available and because they have a very wide range, you can always swop out or upgrade the shower heads to Raindance showers if you like. As a plus, they come with warranties and great after-sales service.
I went back to Aamor and found that for the same set, they charged $295 for the shower mixer set and $316 for the bath mixer set. As a bonus, their other products came with a 30% discount, which was at least similar to Balestier and they deliver. Best find yet.
Kitchen
Most places will sell you a package of a hob and hood with a matrix of prices. These are so common and popular that they are relatively straight forward and it's difficult to really deviate on pricing. Also, contractors are most familiar with these brands, which helps in the installation and ducting process. At the various Balestier outlets that we visited, we were quoted about $700 for a hood and hob combination. This can go down as low as $500 and as high as $1800, depending on the brand, the shape of the hood and whether the hob is gas or induction (induction hoods are seldom less than $1100). Familiar brands would be ones like Brandt, Rennai, Turbo, Teka and Electrolux.
Some of these sets can also be upgraded with an oven, usually a 60cm (and here the brands are far more diverse). Fridges, dishwashers, dryers and washers are generally bought seperately, with most of these appliances costing anywhere from $600 onward. One good store that we went to was Rina Electric, at Shaw Center, they had the requisite high-end items like Miele ovens and Quasar hoods but they also had a good Borsch set of hood, induction and gas hobs, oven, fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer for $9000, or Brandt set for $8000. This was not such a bad deal if we considered that even on mainstream packages, the pricing would also have added up to similar.
I'm a little biased when it comes to kitchen sinks, for me, the bigger the better and I like them straight edged, that is, industrial-boxy and with 90 degree angles, as opposed to the moulded round edges that are more common. I'm also picky about kitchen sink taps because I want them to have enough reach to come over the sink and wash out the corners of a basin, have clear hot and cold directions and be able to swivel without causing gaps in the fitting joints . (What can I say, I use my kitchen sink a lot and I grew up with a kitchen sink that moulded because of the frequent backsplash). The best I saw were Franke sets that had beautiful deep straight-edged sinks and lovely fluted bend taps from $300-600 at Hong Soon and some Rox sets at Hoe Soon for similar price. For a large sized basin, thicker steel and good design, be prepared to pay at least $399+.
If you are looking for a really bargain deal, I did find $80 double-kitchen sink inserts in Hong Soon and pretty nice $80 double-kitchen sink from Spain online. The contact is Thomas Tang 67461909 whose company bought a whole bunch of items for a development and has leftovers. (I discovered this by looking online for second-hand, resale kitchen or bathroom appliances. This company also has tap fittings from Spain, very heavy-duty bathroom and kitchen mixers in regular chrome and goldplate chrome for $80 each.
WCs and Basins
There seems to be a dearth of WCs in Singapore, even after several tries of relentless searching, it was hard to find free-standing WCs that would look a bit less pedestrain. Unfortunately, we didn't have the option of using wall-hung WCs (or fortunately, given that those are at least $1000 a set) but we did use them for another project and there, there seems to be a consensus of brands around Geberit and Liebherr flushing systems. WCs themselves are actually a lot less important than the all-important flushing system, because the bowl is just a conduit. So we didn't stinge on flushing systems (I grew up living in an old house where the flushing systems were screwed up by a poor contractor, so I know first-hand that this is the first thing to go and very painful to live with), but tried to economize on the WCs.
For the wall-hung WCs, we were in touch with the excellent Aamor Pte Ltd in the Cendex Center at Lower Delta Road, who are a wholesaler/distributor with a wide range of product, without retail margin. Since we were using concealed systems, we paid up for the flushing mechanisms (which are still a great deal cheaper here than at other stores) but chose Oxo and Geoceram WCs ($200-300), which were still very streamline, as opposed to splurging on upscale brands like Duravit ($600-900).
For the unit WCs, we went to Tapz Gallery primarily because they had a good package, which involves buying a WC and getting a choice of basin for a $50 top up. This wound up being a lot more cost effective than the clearence basin sales Hong Soon experience which you've already heard me whine about. Each set, inclusive of all the additional fittings and valves, ranged between $230-330 depending on the WC chosen. Without the additional basin, most WCs there were about $180-220. When shopping around, I realized that (a) that's about as cheap as WCs go and (b) other stores also have packages and each store may have distinct brands of WCs, so definitely shop around and be aware of stock issues as they do tend to hold small inventory.
Most of the basins in Balestier and in Hong Soon are unbranded Trendz basins- I found this brand and factory in China and do you know, you can have anyone's name (ie. even your own) printed on the basins? So don't be fooled, they may have made up random brand names but most of them are exactly the same generic product. There may be a few recognizable names like the Imperial, Johnson Suisse and Toto, I have no idea if they are really different though I'm sure the brand and store will tell you they are. For the basins that we did not get on this promotion at Tapz, we bought them from Aamor, again, the less pricey $160 Oxo and Geoceram rather than the $600 Scarbarah and $900 Duravit. If you are wondering how basins can possibly cost so much, both the Geoceram and Duravit were the same size and shape (rectangular semi-recessed basins), however, the Duravit had narrower and shaper edges, so the seams of the rectangle were thinner and more defined.
Mixers, Taps and Showers
For the basin mixers, bath mixers and shower sets, we quickly discovered that shower heads are relatively cheap (sometimes as low as $30) and even basin taps may not be that expensive but then the stores will charge you a ridiculous price on the mixers. We had been frequently warned by other house owners and renovators not to cheap out on tap fittings because they leak and corrode, causing a series of problems and then you have to replace them anyway. In one of the stores, Home and Bathroom Building Products on 566 Balestier, we got a good lesson in looking for bathroom appliances, they told us to look for (a) weight, which was often correlated to the quality of the fittings and also would determine how tightly the tap could be shut (b) a reputable name and also country of manufacture (c) rubber stoppers at the base of the spouts, for easy cleaning, as opposed to wire mess which will rust and (d) brass interiors to the fittings, rather than plastic which corrodes with hot water.
We also discovered at the store, that Hansgrohe was doing an aggressive promotion to break into the Asian markets (which I think they've been very successful at) and gain an upper hand on older brother Grohe. The trick is, basic lines like their Focus E2 and S2 series (<$300 for a set of 3 fittings), were discounted to very attractive prices, while the newest lines, like the Axor Hansgrohe fittings, were ridiculously expensive (think $800-1600 for a set of 3). The price that we were quoted for Home and Bathroom was $316 for a set of basin mixer, shower mixer and shower set with head and rod, then $356 for the same set with a bath rather than shower mixer (two spouts, rather than only one for the shower hose).
The price at Tapz Gallery for a similar mix-and-match set of unbranded or China brand product, was also more than $300 (primarily because of the shower mixer, for which they charged $116), so amazingly, the far superior Hansgrohe package was actually better value. One of our friends who owns a bar and had used Contractor T. commented enviously on the Hansgrohe fittings but when he found out how much they cost, he was shocked as he had paid far more for his fittings. Of course, these are not the ultra-modern-cool state-of-the-art Hansgrohe product that you see in luxury hotels but I do think they are far more sleek than what is commonly available and because they have a very wide range, you can always swop out or upgrade the shower heads to Raindance showers if you like. As a plus, they come with warranties and great after-sales service.
I went back to Aamor and found that for the same set, they charged $295 for the shower mixer set and $316 for the bath mixer set. As a bonus, their other products came with a 30% discount, which was at least similar to Balestier and they deliver. Best find yet.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
One of those days
I am so angry over a particular supplier that the term that comes to mind is "boiling anger"! A month or so ago, I went, at an uncle-who-is-in-the-biz's recommendation, to Hong Soon Sanitaryware, at 301 Jalan Besar Road. They had some great clearence $60-100 sales on basins, so even though it seemed to me that the salesperson, Edward, was very disinterested but I was lured in by this seeming good deal and went ahead to place a $100 deposit and reserve a few models.
Big mistake. One of the things I've learnt in spades, is that even if it's a really good deal- walk away if the parties seem disinterested. I should have followed my own advice. Fast forward to a few weeks later, I call up Edward to say that the selection would not work and that we would come back to the store to make changes to the selection.
I went with Contractor T and Designer J and again, the service was awful. He didn't even stop eating while we were in the store and just gestured in a haphazard way to the clearence stock. Everytime we asked a question, he would interject unhelpful, out-of-point replies that referred to basin models that weren't on sale or non-recessed basins. He directed our attention to WCs and to models of WCs that pertinently could not be used in our home set-up.
During that session, we picked two rectangular basins and I recorded that they were $60, though stupidly, I didn't record the model numbers, assuming that Edward had dealt with that. Fast forward to delivery time, Edward suddenly says that he tried to contact me, he has no record of any change made (because he didn't write it down, see, that's proof he says, that there wasn't any confirmation) and moreover, he doesn't know how many basins are available.
In fact, he dismisses me over the phone, saying I don't know what rectangular basin, just come down, just come down, over the phone, hard to talk, I have to deal with customer. So today I took more lunchtime hours off and made the third trip down. Sure enough, right next to the basin showcase, there was a paper catalogue clipped to the wall with the rectangular basin we had chosen, at the $60 price. (When we were on the phone, he clearly had not even checked!)
Although the catalogue says 3 are available (we were after 2 identical basins), neither the store nor the stockroom can find any. Amongst the clearence basins, there was one other model of rectangular basins, of which there were recorded to be 2 pieces, it turns up to be 1 piece only. Another round basin, a last-ditch choice and recorded to be 2 pieces, turn up to be 1, as neither the store nor stockroom, surprise surprise, can find anymore.
What really annoyed me was that through this whole process, Edward persists to ramble on and lecture me about how it was never confirmed because he did not write it down! Finally I said, look Edward, you didn't write it down because you weren't paying attention! We were the only people in the store, spent an hour with you and you were the one who wrote nothing down, despite knowing that we were there to make a change to the order! Don't you feel the least bit sorry for your part in this? His response? It's not written here, so it's not confirmed, it's not a mistake, we have to follow policy- we're a chinese company.
So instead, we had to purchase regular priced basins that were 2-3x and hundreds of dollars over what we were willing to pay (he refused to refund the deposit, saying it was a month ago and was completely useless in suggesting any alternatives, walking around distractedly, pointing to pricey items) upon which we discovered that firstly, their regular priced items are more pricey than other shops, secondly, they intended to charge us extra for waste traps and bottle traps and thirdly, they would charge a delivery fee for sending it to the work site.
So essentially, the whole clearence stock, which they clearly don't keep track of, was a con job and they have no concept of either service nor even basically, being helpful. It's been a long time since I've met someone so disgustingly incompetent, tedious and unashamedly contemptious- I was so tempted to throw a screaming fit, write complaint letters and forego the deposit, except that well, he already so clearly didn't care that he didn't care. This has hands-down, been the most painful and bad-taste-in-the-mouth experience with a store.
And of course, by the time I exited, the pointedly useless and wasteful amount of time I'd spent there exceeded the street parking and I got a fine.
Big mistake. One of the things I've learnt in spades, is that even if it's a really good deal- walk away if the parties seem disinterested. I should have followed my own advice. Fast forward to a few weeks later, I call up Edward to say that the selection would not work and that we would come back to the store to make changes to the selection.
I went with Contractor T and Designer J and again, the service was awful. He didn't even stop eating while we were in the store and just gestured in a haphazard way to the clearence stock. Everytime we asked a question, he would interject unhelpful, out-of-point replies that referred to basin models that weren't on sale or non-recessed basins. He directed our attention to WCs and to models of WCs that pertinently could not be used in our home set-up.
During that session, we picked two rectangular basins and I recorded that they were $60, though stupidly, I didn't record the model numbers, assuming that Edward had dealt with that. Fast forward to delivery time, Edward suddenly says that he tried to contact me, he has no record of any change made (because he didn't write it down, see, that's proof he says, that there wasn't any confirmation) and moreover, he doesn't know how many basins are available.
In fact, he dismisses me over the phone, saying I don't know what rectangular basin, just come down, just come down, over the phone, hard to talk, I have to deal with customer. So today I took more lunchtime hours off and made the third trip down. Sure enough, right next to the basin showcase, there was a paper catalogue clipped to the wall with the rectangular basin we had chosen, at the $60 price. (When we were on the phone, he clearly had not even checked!)
Although the catalogue says 3 are available (we were after 2 identical basins), neither the store nor the stockroom can find any. Amongst the clearence basins, there was one other model of rectangular basins, of which there were recorded to be 2 pieces, it turns up to be 1 piece only. Another round basin, a last-ditch choice and recorded to be 2 pieces, turn up to be 1, as neither the store nor stockroom, surprise surprise, can find anymore.
What really annoyed me was that through this whole process, Edward persists to ramble on and lecture me about how it was never confirmed because he did not write it down! Finally I said, look Edward, you didn't write it down because you weren't paying attention! We were the only people in the store, spent an hour with you and you were the one who wrote nothing down, despite knowing that we were there to make a change to the order! Don't you feel the least bit sorry for your part in this? His response? It's not written here, so it's not confirmed, it's not a mistake, we have to follow policy- we're a chinese company.
So instead, we had to purchase regular priced basins that were 2-3x and hundreds of dollars over what we were willing to pay (he refused to refund the deposit, saying it was a month ago and was completely useless in suggesting any alternatives, walking around distractedly, pointing to pricey items) upon which we discovered that firstly, their regular priced items are more pricey than other shops, secondly, they intended to charge us extra for waste traps and bottle traps and thirdly, they would charge a delivery fee for sending it to the work site.
So essentially, the whole clearence stock, which they clearly don't keep track of, was a con job and they have no concept of either service nor even basically, being helpful. It's been a long time since I've met someone so disgustingly incompetent, tedious and unashamedly contemptious- I was so tempted to throw a screaming fit, write complaint letters and forego the deposit, except that well, he already so clearly didn't care that he didn't care. This has hands-down, been the most painful and bad-taste-in-the-mouth experience with a store.
And of course, by the time I exited, the pointedly useless and wasteful amount of time I'd spent there exceeded the street parking and I got a fine.
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