Friday, January 15, 2010

Where do I fit this...!

Ruby & I have been pretty busy off late setting up our home. Taking heed from a bunch of my married friends I'd got only very few stuff for the house before the wedding. The 1BHK we hired was almost empty when we walked into our home, together for the first time! We did take our baby steps and started getting the basic gear necessary to get things going.

We kept furniture shopping towards the end. With appliances and various paraphernalia related to kitchen getting removed from the mile long list we prepared, it was time for us to get into the business of making our home guest-worthy! Thus we started our visits to the street closer to our place which was sprinkled with furniture stores. We zeroed in on a dining table and a computer table from one of the shops. We found ourselves lucky at a larger store when we came across a piece of furniture which the Indians happily call sofa-cum-bed, as naughty as it sounds!

The first store defaulted at least six times in terms of delivering the items whereas the latter was too diligent in updating us about the delivery. This was in fact a pleasant surprise for us since the first store was a specialty one whereas the second was generic. While we were thoroughly disappointed with the service of the store one, the sheer customer delight with the second compensated for that. Our sofa-cum-bed was delivered as promised. They informed that the assembling will happen the next day. We were informed the next day that, unfortunately the technician who was supposed to help us, fell sick and hence there will be a delay of one more day. While we were sad for the technician, we felt happy again about the initiative they took to keep the customer informed about the change in schedule, unlike the store one where we'd to call them each time to know that there would be additional delay!

Jalandar, the technician arrived as informed and unpacked his tool kit. He looked really professional with all the required equipments being fished out of his bag. He took a look at the packed furniture box and we missed the slight concern that flashed over his face! His question, "Is it a sofa-cum-bed?" also did not sound odd then. The pack contained multiple pieces of wood, mattress, wheels and screws which soon started occupying our living room. We watched the expert getting to the seemingly simple task of assembling the furniture. We were sure that it must be a cake walk for him; after all he was a technician from a professional organization!

The first couple of pieces were assembled with much ease and we were thrilled to see our home soon becoming even more beautiful a place to live in! Jalandar started with the next set of pieces. A small question cloud suddenly popped up above our head when he continued to gaze at the remaining pieces. The typical blank stare that appear when you are lost, was painted all over his face! He suddenly started to search for something. When asked, he said he was looking for the assembling manual but unfortunately that never came along with the furniture pack. He tried to figure out the rest of the pieces and our question cloud got bigger.

We asked what the trouble was and he gave us an incredible answer which swept off the whole professional experience about which we were really proud till a few minutes back! He said, "Sir, I joined only a week back and I've no clue how to assemble this thing"! Being dumbstruck was the least we could say. Nevertheless, we started looking at the pieces together. All the jigsaw puzzles we played when we were young and the truly awesome experience of assembling an IKEA furniture for my boss while onsite helped big time!

We did manage to solve the jigsaw together and the lovely sofa-cum-bed was ready in no time! We were indeed happy about ourselves and took our time to stand back and appreciate the new addition to our home that is all ready to receive the guests. All the thoughts about team work and motivation crossed our minds and our joy was endless! We were contented and thanked the guy for all the help. This was nothing but a true case study and we even thought of publishing it to the store as the benefits of customer and the supplier getting to work together.

Jalandar packed his tool kit and was about to leave when we noticed a medium sized piece of wood and a bunch of screws lying behind! They seemed to be giving us a wicked smile and we'll probably need to learn multiple languages to express the mixed emotions that crossed our minds! So much for the instant customer-supplier partnership funda!

Footnote: The fellow agreed to check back with the store and fix the furniture at the earliest :)

7 comments:

  1. Since when did a sofa cum bed started sounding naughty to you ;-)

    It would be helpful if you mention the names of the stores too. That way atleast the ppl reading your blog will not make the same mistake you made. Let them learn from ur mistakes and make their own!!!

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  2. what Jose mentioned is right... Give the name of both the stores so that people can know what their service wud be. But, U've put it across really so well, loved reading.... Agree to the comment on IKEA.

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  3. Jose: Being naughty has always been in my blood bro ;) The Store one is Furniture City near BTM & the Store two is Big Bazaar!
    Sree: Good to hear that you liked it :)

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  4. so settling in eh? all the best with all the expenses... :P

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  5. We had a similar experience of assembling a dismantled cot and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

    Nice blog; I liked the ending :D

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  6. Good to hear that a similarity exists & happy that you liked it Zara :)

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