Yet ANOTHER Costume Rant

We told you. We told you and told you. We told the director. We told everyone passing within shouting distance of the Palace. I posted it on Facebook. Ramona called you, which she shouldn't have to do...

"Cinderella" costumes were due back a week after the close of the show. Yes, some of you are late with them, which is annoying. However, to just unthinkingly assume that it's perfectly all right to just bring them back when you pick up your costumes for the next show is remarkably inconsiderate.

Let me walk you through this. When you (or was it your wife?) picked up for "Cinderella," Ramona had you fill out the form. And then she took you back to get your costumes. She went over the invoice with you, making sure you saw every piece listed there. She explained which costume was to be worn in which scene. She reminded you not to lose your invoice. She did that for six people every half hour from 10:30 to 1:00, and again in the afternoon, until everyone had picked up their stuff. OK, I'll cut you a bit of slack here, as I don't think you picked up for "Cinderella."

Suffice it to say that we have to process six actors every half hour. That's five minutes each, no matter how many costumes. Sometimes one family member is there to pick up for several. In that case, we have a lot of costumes to go through in that same five minutes.

If we have to stop all that to check in your late costumes, it will delay and inconvience every person who is there according the schedule they signed up for at the Palace.

I was there when Ramona explained the situation to you on the phone yesterday. And yet, you showed up this morning with your kids' costumes from "Cinderella," and a chip on your shoulder the size of Manhattan. Ramona explained again, informing you that you could not pick up your costumes. If you wanted to drop off the others, that was OK, but there was no time to check them in. You could get yours when your children were scheduled to pick up theirs, this afternoon. You tried to weasel out on a technicality...that it was your children's costumes that had not been returned, and you were merely planning to pick up your own. I'm sorry, but your children are your responsibility, one which you share with their mother. You can't expect your little kids to clean and return their own costumes, and you can't just pass it off to their mother.

It was outrageous for you to say, "Are you this way with all your customers, or just the ones you don't like?"

Trust me, my friend, you have done yourself no favour in speaking like that to Ramona. Everyone is nice to Ramona. Not only is she every inch a lady; she works long hours to make you and your children, and the rest of the cast as fabulous as she can. More, she has the power to make you look good, or not...and feel comfortable...or not. I realize she would never actually do that, but I have seen costumers who would. You, Mr I'm-so-much-more-important-than-everyone-else, have no way of knowing what she can (or will) do. You did find out she is more obdurate than you. Remember that...it will help in the future.

And then, to hand her the costumes, saying words to the effect of "Here they are and what you do with them is up to you" was just the icing on the cake!

Another thing about returning costumes late--did none of you think that maybe we could have used them for this show? While we have a plethora of petticoats, we need a lot of them for "Scrooge." Face it, Cinderella required our very biggest and best petticoats. We don't just hang up your costumes until the next time we do that show, you know. We USE them. When they are not in the shop, we can't use them, and therefore lose money.

While I sympathize with your strep throat, your family emergency and your deceased pet, I am of the opinion that you could probably have found somebody else to return for you. And, for the record, a couple of you have told the same story more than once. Isn't it a huge coincidence that you've had to fly to wherever, right after two different shows?

So, really...with some of you, I'm mildly irritated. With Mr I'm -so-much-more-important-than-everyone-else, I am way beyond that. You, sir, owe Ramona an apology.