Right. I drive round trip 111 miles. The trip down took 2 hours and 5 mins. The expressway was really a stop-and-go-a-bit-then-hit-the-brakes-and-wait-some-more way.... what a headache. With the help of, oh, a dozen or so phone calls to Kurt, he gets me to the building. A quiet little neighborhood on the northwest side. The picture was me standing with my back to the factory/warehouse where they make the karate mats... across the street, the residential section. Weird.
I go into the building, by way of the side door that clearly announced "NO WILL CALL". Nice. After encountering the front door that said, "ENTER AT SIDE DOOR", I decided, tough, I'm going to ring the bell.... I'm not in the mood for hunt down the customer door. I was greeted by a gruff-looking, long gray hair in a ponytail guy who kind of grunted and nodded his head for me to go in and "over there." So I asked, "just straight on to the office?" He grunts. I assume it's a confirmation. I wander through the factory floor where the dozen or so, multinationals are packing up various crates and boxes of vinyl tarps and what nots. I see a wooden staircase with worn white paint on the treads leading up to a door with the word "office" scrawled across it. So I let myself in... knocking as I open the door.
Anyways, long story short... even though I called Monday morning.... and was told my mat is ready for pick-up.... It's not. Right, NOT READY. "hello??!!!!" Turns out they made a mistake. A Lee's karate ordered a light blue canvas and that was what they thought I was calling on. Ya know, Lee, Hong.... sounds similar.... Ohmygod. Well, I wonder aloud how I'm supposed to open my doors on Monday if my mat is not here.... and they heard twice that I drove 2 hours and 5 mins..... So, they will rush and order tomorrow.... and ship it to my house for free. As Kurt said, a good company can still make mistakes, but it's how they fix them that makes them good. This will do.
My trip home was faster.... I took a different route, which included a lunch with Kurt near his work. 2 glasses of Blue Moon, Belgian Ale made everything alright!
