The Nearly Never-Ending Story Part 2

We left the story where the wrong sofas were delivered and the delivery men said to keep them as they vanished before you could say
couch potato.  Following is the worst of the story.
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I immediately phoned Sklar-Peplar to find out what happened.  C also phoned.  Of course, we got the always irritating voice mail.  Since we are valued customers and our calls are important to them…  Yeah, right.  C finally managed to make contact with another human being.  This person checked with manufacturing. They acknowledged having the correct order number.  Yet, for reasons known to no-one on this planet, they made the wrong sofa and love seat.  It was going to take another 8 weeks until I got the set I ordered. Naturally, the loaners were probably the most uncomfortable sofas in the history of sofas.   
 
After another few weeks, my desk was ready to be delivered.  At least I could finally get the rest of my life in order.  Not so fast.  The finish on the desk had not gassed off thus being unfit to keep in the living room.  Living in an apartment, I could not put it outdoors to gas off.  I moved it into a spare room with an open window and a fan blowing out.    It took about two weeks for the toxic fumes to dissipate.  Finally, I was able to move the desk into the living room and become fully organized again.  I was grateful for that.  
 
Next, I got a phone call from Sklar-Peplar.  Were my sofas ready?  No.  They hadn’t even begun to make them.  They suddenly decided they needed photographs of the loaner sofas.  This was beyond absurd.  Even the person from the service department had no idea why the photos were requested.  The most likely explanation was that they forgot about my order and suddenly found the paperwork.  Whatever the stupid excuse, the bottom line was it would be yet another 8 weeks.   
 
My body was becoming misaligned sitting on the loaners.  It was like sitting on a molehill that was starting to grow into a mountain.  A few more weeks went by when C phoned.  Neither of us had heard anything from Sklar-Peplar.  We decided to drive back to the showroom on a Monday.  There was the floor model of my sofa.  Sitting right next to it was a brand-new matching love seat.  Say what?  If the showroom got one, where was mine?  Surely, my order was placed at least a decade before the showroom’s.  Feeling our frustration and growing impatience, Liz (the main sales person) said if I wanted the floor models, they would deliver them on Thursday.  We had her check with manufacturing to see how much longer until the new ones would be ready and if there was a discount on the floor models.  It seems the new set would not be ready for delivery for another 6 weeks and yes, there was a discount on the floor models.  The thought of sitting on what was fast becoming Mt. Everest, for another 6 weeks freaked me out.  The floor models to go, please. 
 
Thursday arrived.  The sofas did not.  I phoned Sklar-Peplar, but only got voice mail.  I phoned Friday and Monday with the same results.  I was beginning to believe I had slipped into the Twilight Zone or some parallel universe.  This couldn’t really be happening.  Tuesday morning Liz phoned to let me know that the new sofa set was due to arrive any minute and did I want the new set or the floor models.  Delivery would be on Thursday.  I said as long as the new ones were coming, I would take them.  Late Tuesday afternoon, Liz phoned again.  Delivery was being postponed to Saturday.  I asked her if the new set was in.  Not yet, but they were coming any minute.  I phoned again Thursday to see if the new ones had arrived.  Not yet.  Liz phoned the warehouse.  The sofas had left on the transport the first of the week.  Liz talked with the transport people who said the furniture would be in first thing Friday morning for sure.  Considering the recent chain of events, I was not taking any bets on Saturday’s delivery.  I phoned Sklar-Peplar around noon on Friday.  Liz was off.  Michael was there and said he had the shipping order stating the furniture was due in that morning, but it was not there.  He also thought I was getting both the new set and the floor models.  This was getting more bizarre by the minute.  I clarified I only wanted the new set.  Furthermore, if the new set did not arrive he should cancel Saturday’s delivery. 
 
Saturday arrived.  The sofas did not.  Where was that transport?  It was only about an hour from the warehouse in Whitby to the showroom in Toronto.  Was that area the new Bermuda triangle?  This sofa fiasco just trumped the mattress debacle. 
 
The following Tuesday Sklar-Peplar phoned.  The new pieces had arrived and would be delivered on Saturday between 10:00am and 1:00pm.  Déjà vu all over again!  I felt like I was living out a never-ending cosmic do-over.  Saturday came quickly.  Would they get it right this time?  My friend, D stopped by to wait with me.   
 
 Ten o’clock came and went.  Eleven o’clock came and went.  At 11:30 hunger pangs arrived but not the furniture.  We decided to go out for a sandwich.  Who knew when or even if the sofas would show up?  Just as we went to put on our jackets, the phone rang.  It was the delivery men saying they were going to start bringing up the furniture.  D assured me I was not hallucinating.  This was, at last, the real thing.     
 
I was filled with uber relief as I muttered a good riddance to the departing loaners.  In came my beautiful very long-awaited sofa and love seat.  They now sit most comfortably in my living room with dark coffee bean legs.  Really?  Some say dark coffee bean is the new natural wood.  Sure.  Why not? 
 
My good friend Will Shakespeare used to say, “All’s well that ends well.”  So, Will, how much sofa and mattress shopping did you ever do between writing platitudes? 

Comments are welcomed.

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