Couldn’t hail a cab (and other sundries of my day)

I went over to Michael Andrews Bespoke yesterday to pick up my shoes, and the studio was ever so slightly hectic, with two people getting fitted and otherwise serviced for a suit. Even so, Marian was helpful and helped me with my shirt order. She recom­mended a dark gray chambray that I liked and was intrigued by. She brought the idea of black contrast pick-stitching. I gave it some serious contem­plation and thought about what it would look like. While I was mulling it over, Marian excused herself to deal with another customer. Michael stepped in shortly, having arrived from jury duty. He was the one in charge of fitting the shoes, and unfor­tu­nately they didn’t feel quite right. The fit was fine, but as I walked around in them, I realized that the heel cup wasn’t quite high enough. My heels slipped halfway out the shoe every step I took. I hate to be “that guy”, the type of customer who makes a fuss over every­thing, but fortu­nately Michael was very gracious about it. His integrity dictated that I should not have to pay for a product that I was not satisfied with. It’s the same way I would run my own business. Even so, I hate for an honest man to lose out. I assured him that should the heel cups ever be fixed, I would be more than happy to purchase them.

We went back to my new shirt order. After much delib­er­ation (when don’t I take forever when it comes to clothing?), I ended up with a black Italian cloth in the super 120’s for my new casual shirt. He suggested an Italian collar, but it was hard for me to imagine what that would look like. Because Michael didn’t have any examples of it, and because I’m more conser­v­ative than flashy (I’m not brave enough to try some­thing like that, not at those prices), we went with a normal collar. It would be soft though, so as to compliment the casual nature of the design. Unusual for my simple tastes (Luanne calls it boring), I decided that I wanted to add a splash of color: my black casual shirt would have burgundy thread for the button holes and the button connection (or whatever its called) as well. It would also have an inter­esting striped contrast on the inside of my collar and cuff, colored in dull red of course. For the cuff, I chose a two button notched style. I had orig­i­nally wanted single cuffs so I could use red silk knots, but with the red button holes, it’d be more than enough. Besides, the two button with notch already adds to the distinc­tiveness of the design.

After spending more time there than I thought I would, I realized that I was late for a delivery. I left and walked along East Houston, trying to hail a cab. I needed to get home as quickly as possible. Dressed in my expensive suit, you would think any cabbie would be happy to pick me up: I would imagine that well-dressed gentlemen are more generous. Regardless of the way I dress, I am always generous in my gratu­ities in the same fashion as Jimmy the Gent. So when I encoun­tered ten cabs in a row that already had customers in it, then another three cabs that outright declined to take me as a passenger (two of them tried to ignore me), I wondered about the exis­tence of karma.

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