When I watch TV or a movie, I find myself looking at the furniture in the set. I sometimes miss the storyline, because I'm analyzing whether stripes match, etc or if a particular piece is really of the period depicted in the movie..
I do it with automobiles in movies and TV also, not so much with boats..
Am I the only one? (I doubt it)
Perry
When I see Ben Cartwright sitting in a Victorian chair that has double cording, I always wonder exactly when did double cording originate?
And you can always catch a glimpse of Lucy and Ricky on their sofa that is sitting on concrete blocks. Furniture from that era was often too low for camera angles.
It isn't just furniture faux pas that I look for. The grass on Bewitched was always green, even at Christmas time.
And of course, The Eiffel Tower is clearly visible from EVERY window in Paris.
I haven't done that so much with TV but, every restaurant I go into, I find myself examining their chairs/booths and generally leave a business card with the manager.
We were out walking one morning and a guy was pulling an absolutely gorgeous motorcycle out of his garage. Bob went up to him and started plugging me to reupholster his bike and gave the guy one of my business cards (Bob carries 4 or 5 in his billfold). The guy called a few weeks later and I've got him scheduled for January. ; )
Virginia
Play it again Sam ! refinish the piano it's black and white - needs color
I'm also just wanting to recover Archie's Chair and blame Meathead !
SA
This award winning movie is funny, over dramatic, and has a really bad ending
The Puffy Chair.
But it features a 5 min part about an upholsterer who almost gets his a$$ kicked for not having the chair ready. Funny thing is they decide to sit and wait while the guy upholsterers a recliner. A few hours later their back on the road.
Here's the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85cmTNBH42k
Quote from: SteveA on October 08, 2014, 10:36:28 am
Play it again Sam ! refinish the piano it's black and white - needs color
I'm also just wanting to recover Archie's Chair and blame Meathead !
SA
Naw, even better would be to recover Frasier's dad's recliner and blame it on Frasier. ; )
I'm not too bad with furniture (yet) , but I was terrible while I was doing shoe repair. Too used to up selling I guess. Worst one was when one of the Mister minit shop managers from Winnipeg , our senior stand chief and the area ops. manager came out to my shop in Brandon. Work shop on new products,up selling, marketing etc... in my shop for 11 hours then we went for a beer at the local strip club before supper. The lady was doing her floor show (remember--- no g strings up here)and pointed a foot at either side of our table. we all commented that she needs protection soles,lifts, and some stain remover on her shoes.
The absolute worst though is when Hollywood breaks out the guns. Westerns, war movies etc...Winnie just keeps turning the TV up so she can't hear me rant. Eight consecutive 300yd plus kills without reloading a six shooter while on the dead gallop kinda thing.
Quote from: Darren Henry on October 08, 2014, 04:01:08 pm
I'm not too bad with furniture (yet) , but I was terrible while I was doing shoe repair. Too used to up selling I guess. Worst one was when one of the Mister minit shop managers from Winnipeg , our senior stand chief and the area ops. manager came out to my shop in Brandon. Work shop on new products,up selling, marketing etc... in my shop for 11 hours then we went for a beer at the local strip club before supper. The lady was doing her floor show (remember--- no g strings up here)and pointed a foot at either side of our table. we all commented that she needs protection soles,lifts, and some stain remover on her shoes.
Pretty sad Darren. LOL
My husband is a gun aficionado and notices all the irregularities in weapons in movies and shows..
Virginia, I also critique restaurant furniture and will leave cards too. Oh, but restaurant furniture can be NASTY...
Perry
Cajan and Verginia, have you ever received a job from this method. I also have left cards at various restaurants with no results. I often wondered if they took it as an insult or embarrassment.
Quote from: kodydog on October 09, 2014, 06:37:09 am
Cajan and Verginia, have you ever received a job from this method. I also have left cards at various restaurants with no results. I often wondered if they took it as an insult or embarrassment.
Not from leaving cards. I did send out a letter of inquiry. Followed up with a visit to introduce myself. Lady I talked to said they had just reupholstered. About 3 months later at like 9 PM, the owner rang our door bell. Bob talked to her as I was in a nightgown by that time of the evening. I called her the next day and resent my letter as they could not find it. To date, I have done 18 bench seats, 5 counter stools, 4 dining room chairs (for her residence) and am just finishing up 44 chairs for the restaurant. We will probably start redoing the remaining bench seats as they have worn so thin you can see the wires on the first set that were reupholstered (before my time).
Don't know if anything would have come of it if I had just left my card. I keep meaning to find another restaurant to send a letter to but I've had enough other jobs hit my way that I am already booked through Feb so I've not been worrying about keeping busy.
Virginia
Quote from: kodydog on October 09, 2014, 06:37:09 am
Cajan and Verginia, have you ever received a job from this method. I also have left cards at various restaurants with no results. I often wondered if they took it as an insult or embarrassment.
My experience has been:
If they aren't ready to recover.........they AREN'T ready! No business card is going to persuade them.
When they ARE ready........they'll start calling around trying to find a shop to recover them. But the business card you left them has been tossed long ago.
I do work for a local restaurant. The manager tells me that upholsterers are always giving him their card, and quoting prices much lower than mine.
But this approach always strikes him as "desperate". He is leery of them.
Quote from: Virgs Sew n Sew on October 09, 2014, 06:46:12 am
I've had enough other jobs hit my way that I am already booked through Feb so I've not been worrying about keeping busy.
Virginia
That's great Virginia. Its good to be busy.
Quote from: sofadoc on October 09, 2014, 07:31:57 am
But this approach always strikes him as "desperate". He is leery of them.
That explains a lot.
Dennis: You rang a memory bell with me on the cement blocks. When I first got married ( to my ex ) we were so poor we couldn't afford furniture so family donated stuff to us. My Godfather gave us a couch. The legs were missing in the back so we had a paint can on one corner and two bricks on the other. It wasn't perfectly level but dang close.
We needed an entertainment / bookshelf shelf so I made one out of cement blocks ( which I painted ) and 12 " wide wooden boards that I stained. I wouldn't want to go back to those days for nothing. 18 years old and not a pot to wee in or a window to throw it out of.
Our cupboard was filled with Pasta and our fridge empty that first year till I started working 3 jobs at once to try and get ahead.
Darren: Every year I put together a Bah Humbug party around Xmas time at a local strip joint for the guys in the office. It was always a hush-hush event as the company we all worked for was large with over 750 employees. The strip joint was actually a high end place for business men. Our Human resources manager came to me and said " Chris, I would like to attend this year. " After the shock wore off I said " not a problem ". So I picked him up, drove him there and took him back home afterwards. He had a blast and we all pitched in money for a girl to take him upstairs for a private lap dance.
So why did I drive Steve ? Because he was blind.........lol......:) It was quite a thing to see a guy being escorted off with his white cane in his hand and heading to a private room for a lap dance in a strip club. he later was asking us " so how did she look " in which we all claimed she was drop dead gorgeous. Actually, she was very pretty. :)
Chris
My technique if I want to solicit work from a restaurant is to mention that I do upholstery. Then it's up to them to ask for a card. If they don't ask, I don't press the issue. I have gotten work that way.
I think everything has to do with presentation..if you seem desperate, that's what they pick up on. I like to project confidence.
Perry
Quote from: cajunpedaler on October 09, 2014, 11:41:03 am
I think everything has to do with presentation..if you seem desperate, that's what they pick up on. I like to project confidence.
Perry
God only knows how I presented. I had just started full time when I sent the letter-- I had just finished my first restaurant and was in a holding pattern on the vintage car I was working on so I didn't have a lot going on and was pretty worried about not making a go of it. By the time the owner came to our house, I was working on the Upper Deck and had done several motorcycle seats, plus a lot of alterations/formal wear jobs. I wasn't desperate at the time but wasn't sure how the jobs were going to flow in or not. I just know that I was very glad to have her show up on our doorstep with work. Seems like I am their upholsterer now. I'm surprised the booths are needing to be replaced already. I don't know when they were done but don't think it's been all that long. We just finished getting all of them with the same vinyl in the last 9 months or so. There is a rating for restaurant upholstery, forget the name of it, but it has to do with butts sliding off and on. This particular vinyl had a very high rating so I wouldn't have thought they would start wearing thin already. It is a busy restaurant so maybe they get more traffic than normal???
Virginia
I do work for a local chain restaurant. I've recovered their booths for over 20 years, and they've always been very pleased with my work.
Problem is.......they change managers about as often as they change their grease. So every time a new manager takes over, it's a whole new adventure. He has absolutely no idea who has been doing the booths.
Every time I see that restaurant show up on my caller ID, I know that it is totally clueless new manager who is taking a "shot in the dark".
We service several restaurants. Diaper's approach [rather than just leaving a card that will get round filed] is to get the contact info of the manager and call the day after he has seen they need work done. He low-balls the first couple of jobs to get them in the door and then sneaks the price up to our actual shop rate after they see my work and level of service. [Not my style---not my decision :-[ ].
He keeps a general idea of how often they require my services and eats accordingly. {The man wouldn't make himself a peanut butter sandwich unless some one was there to open the jar for him and put the knife in the dishwasher when he was done} If he sees something he calls and lets them know that they need to get stuff done.