Long BORING story so you can experience all the excruciating tedium if you choose to continue reading. I have been trying to track down a ceramic piece made for a ”luxury brand” out of France that has stores in multiple countries. None of the stores in the US has it, I got info that one store in England had one left. So I emailed them and we started messaging back and forth about how to get it to me since they don’t ship to the US. I asked the sales associate for recommendations on the best way to have it picked up and shipped to me since while I've ordered things from overseas from stores that handle their own shipping I’ve never arranged shipping myself. This was a slow process since I usually couldn’t get back to the sales associate until later in my day, which means they are within a couple hours of closing. I told the SA not to worry about getting right back to me during a busy time or at the end of his day, I wanted to secure the piece, but I wasn’t in a hurry to have it in hand.

We had a hiccup when the SA emailed me the measurements for the package in mm but labeled them cm. So that was another round of emails to get sorted out. He also never gave me a price at all even though I asked, I had a rough idea of what the price was from someone else in a collector’s forum but didn’t know the actual price or what VAT would add etc. But he just ignored that question. In the end I just asked him to send me the invoice. (What’s an extra £100 or so if I could finally acquire my oh so coveted piece of kiln fired, shaped dirt!🙄 ) Just slowly round and round. Anyway we got it all sorted and when he went to pack the piece up he realized it had a chip on the front. He asked me if I still wanted it and if not he would contact his distributor and the stores in France to see if anyone had one(doubtful). I said unfortunately I didn’t want it with the small but very noticeable damage (the glaze is white and the base clay is red so immediately draws your eyes to the flaw) and I would appreciate it if he could find a store in France that had it and if he could put me in contact there with someone who spoke English or if he could somehow arrange the purchase from his end (thinking he would still get the commission that way).

After that he emailed back saying “*Dearest* my name, I am just so sorry it's the last piece and slightly damaged. Totally understand all your points.“ With assurances he had already sent out inquiries trying to track down another. So my question is when a Brit addresses an email to a stranger with DEAREST that’s sarcasm, yeah? He had been addressing emails with Dear, as I was also taught in school but rarely use now unless someone else does, since it feels too personal somehow. But DearEST seemed a little too, too. Or is that my guilt for taking up all his time for no sale? Though when we first started trying to arrange this you’d think he would have checked the piece. It’s not thousands of dollars, but hundreds anyway. Maybe he feels bad for not checking it was 100% before a week of email tag? Or did he just tell me Bless Your Heart in British?