Style with an attitude

What is it with people nowadays? wonders a friend. 'It seems to be boorish is in as if they've taken the style with an attitude thing a bit too far.' Visit any store, along Zamzama especially and it reeks of it, the designer boutiques, the shoe stores, the beauty parlors you name it, the eateries even paper wrapping shops, if you don't reflect enough money or fit the slot of the designer crowd, you are not worth it.
So sniffs the attitude of the itsy bitsiest of shop assistants at the stores. Who seem to have forgotten their professional role, to assist the customer willingly- rather than sizing him up and down with a baleful glare, wheezing out a placidly apathetic 'I'm sorry you can't see the clothes or touch them, you don't have an appointment.' Besides the rest of the attitude of 'I'm doing you a favour by looking at you and letting you in.' Barely educated assistants deeming themselves superior because they mingle with the rich or designers.
But in a world of shallowness and superficial appearances, it is how you look that matters and an attitude of condensation hides your ignorance and insecurity of your origins. The phrase 'Manners maketh the man' doesn't cut much ice here.
If one was truly intelligent, especially the shop assistants, they'd realise that not only from the marketing point of view but also generally, a good upbringing is reflected in courteous behaviour, where one gives respect to all regardless of class or wealth or status.
The best stores abroad such as Gucci, Christian Dior, have assistants so polite that ones feels obliged to purchase something rather than break their hearts. Whereas one feels mortified and shamed into buying something by the sullen disregard of the servers here, she remarks. The same holds true for the tailors, who refuse to reveal the charges for stitching before hand and later demand any amount they chose.
One tailor, for example, demanded Rs five hundred for a plain suit, as the hemming was unnecessarily, on his own inaiative, done by hand. Protest and they ban you from their shops, even though you may have been a regular client for five years. Apparently there is no shortage of customers willing to throw their cash, ready to replace your demand.
Beauty parlors, usually burgeoning, too sniffily let you in and if you are not a regular client doling out Rs 4000 per month, as easily elbow you out with a 'sorry we are too busy.' A friend from abroad was told her hair styling would cost her 500 Rupees, but when the time for payment came, they changed their minds and decided her hair was too long and they'd charge her more.
The naïve girl paid up after being harassed and her friend wasn't even allowed to sit with her. Other hair dressers badger you about more services, which they try and convince you that you need.
It is constant exercise of mental wrestling in trying to ward them off from trying to color your hair or perm it, or offer to give you a facial or a cut, which you don't want. Why can't they let you be? Then one has to deal with the assistant's stares and rude guffaws and remarks as they assess you as another friend reports of an "in" place.
At the most exclusive of parlors, the 'Mongolian looking women' conspiratorially whispered in their language, exchanging sniggers as they watched over you, the same holds true of the most humble of parlours. Refuse to submit and ask for better services and they will be ruder, throw things around etc. The friend wonders, "hey, wait a minute aren't you the one paying for their services?" after detailing the above encounters?
At an exclusive shoe store, she continues, an appointment is needed to enter and browse - the assistants laugh derisively when one inquires about the prices, which begin at four thousand, going up to 20,000. Aren't we a third world nation, where people commit suicide from unemployment?
Designers are another story. Trying to elicit your bridal dresses from them is a task in itself, requiring all the patience and exercise in self-restraint worthy of a saint, reports another to be married friend.
That is if you manage to get past the 'watch dogs' or female assistants at the outlet, elaborately dressed ladies with bored expressions who size you up and down as they ask what you want and whether you have an appointment, with a bored drawl, rolling their eyes if one inquires about the price and wont otherwise let you see the outfits.
The prices are too steep in themselves Rs 65000 for a blouse with lace from Sunday bazaar selling at one outlet, 'whose assistant is a big turn off' and when you do give a order they chivvy you along, with a hurry up.
Then comes the orders themselves -another fiasco. You thought that if you went to a designer with your carefully planned dream bridal wear in hand, way in advance, that you would look on the D-Day a bit close to your dream, if not 100 percent perfect.
After all isn't that why designers charge a hefty sum, to have you fitted out and embroidered as you had ordered and paid for. Certainly not end up in a shadow of your carefully designed outfit and that too a xeroxed version that will also grace God knows how many other brides. 'Designers are supposed to design exclusive wear, aren't they?' questions my embittered young friend. The question hovers in the air, does a summersault, hits the wall and slides off dejected, apparently not. Your ideas and theirs are not meant to adorn only your frame but does end up on the frames of ten other brides.
'We might as well have just gone to any outfitter on Tariq road,' she grouses 'atleast the tailors and karigaars would have delivered on time what one had ordered, not a much pared down skeleton of the original, on completely crassy, different fabric, much too late.' She has reason to be livid, its four days to the wedding and the wedding clothes still have to arrive.
About four months ago this young bride had unfortunately decided to go with her carefully thought out creation to these much vaunted designers. The same ones which reviewers rave and gush about in the social pages.
She gave the order for the bridal wear, which was duly written out complete with details of what work was to be done, the fabric used and the date of delivery. Yet the designer used completely different, cheap fabric that the one specified. And the work covered only a third of the area she had asked. Of course they were unwilling to take less money than for the original even though the mix up was their fault, for one assistant remembered the original order perfectly.
So another bridal outfit was made which reached her just a day before the wedding. It, again, was not what she had asked for, the style of tailoring was different with less work , and it was so ill fitting that the shirt was almost opening on the wedding day and had to be hidden by the duppatta. It was way too late for it to be altered.
The same designer had made another outfit nine inches too loose and messed up other of her orders' fittings. They had furthermore recommended the same outfit to the bride's friend knowingly who is get married in a few months. The poor friend was horrified at the bride's wedding in exactly the same outfit as she has ordered, for she will look exactly the same on her wedding.
Her outfit has the same color scheme, so with such a restrictive colour combination she will be forced to wear the same kind of make up and jewellery. So much for designer ethics and courtesy. Of course the designers demanded extra money for sending the clothes from Lahore, although they regularly send consignments to Karachi and she had already ordered other outfits from them.
Future brides must also be careful when ordering for if they decide to change their minds after paying in advance and later ask the designer to altar or modify or simplify the outfit , he flatly refuses with a 'I've already had it made.' ('When the delivery date is after four months?' muses the 'burnt' client).
Try and reason with him and he turns vicious, so one cancels the order and he refuses to return even a part of the Rs 40,000 deposit. I guess in a world where only money is valued, this is what on one must expect, as ethics, values, morals, manners and intangible qualities once deemed assets like kindness and fairness and justice fall by the way side. Where money rules, one can only expect a harsher, colder world where might is right.