Everything takes longer

I bought a dress at Lord and Taylor before I moved here last year. The strap that goes around the back of the neck needed to shortened, so I decided to take it to the Tailor Xiao Shi. I dropped it off last week and she said it would be ready on Tuesday. So, today I went by to pick it up on the way home from dropping Huck at school. My intention was to pick it up and then go to the gym for a work out before the Chinese conversation class I am going to, or planned to, starting today.

When I walked in the work room of the flat, I saw my dress being set at a machine. They were JUST STARTING work on it. I saw that I'd be waiting a long time for the alteration so I tried to convey that I could just go back tomorrow. She would not have it. Everything is about saving face, but I really didn't care. I'd rather have been able to go about my day. Instead, I waited there and tried on the dress at least 7 times. Getting a near perfect fit. As it turns out, shortening the strap was only the beginning. The entire dress was too big. It fits now but the process took nearly 3 hours. I am not exagerating.

In the US, a dressmaker would rather not have a customer hanging around all that time, but here, her face was saved because she was able to send me home with the dress on the promised day.