I kinda want something with tails!
Summary: save yourself the heartache and go to
Men’s Wearhouse.
Let me tell you a little story. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to get my tuxes lined up for my wedding in May.
I intended to rent tuxedoes for myself and my groomsmen… fortunately there are businesses everywhere which cater to this exact need. How hard could this be, right?
After an abortive attempt to visit random places in Oakland (the places near me were all closed on the weekends) I went to the mall; there was a Gingiss and a Gary’s Tux Shop there. First stop was Gingiss.
Gingiss had two mannequins and two teenaged girls talking to their friends on the phone. I started paging through their style book and one of them finally showed up to help. First I asked about the different kinds of tails they had available and they sort of gestured to the mannequins. I asked them how much rentals cost and they said they didn’t know and didn’t have any price lists.
So then I asked to see some of the vest colors they had and they scurried off to the back room- they didn’t have the actual vests, but they had swatches. While I waited I took a photo of the mannequin. “Oh you can’t take pictures in here sir” they told me. Okay, no catalog to take, no prices, and no photos. How about I just write you guys a blank check and you can give me some potato sacks to wear at my fucking wedding?
So, Gingiss was out. Next I went to Gary’s… which I couldn’t find at all. It wasn’t in the mall directory and not on any map. I heard it was inside Sears (just in case I wanted to buy power tools with my tuxedo) but looking directly at the formal wear section I didn’t see it. Plus, I heard a really awful story about the clerks there, so I was already not too enthusiastic about going… the mall was a bust.
Now that I thought about, it, how much would it suck to make everyone get their tux from the mall? This isn’t high school, boys and girls. So I decided to make an effort to avoid the mall.
There was a Selix in Hayward which was NOT in a mall. It was a nice big space and hada wide floor selection. I looked through their binder, and they told me about the different packages they had and the styles available. So decided, ok, this is the place.
Saturday, the day before my guys were getting together to get tuxedoes, I call Selix to see if I can come in that day to finalize my design before I drag everyone in on Sunday. I had other stuff to do that day, so of course I wait until the last minute to check…
They tell me sure, I can come and look at things, but their warehouse is closed over the weekend. So I can’t try anything on; I’ll have to wait until Monday. Waaiiiit…. so how is anyone going to try anything on? How are we going to see the styles? Too bad!
This is lame. I call around and try to find more Gary’s locations. There is supposedly one in Menlo Park, but the number gets forwarded to another one which is in a mall in San Jose. I successfully make a call to a location in Sunnyvale- they tell me they are open until 9 pm. Great!
I drive there… and there is no store there. Diane is helping me call at this point, and she calls the one in San Leandro and the one in Fremont, neither of which exist anymore. This is too stupid.
We find out that the Men’s Wearhouse now rents suits. They are closing soon, but we make an appointment to show up when they open and they tell us the deal over the phone.
When we finally got there on Sunday, they were very nice to us and very knowledgeable about their suits. I really should have gone there first!