I recently ordered some new furniture for my living room. Buying new furniture was, at least for me, a horribly stressful process because I’m a bit obsessive and just kept thinking I wouldn’t find anything I liked now that I would also like later (this is also one of the main reasons I will probably never get a tattoo).
A friend of mine suggested I look at Room and Board, because she thought they were very much aligned with my design aesthetic and she was right. Luckily, they also have a huge show room in SoHo so I was able to go and look at nearly every piece of furniture they sell.
I spent the first hour walking around completely overwhelmed. I brought with me a rough sketch of my living room with measurements jotted along each wall. I was carrying the R&B catalog around. I was sitting on every couch and touching every lamp. I must have looked pathetic. At one point I sat down on a couch and just stared into space for about five minutes.
Luckily, a R&B design consultant named Ryan saw me and asked if I needed help. I made it clear that I needed more than help and that I was replacing my entire living room so I didn’t know where to start. He suggested starting with the biggest piece and going from there—the sofa. Three hours later I had some fabric samples and starting points.
I took my sister back to the store the next weekend and we spent another two hours and finally chose the sofa and some chairs. Making other decisions was much easier after that. Ryan again spent all that time with us answering questions and giving advice.
Someone like me must be a nightmare for these guys. I have no clue where to start and I’m constantly changing my mind. I take suggestions but immediately ask 20 questions. Answer one and I’ve got ten more. And yet this guy stuck it out and spent a total of about four hours with me. All this, and they don’t get commission.
I buy nearly everything on the internet—I get my groceries delivered from FreshDirect, I buy my shoes from Zappos and almost everything else I need comes from Amazon or a handful of other stores. The only thing I have to shop for in a store these days is clothing, which I hate. I can never find anything I like. About an hour into talking with Ryan at Room and Board I realized why I hate shopping for clothing—there’s no one there to help me. Sure, clothing stores have employees, but they just walk around grabbing various sizes. They rarely provide useful input.
The key to the Room and Board experience was that I was receiving genuine help from someone who wanted me to be happy with my purchase.
