Richard is going to heavily influence this story because I wasn't there.
On our recent quest for tile, I was fed up with Home Depot (which is another review), so we decided to try local tile places. I called Arizona Tile and the phone was rudely answered by a woman who obviously far to busy to deal with me, a lowly customer (that was sarcasm, by the way). I told her we were looking for tile at our budget per square foot. She curtly said "Yeah, I have a tile that cheap", and ended the call.
I went in, hoping that if I showed up in person, they would realize I am a serious tile buyer, not one of the scam tile-buyers sweeping the country (more sarcasm). She was helping an elderly couple in the corner of the store, and I walked up to the counter. The phone rang, and she left the couple to answer the phone, which is fine! I get it! The couple was there first. So then I meandered and slowly looked at some tile a few minutes while she was helping.
After a few more minutes, she finished with the couple and they left. And then she sat down at her desk and started filling out paperwork. So then I though, "Oh, she didn't see me! This 6 foot, big guy standing in the middle of the tile room!" I understand that she has to fill out that paperwork immediately, but she didn't even acknowledge my presence. So I walked up to the counter, and she actually did that once over look. You know, the look girls give other girls to assess their features and clothing from head to toe? Yeah. That one. She looked...well...disgusted. I was in jeans and a t-shirt, but I wasn't grubby looking or anything.
Then I said "Hi, I called earlier on the phone. I was the one interested in the 99 cent tiles." She basically said, "Oh, the cheap stuff." We then went into what looked like a break room that had one small rack in the corner. She said "These are the 99 cent tiles." I asked if they were going to get more in, we are doing the whole house but only doing the bathroom right now and need the tile to be here for a while. She said the reason they were so cheap was that they are discontinued. I explained the situation to her, and she said "I don't have anything in the price YOU'RE looking for that is still being made." I asked what the cheaper end was of the tile still being made.
She pointed to a cubby and said "The cheap stuff is in there." Mind you, it was just me and her in this store. The phone wasn't ringing. But off she went, back to her desk. At the time, I didn't know that there was a great store called Artistic Tile just down the road, so I took a while looking at this stuff. I didn't see anything that we were looking for, and in the "cheapskate cubby", tiles were anywhere from $2.34 to $5.50.
So I just left, in search of yet another tile store. Her customer service is why I didn't want to buy any tile there. read more