THE RESULTS OF THE VISIT
Ok so I show up at his store. I walk in and - wonder of wonders - the guy is actually about 5'8" but STILL about 250lbs."So this is a good thing" I think to myself.
I introduce myself, immediately tell him the situation, show him the receipts and add that I first wanted to confront him calmly with hopes for an amicable conclusion.
The guy(Gary)becomes very agitated and defensive. I could tell right off that he knew he was busted doing something unethical.
At one point he asked me (rather nervously) "How did you find out it was here"? I replied: "It's a small city Gary, I know people. It really doesn't matter since I'm here talking to you and my sofa is sitting in your store."
I then asked him: " So how are we going to resolve this?" He replied:" Well I don't know...It's MINE!"
My reply was: " Well I just thought that I would take the high road and drive all the way over here hoping you'd do the right thing...but it looks like I'm going to have to go with plan-B".
That statement seemed to have struck a chord, he asked: " Well...what's plan-B?"
I said ( I swear this is true ) "Well Gary, I guess you're going to find out."
He then said: " Why don't you come back tomorrow...let me think about this."
So, the saga continues. My wife's birthday is today and I will be busy with that. However, this ain't over. Stay tuned.
I do have to admit that I must have cut an imposing form in my crisp business suit-peanut butter coif and leashed iguana at my side...
the suit always works!!! ...
the suit always works!!!
you should have said FBI/KGB/MI5/Scotland Yard /Massid/impossible missions. fill in the blank for your country . and you have been under surveillance since you bought the Chicklet sofa in this store.
I just hope that when you go there today that sofa won't be in a safehouse or kidnapped to a foreign country were you will never be able to see it again .
Good luck G-d Speed to You on this very sensitive assignment
really
you should hold exposure of his theivery over his head if need be. shout it from the highest mountaintops if he doesnt comply. also you should give your friends here fair warning of who this is so we wont inadvertainly support this kind of behaviour by mistake. you can be sure this type of @&$^#%$! "person" would scream bloody murder if it happened to him! also threaten police involvement if necessary. good interrogation work by the way.
you
may be screwed if his stalling of a day gives him time to make it dissapear. you better get a pic or some other documentation ( all your friends go there) or there may be nothing to argue over. he is obviously is not to bright in not denying stealing it with an excuse, and you may get him to cough it up, but you should keep up the pressure. take a camera next time ("for legal documentation"). it is all fun and games and there is the absurdity of arguing over a sofa, but the reality is he stole many hundreds of dollars from you which i hope no one here would think is entirely a laughing matter. go get him.
I agree with glassartist
You need to take some pictures of the sofa in the front window of the store so that you have visual documentation that he actually had the sofa in his possession. I would also go back to the original thrift store where the sofa was sold. See if the second cashier can identify him as the buyer. The cashier probably won't remember. They usually don't pay that close of attention at thrift stores, but you might get lucky. Get as many witnesses as you can. Your friend, people from the thrift shop, other customers who might have seen you at either the thrift shop or the mod shop, other people besides your friend who saw the sofa displayed at the mod shop, etc. And definitely take pictures.
And even if someone else bought the sofa at the thrift store and then turned around and resold it for a profit, the owner of the mod shop was still dealing with stolen merchandise. The people at the thrift shop will be able to identify you as the original buyer of the sofa. That makes anyone who has the sofa after you liable whether they actually bought the sofa at the thrift shop or not. It's illegal to purchase to stolen merchandise just like it's illegal to steal something. It sounds to me like the owner did the actual stealing and if so then he was a complete moron for displaying the sofa in his front window. I would think that even if the sofa 'disappears' that the owner of the mod shop might very well be liable for the difference in what you paid for the sofa and what the sofa is actually worth.
Also...
A good way to deal with people like the owner of the mod shop is to threaten his 'professional' reputation. It would definitely look bad on his store if you went public with a story like this. Bad news travels faster than good news. Threaten to tell as many people as you can about the unethical business man who owns the local mod shop. Trust me...news like that travels fast especially in a smaller town. And any owner of a store does not want their professinal image to be tarnished because it's bad for business.
Well
If you want to scare the f@@k out this idiot, place a dead chicken, or any other dead bird you may come upon, on his doorstep with an opened box of chicklets (the candy), with one piece of candy missing. He'll get the point, and you'll get your sofa.
ps. I love birds, so try to find one that might have been accidently killed.
Call the police...
If the guy doesn't give you your sofa, I think you should simply call your detective friend. You have the receipt. It seems clear to me that legally it's your sofa. If he doesn't give it up, just call the cops. You may have to resolve this in court, but it's *your* sofa.
Do?
Do any of the employee's remember you buying the sofa? I like the idea of the Police if he won't budge, you could also let him know that the Police will probably look closer into what else he has in his store. Let him know that this can be easy or a real pain in the butt, explain in detail the Police, court, court costs, and tell him you have a lawyer on call. Plan out every possible responce he could have and have a powerful counter response to shut him down. I ready to kick some butt, what city is this? Lets get some dead birds, makeup, a suit, a shovel and every other weapon that has been suggested and give this man a Design Addict enema!
Sold twice?
Nowhere in this thread or perhaps I haven't seen it, but why isn't the thrift store in any way culpable. They sold it twice. Nor do I see any thought that perhaps someone else mischeviously knocked the sold tags off at the thrift store, someone sat on the sofa and the sold tag came away on their clothes, etc. I'm not defending this Gary guy but I was carrying an Arne Jacobson egg chair to our version of a thrift store "The Ladies Auxillary" front desk for purchase when a woman came running over from another part of the store and indicated that she had just bought that chair, there was no sold tag on it or anything to indicate as such. Additionaly the clerk she actually made the transaction with was nowhere to be found (Cig break or something) anyway as fate would have it a man walked by with a card stock "sold" tag with the womans name stuck to the back of his shirt by the masking tape used to affix the tag to the chair. She was vindicated and everything was resolved amicably although she was in quite a rage prior to the "tag" walking by. That said, string the b*****d up by his toes, ahh the pasions of modern design!
The city is Milwaukee ,Wisconsin
The guy ( Gary -the snivelling sh*tbag) has a small store front on the South side of town near the intersection of Howell and Oklahoma streets - across from Humbolt park.
He has large lettering across one of the storefront windows claiming: " A PERCENTAGE OF ALL PROCEEDS GO TO CHARITY." Gee, I'd really like to know what "charity" he contributes to. I would guess that it's president has a name like "The Artful Dodger" etc.
I have to agree with "Cloudburst" that simply getting the word out that this guy is a weasel and informing as many people in the modernist/antique community that he should be avoided will probably be the most effective means of taking the wind out of his sails.
This is not to say that I haven't tossed some more nefarious ideas about. I just feel that this guy went to some lengths to aquire this sofa in an "ill gotten" manner. What he was hoping would be a windfall profit, may turn out to be something quite the opposite - If I am effective at spreading the word.
Truly, I have never known any unscrupulous person, from any business, that has enjoyed any degree of long term success.
My hope is to accelerate the the process of his demise by exposing him for what he is; a really pathetic, scheming liar.
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