Yes, we have no buttons

You would not believe my day – or my last night - and it’s not over yet. I literally have a sandwich on top of the computer as I have about ten minutes before I need to get out the door and into the car again. My mission: to please a customer with a very unusual request. “Meet me at my office at 1:30” was the message he left when he called this morning, “I have what you need.” Note to myself: PLEASE LET ME BE ABLE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM!

43 interlock cotton polo shirts hang in the balance. Without buttons. Why no buttons? All polo shirts have buttons. My 43 Red House Double-Mercerized Cotton polo shirts (RH04) in classic red that were destined for the annual meeting of some single -vineyard winegrowers did. The shirts, by the way, looked great. Never one to wait until the last minute for quality control. I made sure every shirt was checked and perfect last week. Embroidered logo where it should be? Check. Colors consistent? Check. Loose threads? None. Buttons evenly placed and well anchored? Of course! There’s just one thing…during the meeting yesterday when I was to place the 43 in gift bags for their recipients, I got the news - the stuff of nightmares, or at least really bad headaches. My customer wanted different buttons. Now the buttons are gone. 3 buttons x 43 = you do the math. Michael and I did the removing - during several hours we might have otherwise enjoyed sleeping. Instead, I opened a bottle of Opus One I that was saving for a special occasion. Oh, this was special! The winegrowers’ meeting is TOMORROW and the shirts will be delivered to 43 different hotel rooms at some point during the night tonight. With buttons. Somehow it’s going to happen. I think…