The problem with these "where can I have my table cloth mended" questions is that it takes so long to get to the end of the discussion, which is always. " I don't want to spend that kind of money on it. I only paid $___ for it." One very knowledgeable lace person, who no longer does restoration, told me "It is very difficult, unpleasant, time consuming work, that takes so much time that you inevitably end up in a dispute about the price because the person doesn't believe how much time it takes." The problem is trying to engage in a polite conversation as though it was a reasonable request, since the person with the table cloth already knows that plumbers cost a lot of money these days, and for the most part you throw away electronics rather than trying to have them fixed because of the cost of human labor, and yet people cling to the notion that there are persons who live in the 21st century and can do intricate mending work for slave wages. So, how do you save time and stream line a conversation that starts out with, "a conservation lab will charge you $150 to evaluate how long it will take to fix the item, and then they will charge you $75 per hour." Then the owner of the table cloth will ask for the other alternatives, sometimes for as long as half an hour, as each is rejected in turn as being too costly, and another precious half hour is lost from your life. I recently went into my dry cleaners where there is a woman with a limited command of English who does alterations, and I asked her how much it would cost to put a new lining in my winter coat. She said, "Better you buy new coat". I admired the elegance and simplicity of the answer. So, one answer might be, "If your table cloth is worn out, buy a new table cloth". Possibly another one would be, "I suggest you contact a sweat shop". Or "Board a time machine and go back to the era when people mended table cloths." Or , "You don't want a lace expert, you want an illegal alien". Of course you don't really want to insult the person even though it is a ludicrous request. Recently I have been going with, "I don't know because I eat off formica and use paper napkins." Does anyone else have a good quick answer for this question? Devon
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