Unfiltered Story #245188

(An older woman came in looking at a chair in our furniture store just to browse so she could bring her husband back later. I showed her the leather and fabric options for a pricier brand. Most people prefer real leather at this price point.)

Me: Here’s our leather options for this particular piece.

Customer: Do you have any fox leather?

Me: Um… No? Fox? I don’t believe so.

Customer: Oh. I’ll look at your fabrics, then.

(We look at the fabrics, and she’s not really liking any of them.)

Customer: (Sighing) Do you have any other similar styles that are available in fox leather?

Me: I’m sorry, no, we don’t carry fox leather at all in store.

Customer: Really? I’m surprised. A lot of people don’t care for real leather. I don’t. I think it stinks.

Me: (Suddenly it hits me) …Oh! You mean fake leather. I’m sorry, yes. Here’s our faux leather options for this one. I’m so sorry, I misunderstood you. We don’t have as many options in this as we do real leather, but as you can see, it’s an excellent substitute!

Her: What’s that word you used?

Me: You mean faux? (Pronounced like ‘foe.’)

Her: Yes. Faux. How do you spell that?

Me: F-a-u-x.

Her: Huh. Faux. I never knew that’s how you say it. It’s not fox?

Me: (trying not to embarrass her too much since I work on commission and am quite a bit younger than her.) Nope. It’s a weird word, isn’t it?

(From then on, she just used “fake leather” to refer to it, but seemed pleased with our interaction and unphased by the mix-up. I am still absolutely dazed that a woman her age had gone that long thinking “faux” was pronounced “fox.”)