Heyas KC10,

On the opposite side of the spectrum...

When I was a newhire at NWA, we all were shuffled down to the basement of Building B (the old North Central/Republic HQ, off of 494 across from the MOA).

There, in the basement (decorated oddly, so I thought at the time, with "Severe Weather Shelter" signs) were very nice, but rather elderly women who took our measurements. They had seemingly been doing this since Col. Brittin had first opened the doors back in '26.

At the duly appointed time, my uniform showed up, and I went to pick it up. Same older ladies were there. One insisted that I tried on my new rig, which I did.

The "dressing room" was on the complete opposite side of this rather large room. Yet despite the distance, when I stepped out, I was confronted by my octogenarian seamstress from a distance of no less than 30 feet giving me the stink eye.

I inquired her of her troubles, and she told me that my right sleeve was 1/8 of an inch too long. I thought this a rather wild estimation considering her distance from me (among other envriomental factors).

Yet she walked up to me, and with a sleigh of hand produced a small metal ruler, seemingly out of the ether, and lo and behold, my right sleeve was EXACTLY 1/8 of an inch too long.

At that point, I was left with only one course of action: I handed her my jacket, I sat down, and I shut up...as it was obvious to me that I was WAY out of my east coast "yea, it looks OK" element. In due time the jacket was returned to me, and to this day, the sleeves are still perfect, no doubt to within a thousanth of an inch.

As I later found out, the "Severe Weather Shelter" signs are no joke, at least not in the midwest (the REAL midwest, not Ohio).

While this story might seem a quaint relic of some bygone era, I was also quite satisfied with my leather jacket from G&B some 10 years later. It was true to size out of the box, and they obviously tracked the shipments, because I was called, unsolicited, the day after it was delivered, where they asked me how the fit and finish was (it was perfect), and to emphasize their guarantee and I could call them anytime if I had any problems with it. While some might scoff at it, on the DC-9, it was VERY much appriciated, as it simplified things immensely (considering the sliver of space that the jokesters at Douglas called "the closet"), lightened your load, could be wiped clean with a damp cloth, and made a VERY serviceable pillow on the commute home.

Nu