Nick the Tailor

If you are new to my blog I suggest you read “A Child of the Greatest Generation” published on 08-20-2009 to better understand why this story was written.

more reflections

Nick fought in World War One for the Italian Army, on the Allies side. He lost a leg, above the knee, in battle and for the rest of his life walked on a wooden leg. What he lost in walking agility he made up with his tailoring skills. Nick was one heck of a tailor. He worked for my dad in the late 40’s and early 50’s at Adler’s Men’s Store on the corner of Pike and 3^rd Streets.

I always admired Nick, not just for his skills, but for his caring attitude. From time to time it was difficult understanding what he was saying because of his Italian accent, but what I couldn’t understand verbally, I could understand from the look in his eyes. He was a very special human being. One of the greatest Nick stories occurred when dad took a suit, a customer unexpectedly returned, back to Nick’s bench, in the rear of the store, for him to examine. Nick had a keen eye for anything that seemed unusual.

This customer, who dad said was not a regular, came into the store a week earlier to purchase the suit. When dad asked what size he wore he replied it wasn’t for him but for his brother, who couldn’t come in. He quickly chose a nice suit in his brother’s size and took it, without even having the pants cuffed.

Dad thought this a bit strange but the customer, after paying for the suit, said he would bring it back to have it cuffed if his brother liked his choice.

A week later, the customer returned with the suit and asked for his money back. My father sensed something was not quite right. It was a bit wrinkled. Nick would have to at least press it before dad put it back on the rack. On a hunch, before refunding the man’s money, he took the suit back to Nick and asked him to look it over and press it. Before the inspection was complete, dad returned to the customer to see if he might want to purchase something else with his pending refund. He didn’t.

A few minutes later father heard Nick walking toward the front of the store. Nick could never sneak up on you because with every other step, his wooden leg would emit a loud click! The metal knee joint was designed to stop at a certain angle, preventing it from folding up under him. When his knee reached that point, it clicked. Dad turned to see Nick beckoning him to come back to his bench.

“Mr. Adler, “he said, “Please smell the pants!”

Dad sniffed and smelled what appeared to be the faint scent of embalming fluid. Then a light went on. He remembered seeing an obituary that this customer’s father had recently died. The suit wasn’t for his brother. It was for his father! Because the customer’s father didn’t have a nice suit in which to be buried, his son got a loaner suit, so he thought, from Adler’s. After the service, but before the burial the suit was removed from the corpse and returned for a refund.

Because of Nick’s sharp nose, not only did the man not get his refund, Nick refused to cuff the pants.