Jacketgate

A last word on San Diego.

For many years it has been a tradition that DGs wore a themed jacket during their year of office. Every year the jacket would be a different colour, and the DGs did not know what the colour would be until they arrived at the International Assembly, and the jacket would be delivered to their Hotel room. For the last year or two, the tradition had been dropped, and DGs were encouraged to buy whatever jacket or blazer they wanted. Some sort of jacket is needed to carry the DG badge of office, and a blue blazer was a popular choice.

The incoming RI president, Gary Huang, however decided to go back to the idea of themed jackets, and DGs were invited to purchase their new jacket a few months ago, at a price of around £150, I think. In Vivian’s case it was probably the most expensive jacket she has ever bought, and accordingly she took a lot of care communicating with the suppliers, so that the jacket would be absolutely the right size for her.

 As the time for International Assembly in San Diego approached, speculation was rife about what the colour of the jacket would be. In the past there have been some unusual colours, including pink, yellow, even stripes. Vivian said she could cope with any colour, but not mustard yellow. Anything but Mustard yellow! I thought this was dangerous, because in my experience the more you don’t want something to happen, the more likely it is.

It wasn’t  really a big deal for most male DGs, who would probably have worn whatever colour was given to them. In fact I remember Mukesh, who was DG a couple of years ago, was actually a bit disappointed with a plain grey jacket, when he had been hoping for a loud colour.  For the women, however, there were a lot of issues, not least of which was the problem of co-ordinating tops, skirts, trousers etc. with a jacket that they don’t know the colour of.  How do they pack for that?

On the opening day of the Assembly, Gary Huang wore this year’s jacket. It is a design of small black and white checks, which gives the overall impression of a shiny grey colour. Not unattractive, and I heard no complaints about the colour from the British contingent. However the complaints began when they got back to their hotel rooms that evening and found no jacket had been brought to their room. Enquiries were made, and it quickly became known that the jackets were not yet ready. There was an announcement later that the suppliers had been let down by the manufacturers, but were still hopeful that the jackets would be ready by the end of the week.  Vivian  took the trouble of visiting their office in the Hotel to check sizes, but was fobbed off by being told that the original measurements were correct for her.

It must have been embarrassing for Gary, who had presumably approved the manufacturers and suppliers of the jackets. Also, one evening in the week, each DGE had a formal photograph taken with Gary and Corinna, his wife. The plan would have been for the DGEs to be wearing their jackets at this photoshoot, but of course there were no jackets. Understandably, after the first day, Gary didn’t wear his theme jacket for the rest of the week.

When we left San Diego, DGEs were promised that their jackets would shortly  be sent out to them, wherever in the world they lived. Another couple of weeks passed, still no jackets, and some of the DGEs were getting restless. Some of them started to complain with increasing regularity, and one broke ranks by cancelling the order and demanding his money (or more accurately, his District’s  money) back.

After about a month, letters of complaint were being sent to the US suppliers, with DGEs demanding their jackets  or an immediate  refund.  Interestingly a trend started to develop whereby those complaining loudest were dealt with sooner, and actually received their jackets. However, many were still unhappy, as their jacket was too big / too small / too long / too short, but I don’t know of anyone who was successful in actually getting an apology. Some decided to get the jacket amended to the right size, but this did not work where the jacket was too small, like Vivian’s.

                                                                                      The DG wears the jacket

After a strongly worded complaint, she got her jacket in April, but it was not the right size and was too short. But she has now given up on the suppliers and will keep the £150 jacket as a souvenir. She will probably still wear it on some engagements, as it fits across the shoulders, but is too small elsewhere.