These Schott Zweissel Forte wine glasses, bought on sale at my corner Majestic Liquor in Oak Lawn yesterday, are just as beautiful as my ridiculously expensive Reidel glasses, but are half the cost and promise to hold up better. (I think I broke six paper-thin Reidel wine glasses this year alone. Spending beyond one's means on things that won't last is so 2008).While he was wrapping up my new Schott glasses in brown paper bags, the store manager told me a story he witnessed a few years ago. A traveling Schott salesman was demonstrating the extraordinary properties of the mouth-blown, super-strong wine glasses to a customer by slamming one on the counter. It didn't break. Impressed, the customer bought a case.
A new sales guy who'd just been hired at Majestic watched in awe. The next day he tried out his best sales technique on a customer, saying, "Watch this, it won't break even if I slam it on the counter!" He slammed it on the counter, and it shattered. The customer walked out.
The moral? Damned if I know.
But I loved that the manager told me the story -- he was laughing so hard as he was telling it to me that his eyes were watering -- and after a little research online on Schott I have decided to try it myself. It took me a while to get up the nerve. I'm actually sweating a bit as I write.
So, just now, right before I hit "publish" on this post, I gave one of the glasses a hard tap on my kitchen counter. It didn't break. It just rang like a really loud bell.
All's well that ends well.
