The customer who wanted his Bible rebound with duct tape

Had a guy come into my shop about 2 years ago with a family Bible that was falling apart. The spine was completely gone and pages were scattered everywhere. He said he wanted it fixed but insisted I use silver duct tape because that's what his grandpa used. Took me 20 minutes to talk him into proper bookbinding cloth instead. In the end he agreed to a basic cloth rebind for $85. He came back a month later to pick it up and admitted the cloth looked way better. Has anyone else had customers insist on using the wrong materials for a repair?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_black8d agoMost Upvoted

Duct tape on a Bible, that's a special kind of stubborn right there.

the_harper7d ago

Wait hold on, I gotta push back on this. That's not stubbornness, that's practicality right there. Some of those old family Bibles have covers falling off and pages literally sliding out, and if you're trying to keep it together for a wedding or a funeral or something, duct tape is way better than nothing. Plus think about it, my grandma's Bible literally survived a flood back in the 90s because someone had taped the spine years before and it held water out. Sometimes the ugliest fix is the most honest one.