D is for Details
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotes is one of my favorite websites. (No surprise, if you read my earlier review of Eats, Shoots and Leaves). It's amazing how such a little slip of punctuation can change the meaning of your sign—and how amusing it usually is!
On a more serious note, a lack of attention to detail (not just punctuation) could also cost you customers.
Almost 20 years ago, I read a book that took place in a small Texas town where the character walked into a Safeway grocery store. I put the book down. There were no Safeways there. I tried reading further, but I couldn't do it. Yes, the book was fiction, but it was still nagging at me: if the author got this wrong, what else did she get wrong? I never finished the book. (In case you're curious, according to the Safeway HR site, they do have Tom Thumb and Randall's in Texas.)
Details can also be your undoing with jewelry. When I first started beading, I switched to some cheap crimps to save money. Crimps are tiny (2-3mm) pieces of metal, so how important could they be? A crimp is a crimp, right? That's what I thought until I was at work typing merrily away when the cheap crimp broke on my necklace, scattering beads all over the floor. If I had been trying to sell my jewelry to co-workers at that time, you can bet I'd have some serious damage control to do.
Until recently, I didn't think it was possible to take details too far. But that was before I was trying to look up something at the IRS website. Did you know that there's a section in "Miscellaneous Deductions" that deals with wristwatches?
"You cannot deduct the cost of a wristwatch, even if there is a job requirement that you know the correct time to properly perform your duties."
Who knew that watches were a critical detail that the IRS felt the need to cover? (And speaking of details, what about pocket watches? I assume since they're not mentioned they must be tax-deductible!)