valis2 | The AZ update. Pictures will follow in the next entry. (Reply)

So I'm back now, happy, happy, joy, joy.

The company (owned by my dear friends) in WI has decided to downsize a little next year. We did well at both shows, but one show (the one I ran) is fifteen days long, and we've decided to narrow it down to just one, which is five or six days long. So next year we'll be home earlier. Yippee!

Last year's entry, if you need it for reference

At a McDonald's in Oklahoma my friend's husband stopped to use the restroom. There was only one stall. When he went into the stall and closed the door, a guy came into the restroom and loudly said something about needing to use it and then went and shook the stall door while his friends jeered and laughed. Then they walked out, saying they were going to come back in. As my friend's husband was leaving the stall he clicked the lock button, meaning that to get into the stall they will have to crawl under the door.

I ate so much Afghani food. It was fantastic. I will really miss the Afghani guys next year...we'll be doing a different show. I'll miss out on their silly humor and their terrific food.

On the way home we stopped at a rest area. There was a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer with an orange vintage Beetle on it. A guy got out of the pickup truck and left the door open, and we all watched in amazement as a large golden retriever got out, followed by another golden retriever, a husky, another golden retriever, and another husky. It was not an extended cab truck. The dogs were not in the bed of the pickup truck. They were all in the cab with the guy. I am not making this up.

I bought some things, but not much. I really really restrained myself this year, especially after getting so much in December. I'm still reeling from that huge purchase. So it was wonderful to limit myself to little bits here and there. Though I just went out today and blew $230 at Lane Bryant, so maybe I shouldn't be so proud after all. *laughs*

Did not take almost any pictures until on the ride home, where I took waaay too many. They'll be in the next entry.

Saw what has to be the most disturbing thing EVAH at a show. No, seriously. This elderly woman was wandering around near the booth next to our booth, waiting for her granddaughter to finish her purchase. I see her put her hand in her mouth, and then I hear what sounds like "I lost m'tooth." Sure enough, she has a bloody tooth in her hand. She keeps studying it for a moment and then asks the vendor, "Y'got a trash can?" Maybe it's just disturbing to me. sylvadin? Can you top this story?

We ate at the Afghani restaurant a few times. At one point the waitress who waited on us last year came over and expressed displeasure with our waiter. We said, "No, he's fine!" Turned out he was her brother, and this was his first night as a waiter. Hee! Sibling rivalry. Their mom is the cook, btw.

No one claimed I gave the Worst Service like last year, unlike last year, so I missed out on getting an award. Though after we closed one day a woman came through and drove me crazy wanting to see everything. She did end up buying stuff, and she said, "I just got here! This is the first booth I had time to stop at." I looked at her and said, "Well, it's the last booth you'll stop at, too." After all, security was walking down the aisles. She turned to my friend's husband, who was waiting for me, and said, "Boy, she's brusque!" He said, "Yeah, she gives the worst customer service." I nearly snorted.

I didn't think the rice comments could get dumber, but this year, one comment takes the cake. We mixed together brown rice and white rice for a display, just to give you a bit of background.
Woman: Oh, different colors of rice! Mixed together...how pretty!
Other woman: Yes, it looks nice.
Woman: You know how they made the rice brown? They must have antiqued it! They soaked it in tea and cold water.
Me: It's actually just brown rice.
Woman: Oh.
Has no one ever seen brown rice before? How bizarre.

Got to see the lovely barda again. It was so nice to hang out with someone who can get my geek references.

Saw a truck hauling three large, brightly painted fiberglass elephant statues.

Read three terrific books: Weird Wisconsin, which was full of amazing people and places in WI, Secrets of the Sideshows, which ROCKED! omg it was a terrific book, it makes me want to use sideshow lingo all the time, and...The Great Influenza, which has to be one of the most absorbing books I've read in forever. Of course, by reading these books I completely screwed myself over in the free time department and got absolutely nothing accomplished on tLS. Wah! But it was worth it to recharge a little.