A day in the life of a vendor
Nov. 10th, 2008 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis25:00 Get up and take shower at friends' house in WI.
5:30 Go upstairs and eat breakfast. Friends' kids are already up--wow.
6:00 Leave. Wave to friends' kids through the window. Super cute.
6-7:50 Drive. Detours involved.
7:50 Arrive at show location. Set up booth.
8:38 Finish setting up booth and sit down. I am in the hallway in front of the main room, and there are doors to the outside at the end of the hallway, and I begin to get cold, which ends up lasting all day because people keep opening the doors.
9:30 Vendor comes in and starts talking (loudly) about how he's moved out of the "ghetto" and to an area "where the beautiful girls hug each other."
9:40 Listen to a different vendor ranting bitterly to me for ten minutes about 9/11 being an inside job.
10:00 Show starts.
2:00 Former ghetto resident vendor walks through the hallway and says loudly that he's glad we're all here so he can shoplift from us.
2:15 Former ghetto resident vendor walks through again and tries to stuff merchandise down his pants.
3:00 Nearly cause myself injury by trying to stifle laughter caused by dumbest customer ever. (Let's see--an analogy. Imagine selling yarn to a customer and having them pick it up and think it's already a scarf. And then try to put the yarn on as if it is a scarf, even after repeated attempts to explain that it's just yarn. No, really.)
3:45 Former ghetto resident vendor tells the vendor across from me that he's known his dad longer than his dad has known him. And that his customer service has never improved.
4:55 Customer walks up after I've started putting stuff away and begins to shop even though the show closes in five minutes. But she is funny so it's okay. Former ghetto resident vendor walks up behind her, calls her a "beeyotch," kicks her in the ass. Customer tells him "Bite me," and then he calls her a slut and tells some other random vendor that she's been involved in prostitution since day one. Turns out customer is the sister of one of his former employees.
5:10 Begin putting stuff away.
5:35 Load, pull out map.
5:45 Drive. More detours. Find gas station and pay exorbitant price.
6:50 Stop at Starbucks. Am waited on by extremely dedicated and caring baristas. The chai is one of the best I've ever had from a Starbucks. The resulting caffeine high is the only thing which will sustain me in the next hours.
10:45 (which is actually 11:45, MI time) Arrive at home.
11:45 (12:45 EST) Go to bed.
12:15 (1:15 EST) Fall asleep.
I lead such a glamorous life, don't I? *grins*
5:30 Go upstairs and eat breakfast. Friends' kids are already up--wow.
6:00 Leave. Wave to friends' kids through the window. Super cute.
6-7:50 Drive. Detours involved.
7:50 Arrive at show location. Set up booth.
8:38 Finish setting up booth and sit down. I am in the hallway in front of the main room, and there are doors to the outside at the end of the hallway, and I begin to get cold, which ends up lasting all day because people keep opening the doors.
9:30 Vendor comes in and starts talking (loudly) about how he's moved out of the "ghetto" and to an area "where the beautiful girls hug each other."
9:40 Listen to a different vendor ranting bitterly to me for ten minutes about 9/11 being an inside job.
10:00 Show starts.
2:00 Former ghetto resident vendor walks through the hallway and says loudly that he's glad we're all here so he can shoplift from us.
2:15 Former ghetto resident vendor walks through again and tries to stuff merchandise down his pants.
3:00 Nearly cause myself injury by trying to stifle laughter caused by dumbest customer ever. (Let's see--an analogy. Imagine selling yarn to a customer and having them pick it up and think it's already a scarf. And then try to put the yarn on as if it is a scarf, even after repeated attempts to explain that it's just yarn. No, really.)
3:45 Former ghetto resident vendor tells the vendor across from me that he's known his dad longer than his dad has known him. And that his customer service has never improved.
4:55 Customer walks up after I've started putting stuff away and begins to shop even though the show closes in five minutes. But she is funny so it's okay. Former ghetto resident vendor walks up behind her, calls her a "beeyotch," kicks her in the ass. Customer tells him "Bite me," and then he calls her a slut and tells some other random vendor that she's been involved in prostitution since day one. Turns out customer is the sister of one of his former employees.
5:10 Begin putting stuff away.
5:35 Load, pull out map.
5:45 Drive. More detours. Find gas station and pay exorbitant price.
6:50 Stop at Starbucks. Am waited on by extremely dedicated and caring baristas. The chai is one of the best I've ever had from a Starbucks. The resulting caffeine high is the only thing which will sustain me in the next hours.
10:45 (which is actually 11:45, MI time) Arrive at home.
11:45 (12:45 EST) Go to bed.
12:15 (1:15 EST) Fall asleep.
I lead such a glamorous life, don't I? *grins*
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 12:39 am (UTC)You know well of what I speak, lol!
*the whiners - who never have anything good to say about the show, the crowds, the sales, etc. ('Gee, if you're *that* unhappy about everything, maybe you should find a new line of work')
I once set up at a show where one of the vendors swore (loudly) that she was going to sue the promoter for lack of sales. (Turns out the show was kind of a scam, but still, our fault for signing up.)
*the combative partners - whose time would be better spent in a couples therapy session or an anger management class instead of treating their vendor neighbors to yelling, screaming, swearing, tears, and other emo-drama.
Oh yes, I've seen this! I was next to a woman whose parents were helping her set up--she was verbally abusive to her father the entire time. And then once the show started, she was pleasant as punch.
*the party people - who come not to sell but gab with their crowd of friends...in front of your booth, rather than cluttering up their own.
ARGH! HULK SMASH! That makes me INSANE.
They're the ones who, while you have a friend watching your booth, you ask them if you can save them a trip and bring back anything when you hit the food vendors for lunch - and even if they say 'no thanks' you buy them a lemonade anyway just because they're nice people.
I love great vendors--they really are a special breed of person, y'know? Warm, friendly, funny, entertaining...and good-hearted. A good vendor is awesome.
*hugs*