What happens in Ohio doesn't stay in Ohio

[valis2]

A bullet point review of my meh weekend in Ohio.

• Two ladies were looking at stuff at my booth. They were excitedly chatting away in what I assume was a Chinese dialect. Finally, one of them asks me how much is left on the spool, and I explain. She then gets into a heated debate with her friend. They both continue to look at other stuff, making their way to the other end of my table. The woman still has the spool in her hand. Then she holds it close to her body and they leave, again talking very excitedly.
  
  I had to call to her and ask her to come back and buy the spool. I believe she was actually trying to walk off without paying. I really do.
  
  The price of the spool in question? One dollar.
  
  I wish I were making this up.


• I had horrible insomnia the first night I got there. Y'all can guess that I got there super super late, and I did, clocking in at 1 AM. And then I couldn't sleep. Even though I love having a refrigerator in the room, I hate the noises they make, and this one was really strange-sounding and I had to unplug it. Unfortunately, the heater made a loud pop everytime it cycled, so I still woke up every twenty minutes.


• I went to Jungle Jim's, huzzah! I love that place soooo much. I bought a lot of chocolate and root beer. YUM. I also found this Wild Mushroom Rub that Husband absolutely adores cooking with, so that was time well-spent, even though I felt like warmed-over death as I wandered the aisles. If only I'd been able to shop closer to leaving--I would have bought tons of produce. They have a lot of crazy stuff that you just don't find anywhere else.


• I glutted myself on cable on the second night. It was quite wonderful to wander around the channels and watch bits of this and that. I saw a little of Return to Me, which I always liked, only I nearly had a stroke when the scene came up where David Duchovny's character reads the letter from Minnie Driver's character, because I would swear that it started Dear Doner Family. Now, I admit I need a new prescription, but still. I couldn't keep watching after that. I also watched bits and pieces of PotC III. I love Calypso. And Barbossa. And Davy Jones rocks the house, too. And I adore the different pirate groups. A strange movie, though, considering that it should be shooting for the mainstream.


• The guy next to me was Thai, and incredibly interesting and entertaining. We talked about how American-made goods used to be sought by the whole world--how when he was a kid in Thailand, there was nothing cooler than a pair of Levi's. How expensive it was to buy them there. He bemoaned Converse sneakers being made in China and showed me his with a woeful look, telling me they barely last him three months when they used to last him years. One of my favorite booth neighbors ever.


• I ate at a Mexican restaurant (sylvadin's advice: always treat yourself to a nice dinner while you're away, even if the show sucks, and it's excellent advice). While I was there, I finally finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. I tell you, he has some sort of insight into my head at points, because he really captures...well, there's this line by poet Erica Jong that goes, "For who can hate her half so well as she hates herself? & who can match the finesse of her self-abuse?" And it's so familiar to me, this deep self-unhappiness, that reading his stories is kind of raw. Hilarious, yes, but there's that detest for the cowardly self, the imperfect self, that I can totally understand and empathize with. It's almost painful to read it.
  
  It also makes me wish that I'd kept better notes of the weird stuff that's happened to me over the years, because I honestly think that I could put together some interesting essays. Nothing as hilarious and OMG WOW as these, but sometimes I think I do have some interesting stories from the travels I've done. Unfortunately, some the interesting details have kind of disappeared in my head--I have the worst memory.


• Y'know, if you piss off a customer too much, they never come back. I was talking to a woman who got screwed over by American Express after being a cardholder for fifteen years; she said she will never use their card again. Ever. And she means it. It's been over ten years since they tried to charge her a late fee on a late fee, and she still remembers every detail and still hates them. wow.


• The night clerk at the hotel couldn't get the cardkey machine to work and had to go up and manually let me into the room. I felt a little weird as the door shut, like I was being locked into my robo-cubicle for the night.


• During the insomnia bursts, I noticed two lights on the ceiling that looked like eyes, and then I decided that the hotel rooms came pre-installed with a hibernating alien shut in the wall. Then I was trying to decide if the architect had done it correctly and whether or not they were load-bearing aliens or not, because boy wouldn't that be stupid if they activated the aliens and then the whole hotel came squashing together when they got out of the walls. Yes, I really did think all of this and much much more.


• My emo entry on Friday made a lot more sense when I began my monthly cycle on Saturday. *headdesk* I'm so predictable. Except to myself. I always have these oh noes, nothing will ever be good again feelings the day before.


• Both drives were uneventful except for minor construction. I listened to quite a lot of music, which was great. Did not have much trouble with idjits on the road, which is always super nice. "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel was particularly resonating; one set of lines: I'm so tired of all this traveling/So many miles, away from home/I keep moving, to be stable...


• Had a supremely depressing talk with another vendor, who is seriously old-skool, having sold her own line of crafting supplies for YEARS, and has been supplementing it with a different line. She said she'd lost money at the last four shows. Oh god, that scared me so much. She's cut down massively on the shows for next year. There was a vendor there who was closing out his inventory and selling it at cost. Methinks we'll see more of this. The market is too saturated. Still, it drove home the point that I'm doing fewer and fewer shows, and that I have no idea what to replace them with.


• The building was cold, and I was so thankful I remembered that from last time and brought an extra hoodie.


• I don't think I've ever been so happy to come home after a short trip.

Comments

[little-tristan.livejournal.com]

Isn't it weird what people will try to steal? My dad got tag teamed at his store one time--one person kept him busy asking questions about keychains while the other cleaned out the display case. What did they take? A half dozen three inch long ceramic pipes shaped like penises. Uh-huh.

I imagine the craft market is pretty saturated. New people get into it because it seems easy and inexpensive, and they take up space that used to be reserved for people who knew what they were doing. It's like Avon that way. Economic downturns bring out the amateurs.

That Am-Ex story makes perfect sense to me. I feel the same way about Capital One. They made me give them a deposit and promised it would earn the highest possible interest rate. After three years, when I closed the account and demanded the deposit back, it not only took six months to get it, but it had earned less than one percent. They kept my $200 for over three years and returned $201.98. You never forget a thing like that.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Isn't it weird what people will try to steal? My dad got tag teamed at his store one time--one person kept him busy asking questions about keychains while the other cleaned out the display case. What did they take? A half dozen three inch long ceramic pipes shaped like penises. Uh-huh.

I hate tag-teamers. It's bad enough when a solo person comes in and tries to steal. It's worse when they gang up on you. It's happened to me before and it's such a sick feeling. grah!

I imagine the craft market is pretty saturated. New people get into it because it seems easy and inexpensive, and they take up space that used to be reserved for people who knew what they were doing. It's like Avon that way. Economic downturns bring out the amateurs.

Yeah, and in this particular market, it's astonishing how many people immediately want to make a business out of it. I mean, even before the downturn. It's pretty scary.

That Am-Ex story makes perfect sense to me. I feel the same way about Capital One. They made me give them a deposit and promised it would earn the highest possible interest rate. After three years, when I closed the account and demanded the deposit back, it not only took six months to get it, but it had earned less than one percent. They kept my $200 for over three years and returned $201.98. You never forget a thing like that.

HOLY COW. That is reprehensible. Absolutely insane! Yes, you would never forget a thing like that. God, I hate cc companies.

[jaelle-n-gilla.livejournal.com]

Never pissing off customer is a sales rule No.1, my dad used to say. A happy customer is one happy customer. If you are lucky, he'll bring a friend or two. An angry customer means dozens of angry customers.

QED. She told you about AmEx. She probably told tons of people in those 15 years. Tons of people, when choosing a credit card will remember her tale and maybe, just maybe, go for Visa instead. Scary, eh?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It really is! She's so totally vehement about it, and with good reason. And all of the ill-will she's spread has actually hurt them, I'm sure. Not a ton, but it's there.

[wiccarowan.livejournal.com]

Dead right about the customer thing. I had a bad experience at Tesco a few months back and will NEVER shop there again, even though it's by far the most convenient supermarket for me. I've taken a 20 minute detour on the drive home to get petrol rather than fill up there.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a horrible experience at a BP once and I refused to go there for about four years. We ran out of gas--they were remodeling, and couldn't sell us any, and pointed us THE ENTIRELY WRONG DIRECTION toward another gas station. In freezing temperatures. No lie.

I was suspicious because I didn't think there was another gas station that direction, and I made him explain it again AND point, and he still insisted there was one there.

Yeah, we never found it. On the other hand, there was one 3/4 of a mile in a totally different direction. Asshole. We froze our asses off and were so lucky that a state trooper was nearby and picked us up and helped us.

Please tell me (if you don't mind) your story!!

[wiccarowan.livejournal.com]

It sounds really minor, but I was so upset by it at the time. I went in to get a few things, one of which was lard (for cooking roast potatoes) - got everything except the lard and I couldn't find it. Logic dictated that it would be near the butter and margarine, but I didn't see it there. I know that sometimes shops put it with the dripping which is often in the raw meat aisle so I checked there too. I then went up and down EVERY cold aisle and still couldn't find it.

Wondering if it was a case of "can't see for looking", I found a shop assistant and asked. She gave me a "you bloody moron" look, pointed vaguely toward the butter etc and said it should be there. I told her I'd already been there but she insisted it was in that aisle. I went up and down that aisle AGAIN. That was now FOUR times. I then went back to the deli counter and asked the guy behind the counter. He said it "should" be with the butter but would ask another colleague. It turned out to be the woman who'd been soooo helpful earlier. She gave me a look of utter contempt and said, "it's a solid fat, it IS with the other solid fats". Yes, I said, I know what it is but I've looked there and can't see it so could you come and show me where you think it is please? Then she said "well, you have to look on the ends of the aisles as well" and turned her back on me.

WTF?

I put my basket down, walked out of the supermarket and haven't set foot in any branch of Tesco since. Nor have we been to the petrol stations or used the online shop (which we used to do a lot). They can fuck off. By huge way of contrast, when I was meandering around Morrisons and asked someone, she told me exactly where what I wanted could be found then actually SHOWED me. With a smile.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a nightmare! omg, that really really sucks.

When I was a teenager, I *totally* did this to other people and could be so smug and contemptuous. And then one day it happened to me and I realized what an utter bitch I'd been. Though I certainly wasn't on the level with Miss Solid Fat. lol!

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

People who manage booths at shows amaze me with their patience and ability to deal with people. A few hours as a visitor and I'm ready to leave from the sheer amount of crowd-pressure.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely crazy how much stress can build up. I mean, I'm just sitting in a chair, doing "nothing" for eight hours, yet by the end I feel like I've run a marathon.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna have to agree with you on the market saturation for crafters. In my fibrecraft corner, everyone and their damned dog is now a sock-yarn dyer. The good indies are finding that business is sluggish, not because of the economy, but because there are tons of other amateurs who've opened up Etsy shops and generally set a lower price because they're hobbyists with no overhead, dyeing yarn in their microwaves and dishwashers (... this is a perfectly solid technique, btw, just not one used by pros) and taking business away from people who make a living doing good dyework. It's the same with spinning. There's a lot of crap handspun being sold (unbalanced, poorly plied, won't hold up to knitting and reknitting the way a good worsted-spun yarn should), too.

The worst part is, the hobbyists who don't know what they're doing are giving a bad name to the indies who do. I don't want to knock hobbyists in general, because "makes a living from it" and "does not make a living from it" isn't a good marker of quality, but it's a fact of the matter that the amateurs promoting themselves as pros undercut the actual pros. I mean, I've heard people say "oh, I bought yarn on Etsy and it sucked so I'll never buy there again" instead of just, you know, avoiding the seller. It's like saying that you got a bad cheeseburger from Wendy's so you'll never go to Burger King.

... I almost just got started on the undervaluing of handcrafts, but whoa. That's not a rant I want to start, because I'll hit the word limit for LJ comments. Easily.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna have to agree with you on the market saturation for crafters. In my fibrecraft corner, everyone and their damned dog is now a sock-yarn dyer. The good indies are finding that business is sluggish, not because of the economy, but because there are tons of other amateurs who've opened up Etsy shops and generally set a lower price because they're hobbyists with no overhead, dyeing yarn in their microwaves and dishwashers (... this is a perfectly solid technique, btw, just not one used by pros) and taking business away from people who make a living doing good dyework. It's the same with spinning. There's a lot of crap handspun being sold (unbalanced, poorly plied, won't hold up to knitting and reknitting the way a good worsted-spun yarn should), too.

Yes, this is exactly the situation in my industry, too. Everyone who takes a BASIC FIRST TIME CLASS suddenly wants to have a business. W. T. F. SRSLY. It's insane. They'll hold up the project after it's finished and ask the instructor, "How much do you think I could get for this?"

First: THAT IS NOT YOUR DESIGN AND YOU SHOULD NOT SELL IT AS IT IS UNETHICAL

Second: FAIL

Third: FAIL MORE

Fourth: DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BUSINESS? NO? FAIL THE THIRD

Oh dear, you got me started up. So sorry.

The worst part is, the hobbyists who don't know what they're doing are giving a bad name to the indies who do. I don't want to knock hobbyists in general, because "makes a living from it" and "does not make a living from it" isn't a good marker of quality, but it's a fact of the matter that the amateurs promoting themselves as pros undercut the actual pros. I mean, I've heard people say "oh, I bought yarn on Etsy and it sucked so I'll never buy there again" instead of just, you know, avoiding the seller. It's like saying that you got a bad cheeseburger from Wendy's so you'll never go to Burger King.

EXACTLY. And they have NO idea why the stuff isn't great, either, because as consumers sometimes they're not quite sophisticated enough to figure it out yet. GRAH. So even these amateurs WILL get sales, because people don't know better, and then the rest of us "pricey" people suffer.

And yeah, we could totally hit the word limit on this. lol!

(PS: I am still following your craft blog--you make such GORGEOUS stuff.)

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

When I made dolls it was hard to sell* them because people couldn't understand why I was asking $100 and up for them. Uh, try hand-sewn, hand-dyed, hand-painted, beaded, etc, etc and from my own pattern. Oh, and one of the simple ones usually took me around 20 hours to complete.

I want to get back into it, but I won't be actively selling until things change a bit. In the meantime I'm going to do things like submit my designs to Art Doll Quarterly. Maybe if I have a few framed articles on display people will value the amount of craftsmanship in my pieces.

*By the way, most of my sales were to other crafters and arists.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

That is a huge issue--the perceived value of things. My mom makes quilts, and considering the amount of time that goes into them, there's no way should could ever sell anything and get her time value.

And yeah, people don't understand what time is or how it works in crafting. There's this perceived thing about how if you can make something yourself, then somehow it's valueless if someone else makes it. *rolls eyes* I remember seeing a cross-stitcher's booth and she'd made a little sign that said, "I KNOW you can make it yourself. But the point is, will you?" LOL

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

I can imagine quilts would be a horrible market since you can get "quilts" at Kmart for $15. There aren't enough people that understand a good quilt is an heirloom piece and worth every penny.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

You are so absolutely correct. And it's so sad. :(

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing a cross-stitcher's booth and she'd made a little sign that said, "I KNOW you can make it yourself. But the point is, will you?" LOL

Butting in to say THAT IS COMPLETELY AWESOME. =D My mom used to pull that line with me in the stores all the time. "Oh, I can make that for you." Did she ever? No. Therefore, the "can" was totally pointless.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hahaha!! YES. And I can SO imagine your mother saying that. Sadly enough.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

Muaha. She did, very often.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

Everyone who takes a BASIC FIRST TIME CLASS suddenly wants to have a business.

Exactly. It's like well, this was cheap and easy, I could sell these and make money. AND FLAIL ON THE USING SOMEONE ELSE"S DESIGN. GOOD GODS. I see this all the time, and the worst part is, it even comes from established brick-and-mortar shops. It's like they think that selling the patterns in their shop gives them the right to make items from said patterns and tell them, and so many of them do. not. get. it. when you try to explain (and yes, I've tried to explain, because I've worked for two craft stores and this unethical sale practice gives me hives) that what they're doing is not okay.

It's true that the average hobbyist may be able to get away with selling things on Etsy or Ebay. Low overhead, no backorders, and you don't even have to have enough items to fill your average handiwork-show table. But that doesn't mean they know a damned thing about running a business.

Oh dear, you got me started up. So sorry.

RANT AWAY. Believe me, I understand where you're coming from.

And they have NO idea why the stuff isn't great, either, because as consumers sometimes they're not quite sophisticated enough to figure it out yet.

YES, argh. They just know that it doesn't feel the same or doesn't look the same or doesn't work the same. I mean, I can tell when my computer's video card is on the fritz, but I'm shit with hardware so, save for taking it out and putting it back in again, I wouldn't know how to fix it.

I think it's absolutely the shits that so many people can't make a living wage, or even minimum wage, with their handiwork because people think it's too expensive. There's a reason I don't sell my knitting--people won't pay what the time + materials are worth, at least not around here. I can spend six hours knitting up a lovely cabled beret in a nice natural-fibre yarn... and people around here will scoff at a $15 price tag because it's "just" homemade. ($15 wouldn't even cover the cost of the materials in some cases.) I hate the word homemade, except when it comes to cooking/baking. It reminds me of badly-sewn dresses and/or macaroni crafts, not the things that craft artists produce.

you make such GORGEOUS stuff.

Heeeee, thank you. You know, for a really long time, I've wanted to ask you about your stuff, but being as LJ is a public forum and you and I are both trying to keep our double lives separate, I wasn't sure how to go about it. If you're not comfy with that don't worry about it, but perhaps LJ PM is an option? Hells if I know.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's like well, this was cheap and easy, I could sell these and make money. AND FLAIL ON THE USING SOMEONE ELSE"S DESIGN. GOOD GODS. I see this all the time, and the worst part is, it even comes from established brick-and-mortar shops. It's like they think that selling the patterns in their shop gives them the right to make items from said patterns and tell them, and so many of them do. not. get. it. when you try to explain (and yes, I've tried to explain, because I've worked for two craft stores and this unethical sale practice gives me hives) that what they're doing is not okay.

OMG YES THE PATTERN THING!!!!!! I have a friend who sells kits. They're very popular. We have gone to craft shows and seen "vendors" whose entire "line" was made from her kits!

It's true that the average hobbyist may be able to get away with selling things on Etsy or Ebay. Low overhead, no backorders, and you don't even have to have enough items to fill your average handiwork-show table. But that doesn't mean they know a damned thing about running a business.

Yes, but many of them end up putting a few things in a shop and then abandoning it because they don't have enough items to keep up their listings. :(

I can spend six hours knitting up a lovely cabled beret in a nice natural-fibre yarn... and people around here will scoff at a $15 price tag because it's "just" homemade. ($15 wouldn't even cover the cost of the materials in some cases.)

Ugh, that is the worst. Seriously. So many people don't understand quality components vs. crap components. It's terrible. I mean, there are people looking for nice things on Etsy, and they are willing to pay more for it, but often I swear it ends up being crafters buying from crafters!

Heeeee, thank you. You know, for a really long time, I've wanted to ask you about your stuff, but being as LJ is a public forum and you and I are both trying to keep our double lives separate, I wasn't sure how to go about it. If you're not comfy with that don't worry about it, but perhaps LJ PM is an option? Hells if I know.

Oh wow, you don't know my other identity? I was sure we'd traded before! Just email me at [my lj username][at]gmail[dot]com. :)

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

LATEST RESPONSE EVER, but YES on crafters buying from crafters. It seems to happen often... I'd speculate that maybe until people make things they don't understand how expensive it can be and how much skill it takes, but sadly I know crafters who undervalue craftwork just as much as non-crafters.

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

Re hotel room noise, do you have a pair of noise-cancelling earphones? You could see if that helps. You'd probably have to sleep on your back to avoid dislodging/sleeping on the phones; and if you don't have a pair, they're not exactly cheap, but if you could borrow and test, to see if it was worth trying...

My brother was until a few minutes ago zonked out with phones and MP3 player to cut out the air conditioner noise in our motel bedroom. He's just gone out to buy the one AAA battery he needs to run the actual noise-cancelling part (having left three at home...).

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can't sleep on my back, generally. If it's a hotel pillow, it can really screw up my neck. :( And I snore if I sleep on my back. But that's such a great idea, thank you so much! :)

[gypsyjolie.livejournal.com]

you don't travel with your own pillow? Color me surprised.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I used to, but eventually it just got to be too much of a hassle. I'm trying to pack a little lighter. ;)

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

I'm curious - do you sell your stuff in stores as well?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I do have a store that sells my stuff--I've had others, off and on, in the past. Honestly, that's my favorite way to sell stuff, because I don't have to worry about talking to people, and they do all the customer interaction. :)

[hardboiledbaby]

It's so tough when gray-quality product floods the market. It taints the industry as a whole and hurts the folks who do it right and make a living off of doing quality work.

I so get what saruwatari and ms_hecubus is saying: Once, the BF asked me, "Why don't you sell your cross-stitch?" I told him, "Because no one would pay what it's really worth, in time and materials." So, I make them (or used to, back in my pre-LJ days *G*) as gifts. And the folks that really appreciate them? Those who do crafts themselves.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a rough market! I'm still wondering where the US's place in the world will be in five years. Ten years. So on.

And I so understand about your cross-stitch. It's probably a good thing that you've kept it as a happy hobby instead of a career--it's so difficult to make money as a crafter, honestly. *nodnod* :)