I need to VENT

[orangeman]

We did a show last weekend in Franklin, TN.

 

It was an OK show, not great. I expected more sales considering the crowds.

 

I expected a better jury process as well; some friends did not get into the show that had quality handmade wood products after doing the show last year. They encouraged us to apply and we were accepted. But they juried in cheap bows and arrows, marshmallow shooters, and those cheap marionette thingys from China!

 

The show was well organized. Set up unfortunately was after 8PM on Friday night and early Sat. Take down was OK if you could dodge the garbage trucks to get to your stuff.

 

They had music if you could call it that. Volume and bass was turned up so loud I got a headache and our booth was over 500' from the stage.

 

But here is where I have to VENT.

 

The kids that came into our booth were the most misbehaved and obnoxious kids I have seen in doing shows for 8 years now. And the parents just stood there and didn't say anything. 2 examples: one kid about 6 comes in and immediately dumps one of our more intricate puzzles on the table and attempts to put it back together. of course he can't. Dad comes over and spends 10 minutes and can't get it together despite being given the cheat sheet - the pattern. They leave without a word of regret. Another kid about 12 comes in and tips up our masterpiece puzzle of 100 puzzle pieces at a 45 degree angle as if to tip it over. I literally yelled at him: NO - NO - NO!!!! There are more examples but you get the picture.

 

We won't be going back there again anytime soon for another show. Too stressful as we literally had to watch the kids all the time.

 

This experience is drastically different from a show we did in Fairhope, AL mid March. Kids there were a delight! In fact rather impressive with regard to their behavior and manners.

 

bb

 

 

 

 

[Chachi111769]

Sorry to hear this but what you could do is have example puzzles (easy to put together) with a sign that says free to build this way if the kids spill it out it's ok cause this way someone will build it or buy one from you not to mention get an idea about how it is made and fits into place.... Or just hang a sign up you flip it you buy it...  

[woodknots]

orangeman what was the show in fairhope. Just curious i just done one in Loxley Al it was very good on for us.

[Lucky2]

Brian, I hear you, the kids nowadays, just don't seem to know how to act in public. A remedy to having your puzzles dumped, is to covering your puzzle with stretchable plastic wrap so they can't be disassembled. If a person wants to try out a puzzle, have a sample one that they can work with. I never had my puzzles played with, they were all wrapped in plastic or they had a plastic bag over them. Having them protected that way didn't seem to affect sales, and it made it a lot easier to transport them.

Len

[WayneMahler]

Kids can be a nightmare. I have had some break pieces on display. Frustrating as all  get out. Wished I had the answer for this. We invite people to pick up, touch and feel the quality. Just hard to control the kiddo's in the process. I feel your pain brother. 

[DWSUDEKUM]

Sorry to hear this about those kids.  One of the solutions to the problem of a customer dumping the puzzle out and then not putting it back together and then leaving was to shrink wrap them.  I live up in cold country so I put heat shrink plastic on the inside of my windows and come spring I take it down and rather than throw it out I save a good portion of it for shrink wrapping the puzzles.  You wrap the puzzle as you wish it to be seen and tape the edges together on the backside.  Then using a hair dryer on low pass it over the plastic and it will shrink and make a good protective glove over the puzzle.  The customer can pick it up and look at it but you do not have to worry about them not being able to put it back together.  Some shows are like that, keep the faith and have fun.

 

 

DW

[Phantom Scroller]

Ok so what was the good bits. lol

[zimmerstutzen]

Kids misbehaving in public is a problem of long standing.  Back in the 1960's, I was a clerk after school at the local Woolworth's.  One darn  mother decided to have her kid  try out a bicycle and he crashed into a display causing it to fall on an old lady.  The kid's mother then screamed at the store manager for not having a place to try out the bicycles. 

 

In the late 1970's at another Woolworth, I caught a teenager taking a leak on a clothing display in a corner of a store.  The excuse given by his foster care worker was that he was extremely troubled.  Outside Philadelphia a couple weeks earlier, a teen age girl, upset over being caught shop lifting torched clothing displays in several stores at Plymouth Meeting Mall. 

 

My ex wife would let my oldest two kids get away with everything in stores.  So bad that we had an argument in a store about my correcting the children for climbing on the counters.  I stormed out of the store and walked home (2 blocks.)  10 minutes later, the store manager and a security guard told my wife to leave the store because the kids were destroying things.  She was the type that would give a 6 year old a bottle of nail polish and think the resulting mess was cute.   That was in the mid 1980;s      

 

At a flea market years ago, I was looking at an item on a table and noticed a rifle being pointed at my head. from the side.  I ducked and knocked down the culprit and jumped on top of him. and then realized it was a rather large 14 to 15 yr old.  His mother called police.  Thankfully witnesses stayed around to talk to the police.  The kid had picked up th gun from a vendor table and immediately was swinging it around pretending to shoot people. 

 

There isn't much that can be done about some folks.  You can just try to minimize problems.  delicate items up high on a solid shelf, items wrapped so they are not able to be dumped, kid sturdy items down low. sample out to play with.  etc   It is hard to be friendly and not be a door mat,  

[amazingkevin]

It would be nice to have booths set up ,      i  d  10  t   proof       but that's not going to happen.Myself i ask if i can pick something up.O my names they pick them up at the weakest most spot.I have no idea how they know just where that is but they never miss.

[Jim Finn]

I do about 25 sales a year and have, on display, close to 100 items.  Lots of kids.  They spend there energy playing with the rubber band shooters I offer right out front.  Indestructible toy.  I let them play with them. They pretty much leave the rest of my stuff alone. 

[JustLarry]

I have two folding TV dinner tables that I set up "try these" puzzles on.  When the young ones show interest in puzzles on my table, I ask them "Do you like puzzles?  There are some on the little tables you can try out."  Almost always, they immediately move to the "try me out puzzles".  Having something they can focus on draws their attention from the other items.  And when there are several young ones at the puzzle tables, adults tend to drift over to see what is going on.   Found out a lot of adults like to play with the puzzles also.

 

I tell most of my adult customers to "Pick it up, get the feel of it and don't worry, if it breaks we can glue it."  This seems to break the ice, so to speak, and letting them have the wood in hand helps to make a sale.

 

Larry

[Denny Knappen]

What great comments.  I don't believe in the statement, 'Kids will be kids'.  Kids will be what parents let them be.  In our store, we have kids art and craft classes.  In variably one will start to walk around the store handling art and craft.  We sure let the parent know that handling is unacceptable.

[keefie]

When I make a puzzle I always  vacuum pack it. I have a vacuum sealing machine for sealing food when I want to freeze it, and that does a marvellous job on puzzles. The customer can see it through the plastic but it's impossible to take apart until you unwrap it.

[LarryEA]

Kids like dogs are a reflection of their owners and parents.

An image of who raises them.

I'm irritated and frustrated with the society today. Self centered and thoughtless beyond themselves.

All about me!!!!! and little about God.

[orangeman]

LarryEA,

 

Bingo, you nailed it!

 

It hit a nerve too. One of my last remaining.

 

We won't stay with one of sons and family when we visit. Always a hotel. The damn dog is undisciplined: jumps on folks and licks them which I detest! And the kids are the bosses! The wife was overheard once saying "it's easier to give the kids what they want". Our son was not raised like that!!! The kids even have a say in what house they select to live in.

 

Undamnbelieveable!

 

bb

 

 

 

bb

Edited April 29, 2016 by orangeman

[Tommy Johnson]

Hang in there BB

 

Stay away from Festivals! lol