We had our first fest of the season Saturday, at Winston's Summer Nite Cruise.
We got to the site to set up at about 8:45am and were up and running around 1pm. It is a one day event, but we still bring all of the same things we do to our 3 day events. We looked like we were moving in! Our 10 by 20 foot booth hadn't been used yet this year and all of our merchandise was off of the hangers and out of order. The first time out is always the longest setup. Even at that, it normally only takes 2 hours, with my husband Jeremy, our 14 and 8 year old sons and myself.
We thought we could use some extra help, so our 14 year old son Andrew asked three of his friends to help. There were also road cones to be set up for the cruise and so the 2 boys, Andrew and Jeremy were to help with that at about 3pm.
The morning started out with one boy showing up and then the young lady. I had asked to keep her with me when the "boys" went out to set up cones and I thought she could help with hanging things up while the guys set up the structural part of our booth. I honestly thought that she would be the one to wilt and lollygag around, since the boys are on a work crew at school together and she is not. I
thought the boys would be better suited to taking directions and keeping up with the pace for setup. I'm not a drill sergeant, just some simple directions like where to put a tote of clothes, which way to have the hooks on the hangers pointed and which racks were for which sizes.
That should teach me to stop thinking so much!
Within the first hour, I was sorry that the one boy had even shown up. I told the "kids" to
at least bring water to drink and a chair. He arrived drinking a can of soda and then went over, in the middle of a task I had given him, to the Dollar Tree and got a small water. He then spent the day going back and forth between our booth and the dollar tree buying soda, candy and chips, the wrappers for which were all simply discarded on the ground. He was throwing trash, soda cans and water bottles on the ground all day. The young lady and I must've spent nearly 2 hours total just picking up his trail. He got a bag of wrapped candies and left every single wrapper on the ground. At the end of the night, I found more trash, including 9 different empty drink containers, bags from chips, packaging from playing cards he'd bought and that was the least of it. He didn't follow directions, took over Andrew's chair, spent half the day on the phone and kept taking off and calling Andrew away from his work as well. He is on juvenile probation for some charges that he says are untrue, but nonetheless, he must be on his best behavior, especially since we are in the grass right behind the local police department. I had been assured by Andrew that I should give him the benefit of the doubt and Andrew tasked himself with keeping track of the boy.
The young lady, however turned out to be an excellent helper and was an absolute joy to work with. She did not arrive with a chair and got a water from the store
before we got started. Her mom brought her and her dad's house was only a block or two away so, on a break, she and Andrew walked over to her dad's house and brought her a chair. She knew she would need a chair, but since her dad lived so close, she simply waited to get it. At lunch time, she went to the store and got a loaf of bread, some small packs of deli meat, a tiny jar of mayo and a pack of plastic utensils. We had a cooler for our lunches and just stored her leftovers in there. In between all of this she worked her behind off, picking up the slack from the boys, following directions and asking useful questions about where things went or how something was done. She helped with customers that had questions when I was busy with other customers.
The second boy was supposed to show up at 2:30
at the latest, for the road cone set up. This was planned for a few weeks in advance. They young lady is his girlfriend. He called her at around noon or 1pm to say that his mother had decided, at the last minute, to put in some extra hours at work on her day off, so he had no ride and therefore would not be coming after all.
It was quite hot out and the small tabletop box fan was well utilized. We were so glad for the shade provided by our booth. We still managed to get sunburned during setup and due to
someone's lack of manners, the young lady's chair was out in the sun for nearly half the day, so the tank top she wore offered a nice open canvas for burnt shoulders and upper back. I moved her chair under cover more when the guys left and sent the two boys out behind the booth when they got back from cone setup at 6pm. Andrew was tired and actually needed his chair, but was having no luck in getting his "friend" to give it up. Overhearing Andrew's complaints about his tired legs and feet, I simply told him that maybe he should take his chair back and his "friend" could sit in the grass for a while since he neglected to bring his own chair. Not an unreasonable idea since Andrew hadn't been able to sit in his chair at all. It didn't work. He wouldn't move. Luckily, our youngest son Anthony has a playmate who's mother also has a booth. We take turns watching the kids play at festivals. Sometimes they play behind her booth and sometimes behind mine, so he was with her much of the time. Andrew finally ended up using Anthony's chair.
The cruise started at 5pm, but didn't seem to really get going until about 6 or 6:30. I honestly think people didn't want to roast.
Business trickled in in spurts until about 7pm. Then it was busy, but mostly window shoppers or old friends who came by to say hello. Around 8:30, it got a little nuts for a while and we made some good sales.
It looked like we were going to have at least 1 dress sale with a group that came in. Just one problem, they brought their pug into the booth. I have nothing against dogs, if they behave. This one was doing the usually pug "snort" and then scratched the grass, turned around and before I could count to 2 had hiked his leg to pee on my dresses! I'm rapidly squeaking "no, no, no, NO!" and the woman holding the leash turns and looks, she jerked the leash to stop him, but it was too late. He only managed to get one dress, thankfully. They said something about paying for it, asked the size, one woman looks to the one who actually owned the dog, who is standing by my price sign and they exchange a look and then quickly walk off. Jeremy is pretty sure that the owner saw the price and didn't feel that her dog defiling my merchandise was worth the $42 for the dress. He saw her look at the price before shooting her friend a look. Then they went two booths down to a booth that had handbags starting at $15 and bought 2. I used some Wet Ones wipes to soap up the dress and rinsed it with my bottle of water and hung it in the back of the booth with the fan on it to dry until we could get it home to wash.
I guess now, on top of my no smoking sign I'll just have to prohibit animals too.
Then, in the middle of some steady shopping traffic, the young lady tells me shes going to go walk out towards where the people were watching the classic cars. Thinking nothing of it, I simply asked if she had her phone, in case she got hassled by anyone and let her go to have a break. Jeremy was over talking to the fellow that they had placed cones with, finding out when they'd be picking them up. The older boys were in the space behind the booth and Anthony was with his friend. No big deal, right? Wrong! My husband comes back and says that he saw the young lady on the phone with her boyfriend. She was rather upset. All he could get was that the other boy had threatened her in some way and that was why she had gone off. I called Andrew over to ask him what he saw and heard. He told me exactly what was said and that she hadn't done or said anything to provoke him. The boy had taken a menacing stance and tone and told her "you'd better watch yourself." Knowing the history, this is not to be taken lightly. I immediately gestured to where I'd put the cash box key and receipt book and said to him "it's locked and loaded, I'll be back." I found her, thankfully with her dad, who had come out to watch the cars and I asked her what had happened. I told her not to worry, that I'd take care of it and that she should have let me know right away and then we could have gotten her dad together. Dad agreed. He stated that he wasn't quite sure if she was just being melodramatic, like teen girls can be. I told him that Andrew was there and confirmed that she wasn't overreacting.
We got back to the booth and I looked up to see the boy being sternly "talked to" by her dad and hearing the dad say something along the lines of "understood?" The boy's face was turned away, but his body language surprised me. Instead of appearing remorseful over threatening her, he appeared disgusted that he was being talked to in such a way by her dad. The dad wasn't touching him and though I couldn't hear what was said, Andrew heard and said that he basically just told him that he didn't want to hear of his daughter being treated that way again. It was a 1 minute "lecture" at most. Andrew later told me that he was looking off into the surroundings the whole time and that his face basically said "are you done yet?"
Here is where I come in. The dad, Andrew and the young lady all walked to the dad's house for a few minutes to calm the girl. I am only half an inch over 5 foot tall, about 90 pounds overweight and basically don't inspire most people, especially those taller than me, to regard me as more than a short fluff ball. Andrew has known this girl for almost 6 years, so to me she is one of my kids. I have only met this boy, however, 3 times in the last 9 months and even then only for a moment or two. He threatened one of my kids
and he threatened one of my kids where I do business. (Admittedly, I did not take him away from the booth at first and seeing the issue caused a group of four to leave. I moved the issue away after that.) I told him in no uncertain terms that you just don't treat people that way. At first he admits to threatening her, excusing it by saying that she threatened first. (Andrew had confirmed already that she had not and I didn't hear her. All I heard was the boy, though I didn't know what was said at that moment.) He starts in on how she had treated him "like crap ALL day." to which I said, "How? She's been in the booth
working with me or where I can hear her (until she went to get her dad) and I know that's B.S." Then he starts of on this "bit" about how he talked to her boyfriend on the phone and he had said she was just "overreacting" and to just let her go "cool off," and that "we should just put this all behind us." I told him that you just don't threaten people. Then he says he didn't. Then he spins it that she threatens him at school (already found false) and that I just "don't know about the stuff that happens at her house." I told him that I knew all about the problems between them at school because Andrew had told me about it all from the get-go. (The boy has made unfounded claims all year against her, since she refused to date him at the beginning of the school year. Even going so far as to come up with stories that if they were true, would have gotten her expelled.) I also told him that I know about the "stuff that happens at her house," because she and Andrew have told me. I flat out told him that I have known her for a whole lot longer than I've known him, she's given me no reason to not trust her and that I wasn't buying his line. This then starts him on the "I didn't do or say anything to her" line.
Three minutes to get from "yeah I did, but" to "I didn't" and "she's just mean to me all the time." I said that on top of not treating people that way, you don't do it where I am conducting business and that also given his history he should know better than to take risks like that with the police department right by us, that if they saw that and pulled up his name, he'd be "up a creek." He agreed that he would be. I told him that I didn't care if she slapped his face, that didn't give him cause to treat her like that. He continued telling me about how the boyfriend had said that they were both probably overheated, hungry and tired, so just let her go "cool off" and "put this all behind us." I told him that
if that was what he said, it wasn't what
I was saying and that if he thinks letting her go "cool off" was going to fix it, he was wrong. I told him that I take a lot longer to "cool off" over this kind of crap than she does. He laid out some line about how much work he'd been doing all day. Oh, really? I said that she had done her work and his too while he was off on the phone or taking off and calling Andrew off of his work too. Then he snipes off that she was bossing him around and piped off rather curtly, saying "I don't take that from anyone but my parents and
some other adults." I told him that she was simply
repeating the directions that I had already given to try to get him to do something other than lollygag around. (She was often closer to him and easier to hear.) At this point I saw something that disturbed me. My first husband had a police record as a juvenile that was 3 pages long, all but 5 (2 for traffic) counts were for serious assaults. I know quite well that look that gets into his eyes right before someone or something gets hit with a blind rage. If you've ever seen a lizard switch lids in their eye, that is pretty close to what happens. This boy got that look. His eyes looked like someone flipped a switch. He wanted to hit me, I know it. But, I wasn't having it. I told him he needed to go home, that we had asked him to come out to help with the cones and to help set up the booth, because Andrew had said he could be a help, but that he should just go. He started whining " I can't go home." I asked why not? He said "My parents are still in Roseburg at the cruise and I can't go home until they come get me." (This 15 year old "kid" only lived about 2 miles away from where we were standing and walks from home to a place on the far end of town by himself on an almost daily basis.) I said "fine, but you really need to find something else to do, somewhere else. I want you to stay away from her and away from my booth."
Andrew and the young lady came back about then and we were fortunate enough to have him away from her and the booth until it was time for me to drive her to her mom's. He sat on a park bench and ended up texting Andrew to come over, so he could complain about how unfair it all was. Andrew and the girl had talked and so she was okay with him trying to keep peace between himself and the other boy long enough to get the cones done and wait for the boy's ride. Not surprisingly, it turned out that the boy hadn't been told anything of the sort by the boyfriend and that the boyfriend was actually quite angry. My phone, Andrew's phone and the young lady's phone all blocked his number today. We don't have people around who threaten people or lie like they've made a career out of it. Two rules with me: Don't lie to me and don't hurt my kids. He broke both.
Now, last summer at a festival we had someone shoplift 2 dresses, a hemp choker and some bandannas. The dresses were recovered. This time, a customer was robbed! A young man my husband went to school with came in around 6 or 7 and bought a beaded key ring. It was $3 and he paid with a $5 bill. He put the keyring and the $2 change in the bag. He has Downs Syndrome and I guess someone thought he'd be an easy mark. Some "kids," as he put it, came along and took the whole bag! He came by and asked my husband if he "worked here" and when Jeremy said yes, he told him what had happened. I was at a loss. I could tell he'd been crying. I was livid that someone would be so cruel. I told him that if he liked, he could choose another one, for free. This seemed to help some. I didn't have another one exactly like the one that was stolen, but I had 2 more with red in them, like he chose for the first one. He had a hard time deciding at first and asked if he could have both. I said no, but take your time choosing. When he had chosen, I suggested that he put it in his "fanny pack," so that it would be safer. He thought that was a good idea and thanked me. Honestly, I hope they didn't just throw it in the trash. I hope they kept it and that when they look at it, maybe not now, but someday, I hope that they feel a gnawing terrible guilt for stealing from someone and I hope they see the face of this sweet, unassuming man and it eats at them.
We had good experiences too, don't get me wrong.
On a bittersweet note, we were pretty well begged to be part of a weekly event, but we can't do it because of Jeremy's work schedule.
It's nice to be wanted though.
We had more than one group of elementary school aged kids come through and talk about things they'd like to get for their friends and family. Nice to see such thoughtfulness, even if they don't buy something.
We had pregnant mamas coo over the baby clothes.
Two or three groups inquiring about special designs or colors.
We had stickers for the kids and one little boy reached in the jar for 1 and got 3 or 4. He
very honestly said he'd gotten more than 1 and was going to put the others back and I said that if it was okay with his mom and dad, he could have all the ones he'd grabbed. Happy kiddo!
An old friend stopped by and we talked for a while. I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years. What's
really funny is that I was just talking to my little worker bee about him not more than an hour before that! (that ESP-like vibe
still works!)
We got a lot of compliments on our colors.
Most comments about the prices were positive and the ones that weren't were good comic relief when we heard what they
thought we should be charging. It'd be nice to live in a world where we could charge that little for our items and make a profit.
We only forgot a couple of things at home, none of which was super important (like part of the booth canopy last year) and for the first fest, that's good.
We had Jeremy's first attempt at a peace sign and a mushroom as a design sampler on one shirt out on a manikin to cover her top half, so she could display some shorts. It wasn't intended to be sold, but a guy came by and picked two shirts, asked me to hold them for a few, so he could go check on what size someone wore and when he came back he wanted the sample too. So, I sold it for $5.
More than one person came in to get a bandanna for motorcycle rides in the next few days.
The cheerleaders in the next booth were
much better behaved than at the last event we were at.
It didn't rain.
No-one nearly or actually burnt anything with their cigarette.
We didn't have anything ruined by someones ring snagging it, like last year's green and purple dress. (I still have to figure out what to do with the fabric.)
No-one in our group got a migraine or heat sickness.
None of the racks or tables got broken or damaged.
The biggest lessons this time are:
No matter how much help you may need, an extra body isn't any good if the help isn't helping.
Sometimes, its better to be cautious than to give the benefit of the doubt.
If I have to talk to someone who might be thick headed, get away from the booth before opening my mouth.
I'm also reminded to be thankful for the favors in disguise.
