Oh my

[offcntr]

Lions and tigers and bears!

Second week of Holiday Market and some extreme contrasts.

At one end of the spectrum, there's the family that walks through late during set-up, around 9:30. Father and mother in late 20s, I'd guess, with a 7 or 8-year-old daughter. None of them wearing masks.

They don't actually come into the booth, though dad makes a point of stopping to ask if I make this stuff. I give him a minimum version of my stock answer--he's wearing a "Legalize Freedom" ball-cap, so I have no intention of engaging. As soon as they walk on, I cross the street to report them to the Info Booth. As Security isn't patrolling yet, AJ goes out to explain to them that they either need to mask up or leave the area. This pleases me greatly, as AJ is a very large black man who takes shit from no one.

On the other extreme, there's the woman who sprays my hand sanitizer on her Discover card before handing it to me to swipe. She's no doubt correct, credit cards and phones are notoriously dirtier than toilet seats in tests I've seen. I suggest that I should spritz my fingers before taking it, but she points out that, as it's still wet, she's probably safe.

And it swiped just fine.

And then there was the family... Chinese, I think, with Anglo-American father. One of the boys wanted a stegosaur bank. They said they'd think about it, moved on. A little while after, one of the tween-age siblings came back--sister, I think, although I couldn't tell for sure between mask and hoodie--to ask if I could come down on the price.

Here's the thing. My animal banks are a huge amount of labor, stegosaurs most of all. I have to throw both body and head on the wheel. Extrude coils and form the legs. Hand form eyebrows and plug and shape nostrils and make 15 or 20 back plates in a gradation of sizes. Plus the porcelain eyes and colored porcelain irises. And then put them all together, cut coin slot and cork hole.

It's a huge amount of work; realistically, I should be charging eighty bucks for them, but who'd pay that for a kid's bank? I was going to raise the price from $40 to $50 at the start of this year, but then the pandemic hit, and I just couldn't.

So no, I'm not gonna come down on the price.

Ten minutes later, she's back, with $35 cash; would I sell it to her for that? Sorry, the answer is still no.

Fifteen minutes more, and she has the two $20s, and brother gets his stegosaur.

I'm so mean sometimes.

Comments

[james]

I completely approve of sticking to the price you set. I wonder if the family is used to people who price things *expecting* to haggle, so they price things higher knowing they can "come down" to a price they still consider a good one but the customer feels they got a deal.

I hate haggling, myself. But as someone who has sold hand-made items before, I appreciate when craftspersons price things appropriately and not according to "we could buy one at WalMart for $10."

[offcntr]

On the one hand, yeah, haggling probably appropriate at markets in Chinese culture. On the other hand, they chose the cute tween to make the attempt(s), which suggests a certain malice aforethought.

Also, I'm two booths down from a woman who sells $7 bowls and $10 coffee cups. So I get shirty about sticking to my prices.

The one time I'll cut a deal is on orders of sets: 5% on four or more, 10% at six.