Corvallis day 2: A chicken morning
Sep. 27th, 2015 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrSeems to be a chicken morning. As I drive up in a brilliant sunny morning, I see small flocks of urban chickens all along highway 99, in Junction City, and all along the way to Monroe. Handsome, multicolored birds, never more than three or four in a flock. It gives a restful, bucolic feel to a day that's going to be all too stressful by the time it's over.
Had trouble getting Square to work on my phone yesterday. Neither swipe nor chip reader would connect or read, and though I could process cards by typing in numbers, I begrudge them the extra percent or so of commission. Three different customers offered to read me their numbers as I typed, which is friendly, but not, I think, smart. I gently remind them that saying their credit card numbers out loud in a public place might not be the wisest idea.
The fair has arranged for a wifi server for the weekend, so I bring along my tablet today. It works out so much better that I consider trying it out on the park blocks at Saturday Market.
Morning is very slow, only one sale before noon. I spend my time watching the Free Portrait booth--sponsored by the festival and staffed by talented volunteers--across the way from my booth, and listening to my neighbor try to reprogram his conventional visa machine to read chip cards. He's on the phone for nearly an hour getting instruction and pass codes, and another half hour downloading new firmware. As grumpy as I get about Square, it's gotta be better than this.
Afternoon picks up, and I get some good sales right down to closing. I figure five-eights of my sales came yesterday, three-eighths today. This is about normal for me.
New in my experience: half the Porta potties are pink, labelled "Hers." I peek in one this morning; as expected, no urinal. What I did not expect was the tidy little sink and handwashing station. I'm slightly envious, and not just for the absence of pee on the floor.
Take down is a long slog, but I simplify it a little with a decision tree: yup, I lean all the shelves and booth hardware on the enormous oak so I can cart out pottery boxes without tripping on shelves, and am able to take out the shelves in the order they go in the van. Even so, it takes until 7:30 to finish loading the van, and it's full dark before I leave the park. I stop for Indian food, then drive home watching the remains of the lunar eclipse.
Had trouble getting Square to work on my phone yesterday. Neither swipe nor chip reader would connect or read, and though I could process cards by typing in numbers, I begrudge them the extra percent or so of commission. Three different customers offered to read me their numbers as I typed, which is friendly, but not, I think, smart. I gently remind them that saying their credit card numbers out loud in a public place might not be the wisest idea.
The fair has arranged for a wifi server for the weekend, so I bring along my tablet today. It works out so much better that I consider trying it out on the park blocks at Saturday Market.
Morning is very slow, only one sale before noon. I spend my time watching the Free Portrait booth--sponsored by the festival and staffed by talented volunteers--across the way from my booth, and listening to my neighbor try to reprogram his conventional visa machine to read chip cards. He's on the phone for nearly an hour getting instruction and pass codes, and another half hour downloading new firmware. As grumpy as I get about Square, it's gotta be better than this.
Afternoon picks up, and I get some good sales right down to closing. I figure five-eights of my sales came yesterday, three-eighths today. This is about normal for me.
New in my experience: half the Porta potties are pink, labelled "Hers." I peek in one this morning; as expected, no urinal. What I did not expect was the tidy little sink and handwashing station. I'm slightly envious, and not just for the absence of pee on the floor.
Take down is a long slog, but I simplify it a little with a decision tree: yup, I lean all the shelves and booth hardware on the enormous oak so I can cart out pottery boxes without tripping on shelves, and am able to take out the shelves in the order they go in the van. Even so, it takes until 7:30 to finish loading the van, and it's full dark before I leave the park. I stop for Indian food, then drive home watching the remains of the lunar eclipse.