For the second installment of our Craft Show Horror Stories series we bring you… Worlds Worst Customers. Or non-customers as the case may be. It’s always the people with the worst behavior who decide not to buy anything, isn’t it? Luckily 99.9% of craft show patrons are 100% awesome. Every show has the usual kids-who-touch-things, that guy who spends an hour making you pull out different styles/sizes and then doesn’t get anything, and people with an oversize sense of entitlement. But every now and then… you run into one of these folks:
“I Could Make That”
Every show seems to have one of these folks. People whose only comment on your work is that they could do it. Yeah? Right. Artbytrudy ran into a particular gem at a high school craft fair:
I did a craft show at a high school a couple of months ago. I was so excited because I was accepted at the last minute ($125 for day). They stuck me in a hallway with 7 other crafters and we had 9 people all day! People would walk in the front door, go in the gym and leave!
I saw a 20 something girl look at my sunflower [painting] and I thought “good I got a sale.” Well she screamed, ” MOM CAN YOU PAINT THIS FOR ME!” Mom (who looked like a Jerry Springer candidate came over picked it up, studied it, and screamed back, “Sure it can’t be that hard!” and took a picture of it on her cell phone! Now I can be as assertive as the next person, but I was so slap happy that I laughed until I cried.
That’s too Expensive
Some people seem to have a skewed view of what handmade items should cost. Each show has that one person who feels the need to tell you so. A friend had someone tell her she was “taking the food right out of my mouth,” as she purchased a $2 item. $2. Less than the price of a Super Value Meal.
Here’s my own story from when I was selling under priced hand forged jewelry:
A kid who looked about 10 came up to my booth, with his mom behind him. He was touching various necklaces (*cringe*), and pointing them out to his mom, who just sort of grunted. Then he checked the tag on one, saw that it was $30, and yelled “Jesus Christ that’s expensive!”
His mother immediately yelled “Bobby! Didn’t I tell you…”
and I’m thinking “phew, she’s going to correct him for being rude,” oh no,
“… Didn’t I tell you not to take the lord Jesus’ name in vein?”And then they walked away.
Unsanitary Practices
Even without Swine Flu floating around, some things are just common sense. Like not licking the merchandise:
At the end of a very long and hot day, a woman tried on one of my rings. She then found that she couldn’t get it off but no problem, she had the perfect solution. She put her whole hand in her mouth, got it good and wet, then deposited the ring into my hand with a big smile!
Or maybe she was just hungry? Like a woman Livinginthepast ran into?
I was at a miniatures fair and I was demonstrating polymer clay. I had these miniature candy canes that I was giving away to people- they were 1:12. On the label I had ‘polymer clay candy canes, please take one!’ I’d been telling the children that no, you can’t eat them.
A lady came by and picked up one. She looked intently at what I was doing, and at the packets of clay I was using. She then put the candy cane in her mouth and bit it in half as I went into slow motion ‘nooooooOOoooOOooo’ mode, saying “you can’t eat it!!!”
She took the broken bit out of her mouth and said “Oh, I always taste things.” And wandered off…
Clowns.
Ok so this one isn’t really a category of person, I think this story is unique to StymiepieStudios. But it’s a good one to keep in mind next time you have trouble ridding your booth of clowns. No, really.
I did a popular large craft show during the last holiday season that was over a weekend. On the first full day, a strange woman , dressed like a regular person but wearing clown makeup, came over to my table several times. I thought she worked at the show, you know, face painting….something. She bought a bank, made small talk, etc. Strange but friendly.
The next day I show up early and she’s sitting at my table, has coffee for me and the Sunday paper, and show time approaches and she won’t leave! Customers are browsing and she’s selling my pieces and telling people she made them and I’m her assistant (and she’s still got the clown makeup on). I was reluctant to get rid of her, she sold ten things(LOL) but finally I gently (well, maybe not so gently) suggested that she leave. At the end of the day I saw her in the parking lot helping a guy pack up his van while he pleaded with her to leave him in peace.
Luckily the bad customers are the exception to the rule. Got your own worst customer experience? Share it in the comments! Next week we’ve got tales of the most awful booth neighbors imaginable, folks that are supposed to be professionals! If you’ve got a good (er, bad) one, send it in to blog@indiecraftshows.com
Tags: bad customers
Ewwww… clingy clowns! I think that was the worst…
I have had those same experiences. Maybe not quite that bad, but I totally feel your pain. At least we can laugh.
Oh my gosh!! How true all of this is!!
I just recently did a craft show, and was nice enough to take two checks one was for 22.00 and the other was for 10.00. The 22.00 bounced. I have tried twice to collect it but no go, no show!! I am going to try one more time on my web page to see if she will pull through for the fee. Why can't people just take care of it!! We are all having hard times.
I work just as hard too!!
So this turns me off about taking checks anymore, just cash only.
Oh, I hate the hagglers. Especially the ones who insist on trying to get two items for the price of one. “If I buy three, can you not charge me tax, and round the price down?” Right, Lady. I”m gonna try that one with the landlord at the first of next month, see if it flies.
And then there's the new trend in “be backs” (the people who say “this is beautiful, but I just got here. I'll be back”). The new one is “Do you have a web site? I'll buy it from there. Yeah, Right. I wish customers would just nod, smile, and take a card.
I am just doing some research about craft shows and stopped by to read your article. Hysterical! What an excellent writer you are to have so clearly captured the stupidity of some people. Too funny. Your stories are worth following!
Thanks so much for the laugh.
Christine
I am so happy to see that other people have bad customers, too (well not really happy, just nice to feel like I am not alone…)
I have been selling stuff in different online environments, but just stopped working my full time job this past March and decided to do my first craft show. I purchased a booth in a craft tent at a 2 1/2 week long fair… yes, most peoples' firsts are at the local school with the cheap booth, but hey I decided what the heck, might as well jump in with both feet. Every other booth was manned by multiple people (i.e. one booth had 30 different ladies working it for different hours of each day and the least number of people at another booth was 3). So, I'm not the brightest tool in the shel when it comes stuff like this…
Anyway, this show was a horrible experience and here are my three most memorable customers…
Customer #1. There is a man in my booth who has come back for the third time. He keeps talking about buying a really nice mother's day present for his mom and I am seeing dollar signs in my head (getting real excited, too… sometimes I do better at the computer than talking to people face to face, so this was seeming like a good boost for my confidence). He says he's going to get a beer and do I want one? (I'm thinking, this place sells beer??!!) and I come up with my best response, “No, thank you, I only drink the fruity stuff like Smirnoff.” 10 min later he comes back with a smirnoff. Finally some women come into the booth and have apparently chased him off. I was commiserating later with the lady in the booth next to me b/c I thought I lost a sale. She was really sweet and in this totally southern accent says “Aww honey, he was lookin to buy, but he ain' buyin what you're sellin.'” I went home that night wondering how dense I had to be that I was busy trying to figure out what this guy's mother's style was to help him find a gift and he was trying to pick me up? Needless to say, after that first night, I made sure I did not forget to bring a cooler with plenty of drinks (water and iced tea only) for the rest of the duration of the fair…
Customer #2: I have a couple of pieces of jewelry where I used six strands of seed beads… I had a lady come up… my normal is “Good morning, and how are you today?” Her response is “Oh, I'm not buying – I'm just looking for new ideas, but the seed bead work I do is much more intricate than this.” So what happened to common courtesy and the normal response of “Oh, I'm fine. It is a beautiful day isn't it.” Or some other small talk…
Customer #3: The Worst… Do you ever have that item that you just hate… you made it and it doesn't look right and you are too lazy to take it apart and re-do it? you just want it gone and out of your sight? I had one such piece that I had priced at $2 on my table… hoping some 6-10 year old girl would love it and take it away. The lady from the booth behind me comes up to ask me about it.,, and haggles me down to $1. It rankled me b/c I sold it at way below material cost, but hey, at least I didn't have to pack it up or ever look at it again. I had another $10 item on my table that she said she liked but would be back the last day. Anyway, the following day, I see a girl holding my item at her booth and the lady is trying to sell it for $15. Is that low class or what? On the last day, she came by for the $10 item and was offended that I wouldn't sell it to her. Would you have done different?