We just exhibited in Bethesda Fine Art Festival this past weekend and it was pretty slow for everyone. Sunday, it seemed to pick up and we were eager to pull out the Square and swipe those cards.
After entertaining a family of 4 generations, they walked out and exclaimed, "That was a $45 purse, not a $100!" and then walked away from my neighbors booth (jeweler) and said, "I can't believe how expensive everything here is. Do you know where I buy my jewelry? TJMaxx!!"
Oh good gods.
We thought we had seen the last of them.
Later they return and the woman can't live without a larger leather tote she was fondling earlier. Fine. While I'm ringing her up, her kid decides he wants to wedge his body into one of our wooden etageres (designed & handcrafted by us, too) and bounce. Mind you these are standard waist high, easy to assemble, easy to dismantle pieces. Because the pieces are designed to fit into groves and partner with gravity, there's no reason to screw, nail, or use any kind of fittings to keep them upright. A genius solution, if I do say so myself. ;)
The kid acts like the Incredible Hulk by enlarging his body between the shelves and pushes the top shelf upward, knocking all of my iPad covers and then pushing the second shelf off and consequently knocking over the entire apparatus. Unbelievable!
Instead of yelling at the kid, I yell to my husband who walked out for only a minute to call his mom and wish her a Happy Mother's Day. Believe me, I wanted to scream at the kid. I do know that if I had, I probably would have lost the sale. On an average day, I wouldn't have cared. Knowing how mom reacted the first time to our work, I should have yelled at all of them to get the hell out of my booth. It scares me to think that she may actually want to return it after some gala event. I'll threaten to send her an invoice of the damaged shelves if she does.
So what do you say to buying parents whose kids are in the process of destroying your booth? How about, "$360 for the tote and $400 for the etagere?" Unbelievable.
Replies
Most of what I sell is for children. When children are interacting positively with puppets it's great for business. Above all, my booth must be a safe place for children. My racks hang from my canopy. If they are pushed, the sway and don't come down. My posts on the racks are made of wire so if a puppet is pulled down, the wire bends but doesn't break. My floor is foam, if a child falls, he falls on a soft surface and doesn't bleed or break something. I often have a puppet on my hand who talks to children, giving the adults time to browse and buy.
My biggest annoyance is when people drop off their kids to play and go into another booth to do their buying. They can spend long time in the other booth. They usually don't buy anything from me so when I realize that, they get a very dirty look of disgust from me. Those are the kids that usually misbehave.
We did an outdoor fair a few years ago and a couple came in and was looking at the work on display. Their young son, about 4 years old, amused himself playing with the pottery on the lower shelves. Jim said to the mom, "Is your son a collector?" When the mom said "no, why do you ask?" Jim said "He is fixin to buy some!" The parents caught on immediately and corrected their son, then went on to make a purchase. Often a light hearted response works well.
Great response! I like that!
Thanks to you all for empowering me on the aspect of "kids & getting hurt w/my property." Walking thru Lowes Home Improvement today I saw some bored, unaccompanied kid stepping into one of the indoor display gardens teetering on a few rocks, flipping them over with his feet -basically destroying the display artist's hard work (I used to be a window display artist in Chicago so I know how this feels). I stopped, looked at him and yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, "Hey kid! Get out of the garden!" He jumped right out!
God I hope I don't turn into one of those craggy old bitties. I do like kids and want to start a foundation for them one day but damn I wish parents would instill a bit of public self-control and respect for others.
To enable people to browse with little children I have a little box of "treasure" - smallish tumbled gems that I let them look at and choose one to keep. The parents smile and the child is usually absorbed for a few minutes letting mum shop. I don't use it as a method to distract naughty kids though although perhaps I should!
Also consider the blessing that the kid did not hurt himself in the booth. You need speak up because it could get ugly for you.
At my Vet's office, there's a sign - 'Unaccompanied children will be give a cup of black coffee and sent home with a dog'. Too bad there isn't something like that you could put up in your booth.
On a few occasions, I've read similar and think that's probably a wise strategy. ;D
Due to the fact that my boot his filled with glass I am quick to be the person distracting the kids so the parents can look. Smaller kids who will have more trouble controlling themselves are my concern and I usually grab a thick sturdy piece and ask the child if they have any idea how hot it had to be to make it... I hold the item while they touch it and I talk to the kids for a while. Last summer I had one dad admit that my willingness to give him and his wife a break is why they made a $120 purchase.
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