In My Heart On Thursday

"Nurturing her own mind and spirit is more important to a mother's responsibilities

 than the meals she prepares for her family."

Janath Russell Cannon, Women of Covenant

Not That I'm Holding A Grudge...

I come from a devout Scrabble-playing family.  When I was a girl my mom was my spelling idol; she won that game every single time she played.  Her magic weapon? QAT...a short little "q" word that does not need a "u."  Time after time I'd watch her school her opponent and many times that was the word that I remember shooting her ahead.  I pretty much had a love affair with that word until the middle of 2nd grade.

In 2nd grade I was in a combination class with six 2nd graders and around fifteen 3rd graders.  My teacher was Mrs. Cummings and at the time I held teachers in pretty high esteem.  She was the first to tarnish that image for me.

Every once in awhile Mrs. Cummings would let us have a vocabulary challenge.  Two students were chosen and given a whole day to think of a word that would stump the class.  I have no idea what the reward was for winning, but I was confident when I finally got to have my turn.

Without thinking twice I came to class knowing I was going to win.  I was pitted against 3rd grader Brian Fisher and I don't think I even heard him say his word for the class.  How important could it be?  With  uncharacteristic boldness (I was a pretty shy child) I told that combination class that my word was "QAT! Q-A-T"  Stunned, dumbfounded faces.  Of course nobody knew that one!  Even Mrs. Cummings' expression portrayed silent stupefication.  Then my confidence started melting away.

Mrs. Cummings said she'd never heard that word before.  Was I sure I hadn't forgotten the "u"?  She asked what I thought it was and I proclaimed, "It's an evergreen tree!"  She was still less than sure.  She suggested we look it up in the dictionary.  I wasn't worried-my mom's red dictionary definitely had that word in there.  I'd look it up lots of times.  

The classroom dictionary pages started turning.  The "q" section was located and the page turned back and forth, fingers scrolled up and down.  More than once.  Back and forth again.  No "qat."  Anywhere.  Mrs. Cummings declared that my word was not a word and 3rd grader Brian Fisher was declared the winner.  In an instant my mom became smarter than my teacher.  And of the few memories I have of that combination-class year, being ignorantly stripped of my title as vocabulary challenge winner stands out as though it had happened only yesterday.

(I just looked "qat" up in the dictionary again and discovered that while "an evergreen tree" is a loosely correct interpretation, it's actually the leaves of a middle-eastern plant used to make narcotic stimulants.  Maybe it's a good thing Mrs. Cummings didn't look into it further and call to ask my mom some questions...)

A-P

Letter P

Who on the planet hasn't yet jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon?
  Here's a sampling of what you'll find on my boards:

Catch up on A-O

Obnoxious Sales People

I spent the last 5 days working with my sister at a Holiday Mart sponsored by the Junior League of Denver.  In addition to her Etsy store and wholesale accounts, she often sets up a booth at arts/music festivals and craft shows and invites me along to help her out.  Normally a show weekend is fully of obnoxious laughter and hordes of unhealthy food and we love it!  This weekend we definitely had a lot of that, but nothing about this show was like anything I've ever experienced before. 

Brooke and I have a very personable and somewhat laid back sales style.  She believes strongly after 6 years in business that her jewelry sells itself.  Her pieces are unique and her work is beautiful.  We're very good at reading our customer and knowing if they're interested in hearing more or not.  Sometimes it's helpful to explain that everything is made out of recycled flatware, and sometimes it's better to leave that unmentioned.  Whether they see that part of the jewelry or not, she attracts a wide range of shoppers.  In the end, for Brooke it's not about making a ridiculous amount of money.  Instead it's about making sure that the people who make a purchase LOVE the piece they buy, will wear it, and will  tell their friends they love it.  

Contrast that with the aloe vera lotion booth that was located directly across the aisle from us this weekend.  They were seriously obnoxious!  4 salespeople peddling a 9 oz. jar of handcream.  The four of them stood in a line at the front edge of their booth hollering at every person passing by...

"Try it!"

"Free hand massage"

"Mine's better"

"No grease. No fragrance!"

(This was our favorite as one of the salesman was heavily accented and sounded like he was yelling, "No greasy, no pregnant!")

They were loud and they were persistent.  Once they had a shopper's hand they engaged in a literal tug-of-war until they had the customer moved from the center of the aisle to the rear of their store.  Each passer-by suckered into their space was subjected to the exact same sales pitch while having their hand or arm accosted by the saleperson's hand clenched around them.  

It was terrible for our business.  Traffic that normally would have wandered through our space were either reluctantly pulled over to the other side or running past as fast as possible with eyes pointed towards the floor and not risking the chance of making eye-contact with anyone at our end of the row.  The people who did decide to venture into our store were primarily escaping while their friend had gotten hi-jacked across the way or wanted to bad-mouth the obnoxious-ness to us.  No matter how we looked at it, it was bad for business.

At one point on our slowest day the most well-intentioned of the lotion salesman wandered over to offer us a little "sales advice."  My eyes darted to my sister in the back of the booth and I'm still not sure how she maintained her composure as he tried to tell her that he knew better how to run the business she's created and is as important to her as almost anything else in her life.  

For a lot of reasons, we were more than happy to pack up our booth and get out of the building as quick as possible after closing time.  It was the worst-managed show Brooke or I have ever worked.  But mostly we were eager to get away from our over-achieving neighbors and enjoy some much needed peace and quiet.  I will give the aloe vera lotion team credit for being professional.  They travel 52 weeks a year and do what they need to get a paycheck.  I researched their product today and it seems to have a legitimate following.  If I hadn't watched them making sales by pressuring people all weekend I probably would have been interested in trying it out.  Unfortunately, as it stands, throwing my support behind that company is not likely to ever happen...

I'm curious, what type of sales style do you best respond to?

A-N

I Need a New Look

Over and over I've scoured the internet for a new blog layout and found nothing that inspires me.  It's time for a new look and I'm hoping you can help.

Where have you found your favorite blog designs?

A-M right here...