Today I wanted to highlight a few unhinged things people have said to me at one of my markets! I'm lucky that this wasn't my very first market and that I was able to laugh these comments off, but I'm sharing these to highlight a little bit of market etiquette for attendees. Just remember that every vendor has spent an insane amount of hours making their goods, preparing for the market, and they've paid for their spots to be there. Some thoughts should just be inside thoughts, it doesn't hurt to be kind :)
"Let me see the details of that jumpsuit"
(Unspoken: so I can rip it off for my own clothing line)
I was wearing a gorgeous jumpsuit handmade by the extremely talented Sam of Maker & Mineral. Sam makes unique jumpsuits in that many of them are half & half - one side of the jumpsuit is one color fabric and the other side is another color. She made the pattern by herself and again, her work is incredible.
I happened to have vendors next to me that were also selling jumpsuits, and they noticed mine and called me over. At first I thought that they were just complimenting it, but then they started deconstructing how they could make it for their own clothing line. I immediately removed myself from the conversation and felt so uncomfortable - we were all small businesses at the market, and it is not cool to rip someone off at all, ever; let alone talk about how they could do it right there in front of me.
"I'm purging my jewelry, not buying"
I get it. You have a lot of jewelry and don't need any more. That's ok! But you don't need to announce it to me, you can just tell me that mine is beautiful and move along.
"I wish these didn't cost so much"
Woof. I think this might have been better phrased if they said 'I love this so much but I can't afford it.' My jewelry isn't inexpensive, and I absolutely understand that not everyone can afford it. However, there is a reason that it's priced that way. In fact, I use a pricing formula when pricing my jewelry that's pretty standard in the handmade jewelry world. All of my stones are ethically sourced, which drives up the price, and additionally the price of sterling silver has been skyrocketing lately. I also have to pay myself and make sure that I can cover all of the costs of doing business (credit card fees, website fees, packaging costs, and cost of my tools, to name a few). I truly, truly wish that everyone who loved my jewelry could have a piece!
"My fingers are too short and chubby, but this would look good as a pendant"
Oy. I've talked about this before, but I just hate these kinds of comments because I think that everyone deserves to wear rings (if you like them and want to). I hate that society has beaten us into body shaming so badly that we are even calling our freakin' fingers fat. Spoiler alert: your fingers are perfect. They're here to help you pick up and grab things. I use mine to make jewelry and call my loved ones and pet my cats. If you want to wear rings, wear the damn rings. You're beautiful and perfect as you come.
Now, I don't always have every single ring size in stock because I'm a small operation and I make jewelry after my 9-5. But I do offer semi-custom rings that are made to your size, so if your size isn't in stock in ready-to-ship, that's not because there's something wrong with you. It's because I just don't have the time to make 20 rings at once. I'll always be willing to work with you to make you something that works *for you*
"Unfortunately, this reminds me of chicken with a big wide nose"
My personal favorite. Yes, she said this directly to my face. This wasn't even a mumbled comment while walking away. This was about a pine tree ring that I made that is what I lovingly call "Maine in a ring", because there's a blue stone that looks like the ocean with the pine tree up along a cliff overhead. Don't ask me how she saw a chicken, because I couldn't tell you. But she did!