Civility 101

Four years in college and not once was I offered Civility 101 and, boy howdy, I could have used it. This Sunday Hubby and I are going back to Astoria Market hoping to sell enough jewelry to cover our drinking, like the last time we were there. What I need to learn between now and then is how to interact with the public in a way that shows how much I appreciate their interest in my junk without sarcasm, or being patronizing, or letting the public catch on to how damn stupid they are and especially, not wanting to clock a biotch at least once an hour. In short, I need to be more like Hubby.

Let's take a few common senarios and do a typical me reaction and hubby reaction:

Senario #1-- Someone approaches the table in the first half hour or so.

Me: (smile)
Hubby: (smile) Hi! How ya doin'?

See the difference? Hubby is right there with a friendly greeting. Me, I don't know that person and can already see exactly how they are doing. They're doing fine and shopping at a craft show. And if they aren't doing fine and are dying of eyebrow cancer-- I don't wanna know. Therefore I do not ask. You'd be surprised how many people will break social convention and answer 'How ya doin'?' without the word 'fine' thrown in.


Senario #2-- Someone approaches the table in the seocnd through third hour.

Me: (really forced smile)
Hubby: (smile) Hi! How ya doin'?


Hubby is just as fresh and sincere as he was all during the first hour. Me? My ass is hurting and I'm already tired of people passing by, touching everything and not buying anything. Really, why must people touch every single thing on every single table? By the time they leave the market, they must be drenched with every bacteria and virus known to man.


Senario #3-- Someone approaches the table in the fifth or sixth hour.

Me: (not even bothering to look up from my iPod Touch) grunt.
Hubby:(smiling) Hi! How ya doin'?

Where?! Where does the man get the stamina to be so friendly for so long? How can he nod sympathetically when some random and strange fat man tells him all about his gout? How does he not even notice when his friendly question is ignored and the public acts as if he's invisible or, even worse, annoying. I gotta tell ya, individual people can be very nice. They can be tired, hungry, curious, happy and the whole gamut of human emotions. But The Public? The Public is stupid, pushy, stupid, greedy, smelly, rude and stupid.


I won't even tell you how fast my husband has to jump in when The Public has been studying my Display Thingy chock-full of earrings for 15 minutes, fingering every single one, pulling some down to look at more closely at them and then asks "Are these earrings?" Before the words "Can't pull the wool over your eyes" has even started to leave my lips, Hubby jumps right in with, "Yes, they are. My wife specializes in earrings, although she does have other things for sale. . ." And he does it with a genuine smile. That man, he is a saint.

Today's beauty shot is silver clay. One day when I'm rich, I'm gonna get my hands on some silver clay and I'm gonna make this or something like this. This is doable, I think, and really cute.

After that, with a great deal of practice, I may be able to pull something like this off. I can't imagine the planning that went into cutting and molding that pendant. And then to fashion so many leaves juuust so to make the ring. If I were a rich girl (Ya ha deedle deedle beedle beedle bum)





Last but not in the least bit least, My pared down Etsy. Notice the prices. It had to be done. Sigh.