How I Learned To Do Chair Massages Part 11

Newbies

In my experience, professional vendors tend to be smart and resourceful people, and very independently minded. They can fix any problem, or like me, they can trade something to get somebody else to fix their problem. They will bend over backwards to help somebody, or to teach newbies the tricks of the trade, because they’ve come to understand the benefits of reciprocity. 

They don’t, however, appreciate somebody being really inconsiderate, such as running a loud generator all day, (or worse, all night.) Generators can be insulated pretty cheaply so they don’t make that much noise, but many newbies don’t know that. They don’t want to listen to the racket their generator makes all day, so they’ll set it way in the back of their selling space, not thinking about it bugging all the other vendors around them. 

Vendors like to take care of problems on their own, so they’ll usually just go over to the offender and politely ask them to either cover the generator up, put it in their trailer, or turn it off when they’re not using it.  Most people are not intentionally being inconsiderate; they just didn’t think about it. There are always some idiots, of course, who will pull the “I paid good money for this space and the generator, and I’ll do whatever I want to with it” attitude. They are the ones who end up with their generator wires crossed (or missing if they try to be real jerks.) It’s amazing how many unemployed electricians become vendors. 

Another problem is vendors, again, usually newbies, who don’t bring any change, and then have to continually ask their neighbors for fives and ones when a customer hands them a twenty dollar bill. It doesn’t make for good relationships, either with your neighbors or your customers. I’ll confess that I did it at Mesick, just because I hadn’t thought of it, and had brought hardly any change with me, because I wanted to save my money. Fortunately, my new friends took mercy on me. They made sure I had enough change for that weekend, then told me to always bring lots of fives and tens, keep that money very close to me, and try not to let anybody pay me in fifty dollar bills. 

Having your dog in front of your RV or tent can be either your greatest marketing asset, or your greatest problem, depending on how dumb you and/or the dog are. Most people love to pet dogs, especially if they don’t have one of their own, and will feel guilty if they don’t buy at least something from you. In that way, a dog can be your greatest attraction, IF, it’s a nice dog that’s used to people and other dogs.

However, if your dog yaps or barks every time somebody goes by your place, you’ll lose lots of customers, and probably make your neighbors mad. You will have to expect that people will want to pet your dog. In fact, right or wrong, they sort of feel they have a right to pet your dog, so don’t bring something that will snip at people; Pomeranians are famous for that. 

Many attendees like to show off their own dogs, so if you have a breed that will attack every canine in sight, you’d better leave him home, or at the very least, tie him in back of your RV where nobody can see him.

Another problem, of course, is dog poop. Keep in mind that it can be quite a distance between your RV and the nearest field, and you would do well to bring (and USE!!! ) some pooper bags in case he doesn’t quite make it. Same thing if he poops on your site; nothing will drive away your customers, or worse, your neighbor’s customers, than the smell of dog poop floating in the wind. Some shows won’t even allow you to bring your dog because too many people got stupid with them.