Musikfest Day 3

I like Sunday's at Musikfest. Although the traffic still seems slow, and every other vender I talk to is down in sales too, Sundays bring a much more relaxed and calm crowd. Many of us have been remarking in just how rude the crowd has been the first few days, with many making openly nasty comments about our crafts, right in front of us. I won't share any of anyone else's, but C actually told a man to "go away" after he made a comment to his wife/girlfriend that the soap "stinks". This year I really have just gotten tired of being the human punching bag for people who feel as though they can verbally abuse the people behind the tables. Whether they are so used to purchasing in bog box stores and just don't connect with the fact that we actually MAKE what we sell, that we have a physical and emotional connection to our wares, may be a possibility. But I just think there is a large section of the population that has lost their common sense and just replaced it with common rudeness.

One of my soaps is called "wisdom". I've already heard hundreds of times a parent telling their child, a wife telling husband, a husband telling wife, etc. "here you need this". Wow, put-downs over the soap stand. Not only is it rude and humiliating to the person being told they are not wise (and often not smart at the same time), but to often make eye contact with me and expect me to join in on the fun is plain rude.

I know not all fragrances appeal to all people, and some people are just not interested in any fragrance, but yelling back a booth to your buddies that "it stinks" after they try just one fragrance is a joke. It annoys others I have in my booth, it makes them look stupid, and I just get tired of feeling like I need to defend myself and my product to people like that. It's emotionally draining.

And kids, why do parents let their kids run into the booth and place their hands and noses on every bar available. No some parents use it as a learning opportunity. "Miss, how do you make soap", and "This is what lilac smells like" and "Smell with your nose, not with your hands". Others stand 15 feet out of the booth and let the kids wander from booth to booth touching and doing whatever they like. I spend quite a bit of may day asking roving bands of young children where their parents are, and telling them that they need to be in here with their parents in order to smell the soap.

Well on to day 4….