Scrolling through some of my old photos, I came across this one that was taken by a professional photographer as part of an effort to produce marketing tools when we were primarily weaving place mats, table runners, etc., and selling them to craft/gift shops.
We would attend the Southex Gift Show, held twice a year in Edmonton, stand on the concrete floor for about 8 hours a day for days, looking pleasant and approachable, while the shop buyers for the stores across western Canada would try to cram every moment of their day into finding great new products for their shops.
There were no sales to be made, only orders written. This was very much a *professional* presentation, in our case. maker to shop, no retail sales. So we didn't have any actual money when we went home - just the promise of money, if we managed to meet our delivery estimate.
We worked hard during those days. Like *really* hard. We had to look professional, act professional. We had to know our product and our production schedule. And we had to trust that the shop(s) would pay for the order.
Mostly they did, but there were a few that...did not. We were not shy about reminding the shops that they had agreed to a payment schedule. One shop insisted their company policy was to pay 90 days after they had received the goods. They were reminded that the contract they signed specified 30 days after receipt, and that *that* condition had been verbally explained at the time they signed the contract.
The owner sputtered and protested, but they were reminded we held a signed contract that agreed to payment in 30 days of delivery, and that interest *would* be charged. The owner threatened to never buy from us again. We told them we expected payment immediately or interest would be added to their amount owning.
There are all kinds of people out there in the world. Mostly we found people were 'honest', but we did not hesitate to use our legal rights to collect overdue amounts we were owed. We were too tiny to be able to 'finance' our buyers. There were times when we had to be clear about their legal responsibilities and that we knew how to go to Small Claims Court.
We had to learn how to be 'professional' within industry standards - and recognize when we were being 'played'. And to point out that we saw what was happening and we expected to be treated fairly, within our rights.
It's called creating boundaries. It's called being decent human beings - neither cheating our customers, nor being 'used' by them.
The Paradox of Intolerance is that the more you tolerate intolerance, the more others will try to take advantage of you. You are allowed to declare that a boundary exists and that you will not allow someone else to try to take advantage of you. We were always polite - but insistent.
The world appears to be on the road to hell with too many people wishing actual harm on others. I do not know how to get the world off of this rather rocky, bumpy road. But I will do everything in my power to not give people who wish others harm to collect more power to do harm.
I will continue to speak out against the alt right and their plans to shove the majority down while raising the few up.
And I am ever so grateful that I no longer try to work every hour of the day - and sometimes night - but can take it 'easy'. I wound up needing to take some time 'off' this week after a procedure that will - I hope - bring me more 'comfort'. I had hoped to have the current warp off the loom by today, but instead I have not touched the loom since Monday. And massage therapist strictly instructed me to take several more days 'off'.
So, I'm working on tagging/pricing the new inventory which I hope to deliver to the guild at the end of October for the fall sales. I will try to do a final read through of the next WEFT article and email that. And then next month I should get the book manuscript to 'review'.
It seems I'm not 'done' trying to teach - yet.
Books available in pdf or print formats at the Blurb website
Or if you are interested in what life was like as a production weaver, book in pdf format available here
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