Well, I think I took another step forward in being a maker of desirable pretties. In a backhanded sort of way. It goes like this...
A few weeks ago, I took my hand painted silk scarves and ties into work for the students to look at. And soon after that, I had the scarves and ties on display at the concert my singing group gave. They were on a table in the back of the room, while I sang with the group in the front. (You see where this is going?) There was a big sign with them, giving the prices, mentioning that a portion of each sale went to benefit Celtica!, and giving my contact information.
Fast forward to last night. One of my scarves sold through my Etsy shop. ( www.tangibledaydreams.etsy.com ) This morning I went to package the scarf up...and it wasn't in the bag with the rest of my inventory. I tore my studio apart, thinking I had misplaced it (and collapsed my craft table on top of me in the process--but that is another story). It was nowhere to be found. I was late to work at this point, so off I went.
There is a lot of time to think and mull things over when you are a life drawing model. I worked two classes, which means 6 hours (more or less) of pondering. When I came back home, I followed a hunch and checked the inventory in my bag of goodies against the inventory in my Etsy store. Sure enough, in addition to the one scarf, there was a second scarf missing (different size, but same color scheme) as well as one of the ties. Yup. Somewhere along the line, I had gotten shoplifted.
This is the first theft of my hand made items. In a very back handed way, I feel more legitimate now. Frustrated, absolutely. But like I passed a rite of passage. I tell you what though, next time I'm not leaving my goods at the other side of the room, even for an instant!
I made things right with last night's customer, thank goodness. I refunded her money, and will be sending her second choice scarf to her free of charge. I hated having to tell her that the scarf she bought had already found feet and walked off on its own. She was very understanding, so all is good there.
I hope whomever has my scarves and tie enjoys them. No, really. I'd like my work to be treasured.
But I'm a little disappointed in human kind at the moment.
I have shipped the wrong item because the color was similar to the one sold and I wasn't paying attention.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Blogging Buddies.
*nod* I saw the potential for that when I started making the scarves. To prevent it, each scarf gets a tag with it, with the Etsy listing number, and my own stock number. For instance, the long scarves are tagged with LS1, LS2, etc for Long Scarf number one, two, and so on. The shorter scarves are SS1, the square scarves are SQ1, and the ties are ST1. I put that number at the bottom of each listing. When and item sells, I check the tag number against the listing number, and then keep the tag in my 'sent goods' file.
ReplyDeleteSo, I know in this case I didn't send the missing scarves out by mistake. The rest of the scarves on hand all matched up with their listing numbers, and the tags with the missing scarf numbers weren't in my file.
OMG, that is LAME! I'm sorry but I agree with you its a compliment to your work!
ReplyDeleteHave you had a chance to play with the yarn I gave you?
Yikes!! That's awful! Hasn't yet happened to me but I guess we need to be vigilant...sigh. Your work is worth coveting, though! :-)
ReplyDeletexo
raventhorne, no I haven't yet. I've been up to my eyeballs getting the MIT scarves out the door. Now that that order is done, I should be able to uncover the sock knitting machine and give it a try.
ReplyDeleteCait, do keep an eye on your stuff, even in a situation you think you can trust. The possibility of my work walking didn't even register at the time. Better to be a bit vigilant when you don't need to be, then have your creations grow feet. *sigh* But sooner or later, it will happen anyway.