Happy KING’s Birthday

And, why we won’t be at Tucson this year.

My beautiful Lora in front of the Manning House

All in all, Tucson is a great show for someone who has never been.
We do have some gripes.
1.)  If you’re a wholesale show, do not pander to individuals at all.  If a show allowed individuals shop, we avoided them.  Tax ID’s must be required.  What store wants to compete against their own
vendors?  Thus Fire Mountain can kiss our donkeys

Me weighing myself and doing math to figure out the
weight of our baggage

This was my job through most of the shows.  I dropped in on this chicks booth that had handmade findings and chains made by Hippie Chick, Hippie Girl, or some name like that, and I jotted down a few prices, made a star next to the name, and was going to tell Lora to definitely check out this booth.  Then the chick in charge of the booth jumped over the counter and accosted me.  She said that i was trying to
undercut her, and I should leave her booth.  She had steam shooting out of
her eyes, and her teeth were clenched hard enough to crack enamel.  As I was
walking out her boyfriend grabbed the arm of my silk jacket and asked me what I was doing.  I told him that I was writing down prices as a scout for my girlfriend.
He shoved me, and told me that he didn’t believe me, and he went on to explain (spitting bits of vile all over me) that he was tired of people writing down their prices and going to their own booth to mark their prices  own.  I just nodded, and crossed the name of the vendor off of my list, and the rest of the customers left with a scurry to the next vendor.
Now, I can understand the vendor’s frustration, but this is business, and a professional attitude speaks louder than price tags sometimes.  My advice is to handle everyone with respect and dignity, even if the guy next door is screwing you over.  Karma goes a long way in this reality.  To this day, I warn everyone to stay clear of the vendor with the Hippie Chick name.  And, Lora runs one of the South’s
largest bead shops, and she network with most of the other shops.  We went ahead and paid a few bucks more for the same types of findings from another vendor who
got me coffee and lit my cigar for me.  And, when this vendor just smiled as I poured a swig of rum in my coffee from my hip flask, I knew we were going to make them very happy when Lora fills out the check for $4000.

No, we are not going back this year.  Our area f the world is mostly made up of HealthSouth employees and various other healthcare providers.  People are still getting sick, so there is no economic crisis here yet.  But, we are playing it safe with our expenses.  Plus, why would we want to see the same merchandise from the same vendors.  We’ve made the contacts, so we can just call them.

As for the tool shows, I prefer to make most of my own, and I am not attracted to expensive, new-fangled contraptions that claim to expatiate some various odd part of production that I enjoy doing by hand.  3M can invent all of the new sandpapers they want.  Paragon can design a kiln that also makes great toast.  And, Rio, well Rio
can do what they want because they are wonderful (pssst, Rio, email me if you need
to sponsor someone :o)  But, what I want is burs made of new alloys that will never go dull, blades that don’t break, and reusable casting investment.  Let the sheep be lulled by new argentinium silver alloys and such.  I’m sticking to the wisdoms of the ancients.

Maybe, I will see you next year :o)

Happy Birthday Elvis, where ever you are.  You’re  74.  That’s old enough to be a Republican presidential candidate :o)