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All of you were so right on in your individual responses when I sounded off
(about the customer who by the grace of God survived her 2+ hr preliminary queries of me about my expertise to make her a 28” round sign, maybe even to be made out of paper to save money, and it could be rectangular, too, especially if it cost too much to cut it exactly round, but she would decide that later when all the figures were in front of her, and yes, my friends, this is a story that keeps on giving)
And I loved the feedback, the laughter, and appreciated it. It was exactly what I needed, gave me a wonderful insiders tale to tell and leaves me feeling tall for surviving a trial by fire.
So I’m encouraged to amuse you one more time, and that’s the only purpose except to ponder, yet again, that when we give our work away we only get one reputation: That we are worth less. In every way.
Once upon a time, this weekend to be precise, and it’s just before the primaries at the polls here in North Carolina , I got a call from a woman running for State House. She had had at least 1000 signs done in white bordered reverse blue/gold/grass green and they were ALL over this town of ours for the last few weeks – I was actually quite miffed about not having been asked to bid them, Because, you see, I know she knew of me. She had been to my shop to pick up some gratis, donated work for the cause of the Democrats, my political party of choice.
I have an old tablecloth, she said, that I don’t need any more, and it’s pretty big. I have a neighbor, she continues, who has a 4foot by twice that size plywood board and we could attach it to it. Now I figure for about 20 to 30 dollars I could hire you to paint my sign on that. Would you be able to get to it right away, the primaries are around the corner.
I listened and clenched my lips tight till she was done, it helps me to remember to open them slowly and with great care and forethought when I do. What came out is not for polite company, yet it was said as nicely as I possibly could. Because in the good old fashioned Southern way anything is OK if you start it and finish it with “Bless your Heart”
-------------------- Myra A. Grozinger Signs Limited Winston-Salem, NC
signslimited@triad.rr.com Posts: 1244 | From: Winston-Salem, NC USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Myra, I must say I am always amused and fascinated at your intelligent, yet no B.S. posts. You have a very unique writing talent. Thanks very much!
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I have a new Heroine. Myra the Magnificent. Nice going Myra. Them kinda customers are real stress makers and breakers.
-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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I loved the story! You really crack me up! Bless your heart... LOL!
Have a great one!
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6464 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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You DO have a way with words! What was her response?
-------------------- “Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect.” - Margaret Mitchell www.samazon.com Posts: 387 | From: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I had a politician in here last week with a yard sign he bought quantities of down the street. He was wanting info on making a stencil to print 400 plywood blanks. After a brief lesson in silkscreening & the implications of printing on rough, cracked CDX plywood, I sent him & his CDX on his way.
Before he left he saw a magnetic sign & after getting quotes on a few pair, he asked me to sell him blank material cut to fit his political board yard signs. Being odd sized & wasting material I quoted him a price he agreed to but before I knew it he was out the door agreeing to "be back for them later"
Well, I can overlook the deposite on small jobs now & then, especially when it is a highly marked up raw material item that I could still use if never picked up, but I decided not to cut his odd sizes until he returned for them with money.
Now after 3 days, I not only feel that I did the right thing by waiting, but sort of feel like writing an editorial about the ethics of this canidate would be a fair warning to voters. I don't know if a paper would allow the editorial, & I'm too busy to act on the impulse so vented here instead.
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I tip my hat to you Myra. Mainly because I know you could have knocked that table cloth sign out in 5 minutes. Yeah that's the average time it takes any sign painter to make a sign accordly to the cheap bastardos customer poll done in 1978. They always think it only takes a few minutes to whip out a brush and paint a "quick sign," yeah right! I'm happy you stuck to your guns. When she comes back, hopefully not. Reminder her down the street there is a craft store that sells brushes and paper so she can make her own sign and save her big 30 bucks.
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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.......Stupid people create stupid things for themselves...so just imagine how how the rest of thier lives are!
-------------------- Jackson Smart Jackson's Signs Port Angeles, WA ...."The Straits of Juan De Fuca in my front yard and Olympic National Park in my backyard...
"Living on Earth is expensive...but it does include a free trip around the Sun" Posts: 1001 | From: Port Angeles, Washington | Registered: Jan 1999
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Myra, I can hardly wait till tomorrow! These situations seem to be grouped and the next one will require everything you've ever learned for you to grow through. So, bless your heart and other vital organs.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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In MN you don't dare have any campaign media (signs, flyers, business cards, etc.) without a legible, self-congratulatory "union-made" logo (AKA "union bug" in the print industry) included in the layout somewhere. This goes double if you are running as a democrat. My sister ran for MN senate a few years ago, and her campaign business cards had a one plastered right on the front! You don't want to do anything that could be conceived as being anti-labor, it seems. Small sign shops get little if any political work around here.
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Don't you just hate it when people are anti-business and act like your product should be made for free and given away?! Way to stick up for yourself! I think we all know the virtues of free enterprise....like putting food on the tables of business owners and their employees families.
"Can you do this for almost nothing?" How anti-american of people to expect that.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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