[Jewelry making - Article 01572] - Re: [Orchid] Comments from adults at shows

[Lisa Bialac-Jehle]

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>     But I felt that Lisa was being unfairly judgmental in her reply,
>     running away with assumptions about a situation with next to no
>     information 

    No need for defensiveness, I was only commenting that energy spent
    on trying to thwart copying, other jewelers, "rivals" etc....was
    probably better spent giving them the information, and continuing on
    with your business. Faster, with less effort spent too. Frees you up
    for something more productive. I too would have stopped her from
    taking photos....as it is a distraction, but I wouldn't have
    involved the whole store, sales managers, and all of the staff in
    doing so. Yikes! Trust me, in doing that, no matter what they say,
    they will see you as the problem, not her. I might even have sent the
    person pictures if she was all that interested, as photos of my work
    are probably on my website anyway and readily available. 

    There will always be those who "copy" other people's ideas. With few
    exceptions....one or two come to mind.......most of those people
    aren't making a living at what they do, and they certainly aren't a
    threat to my livelihood or to my work. Just another flea bite on my
    rump. Target or Wal Mart knocking you off is a whole other ball
    game, but not some penny-ante Joe or Jill Jeweler at a chain store in
    east nowhere. (Words like, "biggest", "volume", "chain store" aren't
    generally associated with the words "high end", Unless we are
    talking Tiffany.) 

    Anyway, making a to-do about it rarely changes the person or the
    situation. At the last Baltimore retail show I did, a "rival"...and
    I use that term jokingly, sent over his assistant that he thought I
    didn't know, to check out some of my diamond work. The poor guy was
    trying to be surreptitious, but noticing him, I simply took the
    piece readily out of the case, and handed it over to him to better
    check out. As he was having quite a bit of trouble seeing it as well
    as he seemed to want to, I offered him my loupe, and passed that over
    too. He was shocked, but took the loupe and looked...lol. He even
    noticed a little looseness in a tiny stone that I probably would have
    missed. We talked for a while. He was very nice, told me he was sent
    over to look. Told me how relieved he was that I wasn't angry. I
    smiled and told him to say hi to his boss for me, and to send
    Boss-man over to look for himself. I was more amused than anything,
    that Mr Big Shot designer went to so much trouble to have a closer
    look at what I make. It gave me a small chuckle. 

    So just perhaps, don't jump so quickly at your neighbors. Maybe just
    kill them with kindness instead of having what sounds like a full
    out war, at a small showing, in a big gallery. Most people who have
    done shows for a loooong time...count me in as one of those, don't
    let much get to them any more. Life is too short to be mad at little
    things, to focus, or to spend energy on them........ There are so
    dang many of them, it would take up all of your available waking
    hours in active seething....lol. 

    This silly neighbor of yours was a little thing. That is all I was
    trying to say to you. 

    Lisa, (Oh...dumb comment made by an adult? One among so many.....The
    guy who picked up a very very expensive, largish gold brooch set
    with unusual stones. After fiddling with it a bit, turning it over
    and over while shaking it back and forth, he finally scratched his
    head, looked at me and asked, "Is this a lighter?") Topanga, CA USA
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