Hi. I'm gonna start this right here and now with an apology, but I have to do this....I haven't been here in about a week....way too long, and I try to stay positive, but I am at my wits end, and I need to sit here and bang my fingers on this keyboard and get this off my chest or I'm afraid I will go to the store and buy cigarettes, I'm serious. You all say over and over, come here first....well, I'm here, because I have already gotten my shoes on to leave and I have to stop myself. This is the only way. I am so upset right now. The day started with the news of the death of one of Rick's friends only 15 weeks after his death, and just got worse and worse. I have been working on a project, with lots of promises of help for about three weeks, and one by one, all day long I got call after call, saying....sorry, I'm not gonna order for this reason or that, and I'm pissed! What I was trying to do is have a online/book party for my daughter. She is a PartyLite consultant. She is a component tech. by trade. She would do the final inspect and red-line on the drafts and drawings of roofing trusses before they went into production. The company has laid her off twice in the past year because of the economic problems in the construction trades these days...so she took up this to feed and put a roof over her 5 year-olds head. Anyway.....she had shows booked for April and most of them canceled or postponed due to spring break, easter, tax day payments, etc. so seeing this start happening....she called me about 2.5 weeks ago and asked if I could do an online party. I said sure. The goal was $400. in sales so that with her other couple of parties, she could make the level that she would get a big enough paycheck to pay the bills. The show must be closed my midnight Eastern tonight. I know a few people, customers and friends, so I said, sure, won't be too hard to do that, so off I embarked. I taped the shoulders of the guys and gals whose girlscout cookies, boyscout popcorn, booster club christmas wreaths, spagetti dinners, Market Day and everything else I've bought 100's of dollars of stuff from. About 15 people said "sure, I'll place an order" This process doesn't get any easier....it's a link I give them, they look at a catalog online, and order some candles, scents, decor items or food, (this company has spices, sauces, breads, stuff like that), put their cc number in, and done. It gets delivered to their door. Okay they all said...no problem. At 2 weeks, they said, "yeah, I'm still gonna order". At one week they said "yeah I'm still gonnna order" last Tues. they all said "yeah, I'm gonna order. Yesterday they all said "yeah, I'm gonna order" Guess what happened today? When either I called them or they called me, it was.....oh sorry, this and that, and this and that, and I don't have any money, I'm not gonna order. BASTARDS! Why didn't they just tell me the truth from the beginning? I'm not a monster, I would have said, okay, thanks for considering it, I understand, but to say all along that they were going to and didn't? There's no excuse for that. Every, yes EVERYTIME someone askes, and I say I'm gonna order and help I do. Why lie? NOW. I sit with $175. in sales and my daughter will get half the paycheck I promised her I was gonna make happen for her. I worked my ass off calling people, explaining product, showing my own product. Four people ordered. A co-worker, my sister, one customer and one friend. The tow women who I considered my best friends...that I spend over $200 on their stuff over the past 2 years game me NOTHING! My friend Paul? I bought $150. worth of Christmas decor last year in his sale - proceeds going to his daughter's college fund, a $75 yard trailer that pulls on the back of the riding lawn mower, and his CD of acoustical music he put out just two months ago. He got self-righously indignant and downright mad at me today when I pointed that out to him after I couldn't get him to spend $20 on 2 beer breads and a jar of garlic spice blend. What the hell is wrong with people? I'm just so upset. My daughter said it best: Mom, since I started this business, I've learned A whole lot about people. Boy, ain't she got that right! There, I stopped crying, and I feel alittle better. I won't smoke. I haven't had a cigarette in 17 days.....and this is the week I usually get a bit snakey....this crappie dissappointment really doesn't help. So? How was your day?
