QotW: What have you learned from/by customers/students when dealing with them?

[Pres]

Hi folks, another week of QotW:  and as there are no new questions in the pool. . . . I will pose a question that has not been asked I believe.

I have dealt with people as a potter, and as a teacher specifically to Ceramics. Over the years, I have heard many stories and talked to lots of people about pots and how to work, as a student, teacher and professional. Over the years I have heard many thoughts about pots and how they could/should be used or made.

There was the woman several years back that did not like my footed bowls because of the square deep foot ring that would capture water in the dishwasher claiming it wasn't dishwasher safe because it collected the residue water and dumped it on lower areas when unloading. I started making bowls with rounded interiors to the foot rings and even cutting half holes in the foot ring to help drain.

There was the man buying teapots at a show that insisted that the tea had to arc from the pot when pouring by having enough pressure from a wide spout base. . . and that  when the pot went upright to cut the flow and not drip. He also said he could spot the butter/Crisco trick that some potters would use to keep their pots from dripping?? Luckily I had reasonable teapots which he bought two or three, but I was befuddled about the butter/Crisco trick!

There are a lot of things that I learned over the years but probably the biggest one in all with teaching and with selling was to listen, even though it was taking my short of supply time to do it. Patience to listen  with all has become ingrained. 

QotW: What have you learned from/by customers/students when dealing with them?

best,

Pres

[Min]

What I've learned -  don't call a lazy susan a lazy susan to some Susans because Susan will get angry and make a huge scene in your booth.

@Pres, butter trick with teapots - some potters will put a very thin smear of a fat or clear silicone under the lip of the teapot which makes that area un-wettable therefore the spout won't drip. It's a cheat as silicone will discolour with the tannins from the tea and fats will wash off.

[Mark C.]

My customers stories run from great to sad.. Lets see I had a pedestal out front of booth with an small battery under it with an inverter powering a thrown fountain (bowl form full of beach glass) the water poured thru bamboo (home grown) and makes a sweet nosie of gurgling water as it recycled the same water over and over (pump is under glass and rocks in bowl) The student walks around and around the pedestal  looking carefully and finally asks me where the new water is coming from??My takeaway is stay a few more years in school leaning the basics

Lest see in the 80s at a sunny fair location I have a french butterdish as a demo and a sign saying its full of butter and water. My error was it was a black glaze in sun (got very hot) Woman grabs the lid and jecks it up and out and melted 1/2 pound of  butter flies all over her and the booth. My take aways is no more demo butter pots 

Student buys a great teapot 1st day of show. I ask if he knows how to take care of it and he blows me off saying he knows it all. Same student shows up next day wondering how to reapair said teapot after putting it directly on stove burner. I was not happy with this customer as it was a fantastic teapot and its not always about money. He did learn about taking care of teapots at the expoencse of a great pot dieing

Great things that do happen -people love the work and get excited or learn about new forms or learn about pottery and how to take care of it. The curious ones leatn about glazing and firing if I'm asked . I let the work sell itself and only answer questions if asked most of the time. 

I stoped selling forms that customers always ask WHATS THIS FOR?????-drives me nuts after the 2,000 time i hear it

selling to the public you learn that its scary out there ,as in how do they function at all at times

Lets see the bad - customers dog pees in booth on pots-customers dogs get in fight in booth. Customers are  drunk in booth and you need to escort them out before they fall into booth

People start yelling at each other at the show as they get in a tussle walking around show. Religious fanatics spewing crazy talk at art show-the list goes on-bar fight spills into show from bar.

Customers get aggressive and cross the line-once I had a stately fellow put 4 mugs on my sales table and then announce that you will sell them to me for  1/2 off (he was serious ) I stood up from my chair and took the mugs and put them back on mug shelf and told him his money was not good here and asked him to leave my booth. He got upset and left .

I have learned that men can be really really stubbornly stupid  and womens purses are like black holes in space and can seem bottomless -no telling what may be in there.

That someone can look thru 25 spoonrests for 2 hours before always buying the 1st one they liked

I have had customers who where great as well-way more good than bad -you reacall the really bad ones for longer times

I thought about a book on this subject but gave it up-50 years of shows you learn a lot about the public and really for me the takeway is I'm glad to be getting out of it.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Mark C.

[Pres]

I for one @Mark C.would read that book, I have found working with the public for so many years to be a blessing and a curse.

On another side of things, I had a student for Ceramics years ago that had a debilitating disease in a wheel chair, I struggled over excepting him to class without an aid, but he was a good sort. He was small, weak, in a power wheel chair all day, and back then the wheel chair was basically only a wheel chair unlike the ones of today.  I modified a pile of tools especially for him, smaller paddles, rib tools with thicker handles, modified two boards to roll his wheel chair over to roll out thick coils to slabs, got students to do 3/4 of his wedging tasks.  He was in for the first semester, parents came in for parent conferences second marking period exuberant over how much the class had done for him in the way of hand strength as simple tasks like holding a pencil to write were able to be done for much longer time without him ending up in pain. They said that other tasks that required the use of hands and arms were easier, and more controlled. They asked me to allow him to take the class a second time, I told them it was not up to me, but to the administration as they would not allow second classes when not in the curriculum. Long of the short, they went through guidance all the way up to the Principal and the Superintendent. . . I had Ceramics II, and because one student was allowed to take the class, others had to be allowed. The precedent had been set. Lesson. . . . Never underestimate the power and will of a parent for the good of their child.

 

best,

Pres

[JohnnyK]

Looks can be deceiving...

While I was taking my Ceramics1 class at Sierra College, about 3 weeks into the course, a young student (weren't they all young?) who was looking to add the course had mistaken me for the professor, who happened to be out of the classroom at the time. It may have been my age and the Vandyke I was sporting at the time

Edited February 27, 2023 by JohnnyK
Clarification

[Denice]

I used to have a stack of pots that I really didn't like  and I would let visitors to my studio take one home.   I would watch them ooh and ahh over them  and it slowly started to sink in that  people can have very different taste in art.   Some people would look for the piece that had the most imperfections,  now I know not to throw those away.     Denice

[Joseph Fireborn]

What Denice said. The stuff we think is terrible sometimes is exactly what they want. I had some pots that were on a table in my house where I was observing them. We had a family over that had helped us with some hand me down clothing for my 3 boys. They saw the cups and were going crazy over them. I wasn't too satisfied with the details of them, but they were functionally perfect. So I offered them to the family. I spoke with my sister in law a few weeks ago and she brought up that they use those cups to drink tea/coffee out of every single morning for the last 3 years or so. I was just going to throw them away because I didn't like the looks.

I imagine this is one of the greatest factors that separate a great unsuccessful artist and a great successful artist.

I run another business now and people constantly amaze me at what they think looks great. I am looking forward to making some pottery this summer and I will probably list all the functional pots on etsy instead of hammering them if I don't like the looks. I have grown a fair bit in the last 2 years of self employment.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Joseph Fireborn

[Denice]

I hope you get some throwing done this summer.   Work and family can keep you busy,   I have been busy buying new equipment,  I bought a new Paragon Caldera test kiln a few months ago.   I just got a call and the shipping company  is delivering my new LL kiln tomorrow.   I sold my big  Skutt last night to a new potter,  I told her I would help her with her first firing or answer any questions she had.    Denice

[Pres]

I think I told the story years ago about leaving  a Summers worth of raku pots from a class with Don Tigney at Penn State on a back porch next to an alley of the apartment we lived in. 2 years later all were gone, and on occasion I would find them in various places like someone's mantle or a bookcase. Tongue in cheek often I would pick them up to see if the EPR was on the bottom. . . .Yep. Stolen, but not a word said!

 

best,

Pres

[JohnnyK]

36 minutes ago, Joseph Fireborn said:

I have grown a fair bit in the last 2 years of self employment.

Becoming self employed is always a BIG step in your life and when you persist and become successful, there's no turning back. It was a scary thing back in '78 when my wife left a cushy, but boring office job to start a housecleaning business with a girlfriend. They started the business with 500 printed flyers which they delivered to all the local realtors on a daily basis for a week. The beginning of the following week they got a call from a successful realtor who decided to give them a try. That was the last and only time they advertised. Everything since then has been word of mouth. I got involved with them a few years later as a handyman doing any repairs they needed in the houses that they were working in. That ultimately led to my becoming a General Contractor which lasted until I retired 5 years ago. My wife is still working and making $50 an hour cleaning houses, painting, decorating and organizing for a few select clients. Once we got established, we never looked back and could never imagine working for a salary. So, Joseph, your whole world is there for the taking as long as you want to put in the effort!

GOOD LUCK, grow well and be successful in all your endeavors!

[Joseph Fireborn]

1 hour ago, JohnnyK said:

Becoming self employed is always a BIG step in your life and when you persist and become successful, there's no turning back. It was a scary thing back in '78 when my wife left a cushy, but boring office job to start a housecleaning business with a girlfriend. They started the business with 500 printed flyers which they delivered to all the local realtors on a daily basis for a week. The beginning of the following week they got a call from a successful realtor who decided to give them a try. That was the last and only time they advertised. Everything since then has been word of mouth. I got involved with them a few years later as a handyman doing any repairs they needed in the houses that they were working in. That ultimately led to my becoming a General Contractor which lasted until I retired 5 years ago. My wife is still working and making $50 an hour cleaning houses, painting, decorating and organizing for a few select clients. Once we got established, we never looked back and could never imagine working for a salary. So, Joseph, your whole world is there for the taking as long as you want to put in the effort!

GOOD LUCK, grow well and be successful in all your endeavors!

For sure, I left my job a few months ago. Stuck it out for 2 years until I was outgrowing my wifes income which she was the main provider. It was hard putting in 60 hours a week for 2 years, but done. So hoping now to regain my pottery hobby.

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:13 AM, Pres said:

about the butter/Crisco trick!

Ok, but Hank Green did a video on this recently, and he used Melissa May’s quest for a good teapot spout as a jumping off point! Link here in case I’m not the only crazy head on tiktok. 

For anyone who doesn’t want to loose their life to oddly compelling short form video (RUN! Save yourselves!!), the explainer is that fat is hydrophobic. If you put a little smear of butter just under the teapot spout, the tea doesn’t stick to the rim of the teapot spout to create a drip. 

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

The thing I’ve learned most from my customers (that I didn’t learn in other customer service jobs) is that you should never underestimate how you can affect people with your work.

I love doing the romantic gifts for folks. Birthday or anniversary gifts, moving in with his first boyfriend gift, stuff like that. The sweet, building your life kind of things. But I never dreamed pots could help others with things like grief.

Warning: You will want tissues for this one. Also, cancer content. 

Background: I make mugs with swear words on them. The “f bomb” is the most popular. I know, not everyone loves them, and if you don’t, that’s perfectly okay. But the people that do love them REALLY love them. I started making them as a bit of a money maker, frankly.  I thought they were gimmicky, but whatever. I still made them nicely. Most people find them funny or cheeky, have a bit of a laugh, buy one for themselves or a friend and get on with their day. But one Saturday a couple of years ago, I was surfing social media and I came across this post that had tagged me, and it brought me to tears. 

Someone had bought one of my “f___” mugs at a consignment store. She was speaking about being a palliative care nurse, and dealing with her dad’s late stage cancer diagnosis that he had received the month before.

I can’t write it better than she did, and this is posted with permission.

"As a nurse I can manage the crap out of this...mostly. As a daughter my vision and skills are clouded. As a daughter there are not strong enough words to say how hard this is. And I see palliation and family care in a whole new light. But I really wish I didn't have to see it in this light. So, I will cope with cuss words and inappropriate humour. I will cope with coffee and Jesus. I will cope with love and support from friends. I will cope with hugs and shoulders to lean on when I have to go to work. I will cope with alcohol when needed. And I will continue to find support in unexpected places... like a mug that sums all of this up in one word."

 

 

So that was a big one for me. I viewed these mugs as the least of what I made. Like a lot of us I’m sure, I question the value of what I do sometimes. When I do, I try and remember that post, and remind myself it’s important to keep showing up to make the things. 

[Kelly in AK]

So many things.

One thing I learned early on was to be very careful about doing anything on commission. I rarely consider it anymore, though I gladly take feedback, ideas, and suggestions. 

Some have gone spectacularly well, but they were made up for by a few that went equally bad.

You’re aligning your client’s vision, your vision, and your abilities. Clear communication has to happen before you touch clay. The minute you need to do something over to get it right any money you might have made is gone (or at least halved).