I Paid TJ more than he asked me for, he'd really done me such an incredible favor and saved me so much Money by fixing the John Deere and agreeing to continue to do my Yardwork and Irrigation. I had thought he didn't want to do it anymore, but he said he's just had so much to do that he wasn't sure he'd be as reliable as we might need. I don't mind waiting 'til he can fit it into his Schedule, he does such a good job and his Family and ours have become good Friends. I'd rather he get the Money than someone I don't know or necessarily Trust. He's doing the Yard again right now, you can see the difference once the Tractor is maintained well again. He'd sharpened the Blades while he had it apart repairing the Motor's problem.
So, now our Property looks well manicured and maintained again and I don't have every Landscape Company that drives by stopping and giving me estimates and implying how unkempt it's looking. *LOL* It was enlightening to know what Companies charge now, we've done our own Work for so long that sometimes I'm Clueless how much Hiring a Company actually costs. I had Sticker Shock, I ain't gonna Lie, clearly I can't afford to have too much Hired Staff. *Ha ha ha* I do have a Pool Guy, and we have an Exterminator, Plumber and Air Conditioning/Heater Specialists on Retainer. That's really all I can manage besides Hiring a Friend and Neighbor to do the Yardwork and Irrigation too. The Man and I used to be able to DIY everything, those days are clearly over.
The Son Won a couple of $100 Concert Tickets, so he's going to bring his Sister and Friend Bree with him. He'd bought himself a Ticket to this Concert and entered a Drawing a local Rock Radio Station had. This is the 6th time in a Year he's been a Winner, he's very Lucky like that with Drawings and so he enters them frequently. He goes to a lot of Concerts, but usually with Friends who also buy Tickets for the same ones. His Sister hasn't been to a Concert in Years, so she's excited he's taking her with one of his Winning Tickets, and Bree is a good Friend of his since High School. This is one of those Concerts that has several Bands and not just one Headliner. A lot of the Casinos on the Reservations often have Venues too. My Friend Amy from our Antique Mall recently won Six Grand on the Slots at a Casino near us.
She's hilarious, she was telling me she always Wins more Money at the Casinos than she earns Selling at our Antique Mall, so, her Husband would rather she Gamble. *LOL* She's a really hard Worker, but to her, Gambling has been profitable and easy. She said if you Win too often tho', the Casinos ban you, so she limits her exposure between Wins on purpose. She's had Friends who've been banned becoz they've Won too much or too often. If you're not cheating, I don't know how they can justify banning a Winner, they sure don't ban Losers. *LOL* I suppose they imply that the odds should be so against you, that if you do Win and have incredible Luck, you must be cheating and shouldn't ever come out ahead of the House? I don't Gamble, so, have never been in any of the Casinos that abound on Rez's around Metro Phoenix.
Within an easy drive from our House are a multitude of Indian Casinos, many are really close by, some, more of a Day Trip Drive. Desert Diamond, Gila River, Vee Quiva, Talking Stick, We-Ko-Pa, Apache Gold, Ak-Chin, Mazatzal, Yavapai, Twin Arrows and Casino Arizona. It's why my Niece, who plays Poker and is very good at it, was here visiting a lot when she was playing in the Tournaments. She now lives in Oklahoma, that has about as many Indian Casinos and Reservation Land as Arizona has, and a cheaper cost of living she could afford. She used to travel to Vegas for Tournaments too, but preferred the Indian Casinos and most of our Friends do too. I might go one day out of Curiosity, my Kids have gone and said there's good Entertainment and Food, even if you don't Gamble. We used to go to Vegas often, but, not to Gamble, exclusively for the Entertainment, 'til it got too expensive.
Plus, Vegas is somewhere I can only enjoy for 1-2 Days before I am more than ready to leave. The same with trips to Cali, my limit for both is 48 Hours tops before I'm packing up and calling it a Day. *LOL* If it wasn't for Friends and Family that live in both locations, I'd probably be ready to leave in 24 Hours. But, it is a long drive for a mere Day Trip, so we'd spend at least One full Day just visiting Relatives or Friends who live there to make it worth commuting that many Hours and the expense to get there. *Smiles* Now that most Tribes in Arizona have Casinos, hardly any of my Friends and Family in Arizona go to Vegas anymore, no need to and they claim it's easier to Win something and the Entertainment Venues are reasonably priced. Vegas got too expensive, too tight, and half the time you couldn't even get Tickets to the best Shows... unless you booked Months in advance.
During the Old Days any Trips to Vegas were spontaneous decisions, not something I planned and mapped out Months or Years in advance. I'm not inclined to live a Contrived Life. I did Marry The Man there tho', and even that was spontaneous for us and we Eloped and only told my Mom, so she could babysit my Kids. *LOL* I heard that since the very last time we went there, the Historic Iconic Chapel, Silver Bell, we got Married in, burnt down in 2002. It wasn't the only Old Wedding Chapel to burn down, Two people Died in another one that was Vacant and burnt in 2021, I suspect since that one had been Vacant and abandoned, the Dead were likely Squatters or Homeless Vagrants that perished. Anyway, Old Vegas is nothing like New Vegas, so, it totally lost it's Appeal to us. We quit going before all our Kids were even grown and certainly before the G-Kid Force were Born. I don't miss it.
Once I'm Done with something and Over it, I don't miss it. Life is often full enuf that you replace what no longer has Appeal, with something else that does. I'm expecting to receive some of the items I've recently Won at Online Auctions. I was quite Lucky with Winning some of the Skookum Dolls with my low Opening Bids, so I'll be excited to receive them. One of the Sellers even gave me a Refund on my Postage of the Box Lot Win on theirs that had 16 Dolls, as an incentive I suppose to make them a Favorite Seller. Quite a few have done things like that or included Free Gifts with my Purchase, and as a Buyer, you do appreciate that. Often the Gift has been as nice as what I've Bid on and Won. I've never received a crappy Gift, and, it's an unexpected Surprise, so, who doesn't Like that, Right? With the Box Lot Win I'm keeping some and will Sell some.
The Granddaughter and I are Curating and changing up what we will be Selling in the new Showroom, which is only Days away now before we move into it. I'll have a whole Month to get out of the previous Showroom, so I can take my time and flesh out the Vision with intention and no rush to make the move and get our Customers used to where we'll now be. I may even go in before my actual Move-In Day to clean the Room up so that Ken doesn't have to. He's been in such bad shape since his Catastrophic Accident that is causing him to Move Out of the Showroom and Booths he had. So I know he probably isn't up to Cleaning, and as a Friend, I don't mind doing it for him before I formally inherit the Rented Space. He was Kind enuf to let me Buy Displays and Fixtures at a deep Discount and leave them in there a whole Month, so, it's the least I could do.
I know I'm getting so many inquiries now from other Vendors about whose getting my Old Showroom, now I've given Vacate Notice? I have no idea and don't really Care, so, I don't know and can't say who did. Management doesn't always disclose that information anyway, since they know they play favoritism. So it's not really a formal Waiting List of first come first serve on getting any Space there. Tho' they pretend it is, and you allegedly come up on this alleged Waiting List, we all know it's bullshit. Favor is obvious towards some Vendors and not others. I leveraged getting the New Showroom and Locked Case, with the fact they relied on me a lot to fill in for unreliable, Vacationing or Sick Dealers who Work the Night Shifts.
I started turning down Shifts and making it clear that unless I curried Favor with getting that Room Ken was moving out of, AND a Locked Case, I may dump ALL Shifts again, including my regular one. *Winks* I am reliable and a good Worker, I take any Work I do, even Volunteer Work, Seriously. Many are NOT so inclined and those are the ones that take on a lot of Shifts to get comped Rent, but don't actually wanna do the Work... or show up half the time, often with no notice they blew off their obligation to. It puts Management in a tight spot when they do so. So, not my problem and if I'm doing the Mall a Favor, one Favor merits reciprocity and was great leverage to get what I want or need. Otherwise, you don't scratch my Back, I don't scratch yours, and you'll probably Need me before I Need you. *Smiles*
I feel the same way about being a Customer anywhere too. I can spend my Money anywhere. So, if you don't make it Appealing and Positive for me to be your Customer, I have no problem NOT being one. *LOL* I am both a good Worker and a good Customer anywhere I am, so, the choice is with the Business on whether they want to retain good Workers and good Customers... or... NOT? And I do my fair share of Private Sales, both as a Buyer and as a Seller, with who is in my Favor and me in theirs. And if you fall out of Favor, well, it's probably your own fault by how you treat people and it's your Karma being meted out. As a Buyer or a Seller, I always treat folks how I expect and even demand to be treated, it's the only way to do Business IMO. I've become Friends with many who I Buy from or Sell to. If I don't Like you, or how you treat people, I won't even want to do Business with you actually.
I don't even know why someone who isn't a People Person would ever get into Retail? If you're not good with People, how can you expect to garner Favor with your Clients/Customers/Employees? I suspect you can't and won't. It won't matter what you know or what your Business Model is, if you alienate the People you will be relying on to make it a Success Story. Haven't you ever gone somewhere that you want to Like becoz the Business is attractive, and then... you meet the Owner or Staff and... you never wanna come back after that? I have... a pity... the Let Down when Service Sucks or they have an Attitude, is too off-putting. And, I will ALWAYS put such Negative experiences on Blast on Social Media and by Word of Mouth, to warn others, so they can avoid a similar unpleasant Situation. Coz, who Needs that shit or to put up with it?!
Yet, I've sometimes gone somewhere very humble and mebbe even lackluster, but if the Staff and Owners are Stellar, I keep going back and become a Loyal Customer, becoz of THEM. Some of my Fav Mom N Pop Establishments are like that and I'll recommend them to everyone. Yep, even a Dive can garner Favor within a Community it Serves Well. In fact, most Locals know and frequent the least flashy places known within the Communities. When a Visitor comes to Arizona and asks me where to go, I usually tell them the Secret Spots us Locals Favor and they wouldn't otherwise probably have on their Radar and get to experience, as someone not Local. When I'm a Visitor, when I meet a Local, I ask them where THEY go and what they recommend, they always steer us Right. And it's never the places that are Tourist Traps, are flashy, or take Patrons for granted and are possibly even exploitive.
Speaking of Retail, I spent most of the Afternoon Pricing more T-Shirts, since, keeping up with the Demand has been our focus while they're Selling so well. It was a good Idea of Princess T's to expand on our Garment Merch and attracting the Younger Consumers, who now are our biggest and most Devoted Client Base there at our Spaces. The Young folks are spending, the Old folks are not. The Middle Aged folks are difficult to predict what they even want or like, mebbe they don't even know what they want or like anymore, so how could you cater to THAT? *LOL* They tend to be more of an impulse Shopper anyway and I can't cater to that, too random. The Younger Customers we get, know what they want and are looking for, so, they ask where it is or might be, when they walk thru the Doors. I might even start carrying some Vinyl LP's of my Fav Artists from bygone Hippie Days, it's Selling too.
But, I certainly enjoyed the Era in which I was coming of Age, so I feel quite Fortunate to have Experienced it as I did. I think it was the best of times in so many ways, even if in some instances it was probably also the worst of times in our Nation's History. I was never very embracing of The Establishment such that it was... or still is actually. I think it could definitely be improved upon for the Average Citizen. Ones just expecting to have a slice or even a sliver of The American Dream, whatever that means and is to them personally. And of coarse that's different for each Individual, and that's Okay. Whatever your Dream Life is, may you obtain it or have the Hope of attaining it. I think so long as anyone has the Hope of attaining it, and see it as a possibility, then they're more inclined to think Life is Good and pursue it with enthusiasm and relentless pursuit of what Happiness means and is to them.
What I find to be tragic these days is that I see that enthusiasm and Hope and Possibility in recent Immigrant Populations, even if their Lot in Life isn't quite attaining The Dream yet. But, I see it less and less in Home Grown folks, which is just Sad, that so many have Lost it or feel Hopeless about it. Hopeless people tend to be very angry, depressed and project Negativity outwards towards others. The Grievance Politics is exploiting that so much now that it's caused a division I've never seen in my Lifetime within our Nation. It's quite ugly and Dark, a dark underbelly of our Nation that is on full Display now and not at all Lovely. What has crawled out from under their Rocks is pretty hideous at times and prone to extremism and violence. Cruelty and Hatred is the Point for them and it's what seems to Move them more than Peace, Love, Unity or Harmony... I don't think any of that is even IN them in fact?
They have become Monsters of their own making and a great many seem to be perfectly Okay with that and want Leadership that Mirrors them and their hideous State of Being. Their Humanity is almost unrecognizable, since it's just about nonexistent in what they say, Believe, pursue and do. I see some of the most Angry and Hateful folks in Public during these turbulent times of Political unrest and a resurgence of fanaticism, extreme Thinking and Dogma, Religious, Political, or otherwise. What seems like Madness to the Majority, to those sucked in and radicalized, is what they want as a new 'Normal' for everyone to be forced to tolerate. That just isn't acceptable or embraced by the Majority, and so they're really Angry about it and want to force and thrust it upon all of us involuntarily.
I find it Interesting so many of them try to call it Freedom, when they only want actual Freedom for themselves and their Agendas, and no Choice for anyone else opposed and not on Board or exactly like them. The fact their Leaders are trying to eliminate Choice, Order, and the Rule of Law, is very Telling, and if that doesn't Speak to you, well, you better start paying attention and Listening closely. Fanatical Causes rarely End Well. Domestic Terrorism is no less dangerous, no less violent and extreme, and totally unacceptable to a functional Society than Foreign Terrorism and threats are. How we Deal with those engaged in it will predict our Outcome, Trust and Believe. You cannot always take the Path of least Resistance in Life. Too many are assuming it will Work for them if they do and will end up bewildered when it won't. Choosing the Easiest way to do things instead of the Best way is a risky compromise. You have to ask yourself, how Compromised are you?
Only YOU can Answer that Question Truthfully my Friends... Dawn... The Bohemian