Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

Marie,

What a bummer!  Sounds like something out of a nightmare.  What may help (it 
always helps
me) is to look for the humor- do a lampoon of the rude woman and the guy in 
charge or
whatever.  Then laugh at the absurdity of the human condition.  Laughter has 
amazing
curative powers.  Entertain your friends with the story of "The Market From 
Hell."

It sounds to me like the bitterness you express comes mostly from your unmet
expectations.  We all have a picture of what it's going to be like with any 
new
enterprise.  And then reality rears it's ugly head.  Usually, we're 
disappointed.  Try
first getting a clear picture of what those expectations were and then try to 
see how the
disappointment stems from them.  This may help you now and in the future.

The way you describe the rude woman- no wonder there were empty spaces beside 
her! And,
remember, the space the manager assigned to you was empty until you got 
there.  I think
you have a valid complaint and I bet if you asked around you would find that 
others have
asked to not be beside her.  It wasn't a coincidence and you have a valid 
complaint to
lodge with the manager.  I would not settle for anything less than a space as 
far away
from her as possible

Someone suggested confronting the rude woman.  I learned from a friend long 
ago that such
action is futile.  In a disagreement over who had booked time on a basketball 
court, my
friend picked up his gear and headed for the door while other teammates tried 
to reason
with an obnoxious person on another team.  I asked where he was going and he 
said, "You
can't reason with unreasonable people."  He was right.  So stand up for your 
rights and
understand that nothing may come from it, so take some positive action.  ( I 
asked the
community center to have the person in charge of the schedule to be present 
and have the
written schedule with him.)

And please don't give up- don't cut off your nose to spite your face, as my 
grandmother
said.  Marketing is 50% of market farming.  If you have good sales there, 
continue for
the season and start looking for something for next season or next week.  And 
get away
from the bad energy.  That will keep people away from the area no matter how 
good your
produce is.

And hang in there.  We're all rooting for you!  Let us know what happens.

Alex