But ... But ... It's Not Like It's Work! (Craft Freebies)

[kherbert05]

I feel bad about this one. I work in an area with a large mix of German, Czech/Bohemian, and Hispanic largely from Mexico. The campus will often provide breakfast on the Teacher workdays/campus staff development days. It tends to switch between breakfast tacos (different combos of eggs, potatoes, cheese), Kolaches (Fruit and sausage/cheese kinds), and tamales.


On days it was tamales and breakfast tacos - 1st Principal would announce that an aide or 2 of the aides were making them.  One day a couple of other teachers walked in my room with this stricken look. They had overheard the principal ordering the aide to make tamales. The aide had nicely tried to tell Principal how expensive that is (and labor intensive). We had just assumed that the school was paying for the food.  I said get an envelope. We took up a collection from the staff we trusted to not go running to the principal.


It was the beginning of the end. HR started an investigation.  She was breaking a bunch of rules. Ended up transfered.

[esteban]

My husband has a 4lb piece of pork belly currently curing in our refrigerator, which he will smoke over hardwood on Friday evening. We have two friends who are being gifted 8 oz of finished bacon each. One owns the barbecue restaurant we frequent near our son's camp and the other just had a birthday. So much effort, time, love and space go into making each batch of bacon that it is a joy, not a chore. If someone demanded he make bacon for them, it would remove the joy from the process.

How do I become your friend?  I'm a nice guy, I'm sure one of my children would get along well with your son.  I like to share good beer.  A friend who makes their own bacon is a friend I must have

[Dazi]

Someone asked me to hand make a rather labor intensive item.  I might have done it for this individual, as they did ask nicely and did offer to pay at least materials, if not for these two little itty bitty things.  #1 I haven't learned this particular skill/craft #2 they need it in two weeks.  There is no way I'd be comfortable guaranteeing something in that time frame.  8-12 weeks would have given me time to possibly pick up craft and maybe be comfortable enough to take on a commission.

I did give them the contact info of someone that I knew could do what they were asking in the time they needed, but she charges big $$$ (and I don't blame her a bit, she does wonderful work).

[ladyknight1]

Teehee, Deadbody! What is really amusing is the number of our friends who want to come over once the bacon is ready. It is a truly lovely product.

[Julian]

This is almost one for the household disasters thread.

I finished the baby blanket I mentioned earlier, and (carefully following the washing instructions) I washed* it.  The darn thing came out big enough to cover a double bed!     I ended up putting it in the clothes dryer for a few minutes (against the washing instructions...) to get it back to size.

I later called the young lady that commissioned it, and warned her. 

Note to self (and others) - machine washable baby wool isn't.

* I washed it because my animals like to sit on my lap when I'm crocheting**, and I'm sure she doesn't want dog and cat cooties on her blanket.

** Getting the wool out is like a secret signal, I swear.  I can't start without at least one turning up in the first two minutes, and she is like the Immovable Object, despite being only 7kg, when she wants to be.

[lady_disdain]

Did you use fabric softener? That is usually the culprit.

[Julian]

No, no fabric softener.  And I've used that wool cycle many times before with no problems.

Oh well, at least it went back to the original size!

[HenrysMom]

The above brought up a painful, although off-topic, memory:

I had just finished knitting a sweater vest.  I tried it on for DH and he said, "Nice, but it's a little big."  So I thought, hey, I'll use the hand-wash cycle on my machine.  I found out that the hand-wash cycle does not equal hand-washing when my sweater vest turned into a mass of green shredded and felted wool.  $100+ and two months of labor shot to heck, and I had to blow-dry and vacuum my washing machine to get out the remnants.

Back on topic:

The other day, my instructor and I were knitting at Starbucks.  A woman comes up to us and starts asking if we could "fix" a hole and ripped seam in her sweater.  My instructor told her to use a needle and matching yarn.  "Oh no, I want you to do it,"  woman replied.  "Sorry, I have too much to do as is," instructor responded.  "I'm just learning," I said.  She stood there a minute, then huffed herself off.

[siamesecat2965]

My husband has a 4lb piece of pork belly currently curing in our refrigerator, which he will smoke over hardwood on Friday evening. We have two friends who are being gifted 8 oz of finished bacon each. One owns the barbecue restaurant we frequent near our son's camp and the other just had a birthday. So much effort, time, love and space go into making each batch of bacon that it is a joy, not a chore. If someone demanded he make bacon for them, it would remove the joy from the process.

Thank you. I just drooled liberally all over my keyboard!

[siamesecat2965]

I feel bad about this one. I work in an area with a large mix of German, Czech/Bohemian, and Hispanic largely from Mexico. The campus will often provide breakfast on the Teacher workdays/campus staff development days. It tends to switch between breakfast tacos (different combos of eggs, potatoes, cheese), Kolaches (Fruit and sausage/cheese kinds), and tamales.


On days it was tamales and breakfast tacos - 1st Principal would announce that an aide or 2 of the aides were making them.  One day a couple of other teachers walked in my room with this stricken look. They had overheard the principal ordering the aide to make tamales. The aide had nicely tried to tell Principal how expensive that is (and labor intensive). We had just assumed that the school was paying for the food.  I said get an envelope. We took up a collection from the staff we trusted to not go running to the principal.


It was the beginning of the end. HR started an investigation.  She was breaking a bunch of rules. Ended up transfered.

That's horrible! I would have done the same thing; collected $$ and given it to them.  Wow. And glad the principal got hers too!  Never ceases to amaze me what some people thnk they are entitled to.

[Thipu1]

My husband has a 4lb piece of pork belly currently curing in our refrigerator, which he will smoke over hardwood on Friday evening. We have two friends who are being gifted 8 oz of finished bacon each. One owns the barbecue restaurant we frequent near our son's camp and the other just had a birthday. So much effort, time, love and space go into making each batch of bacon that it is a joy, not a chore. If someone demanded he make bacon for them, it would remove the joy from the process.

Thank you. I just drooled liberally all over my keyboard!

Would you be willing to trade 8 oz of home cured bacon for several large bottles of good home-made IPA?

[Hijinks]

When I first started soapmaking, I gave away all of my soap to friends, family, homeless shelters, etc, because otherwise I would have had soap coming out of my ears.  Now that it's a business and my stuff is actually quite good, and I've moved up to lotions, perfumes, etc, everyone still wants the freebies   Hard to say no when you gave it away before, even if your ingredients now cost 3x as much.

[cwm]

When I first started soapmaking, I gave away all of my soap to friends, family, homeless shelters, etc, because otherwise I would have had soap coming out of my ears.  Now that it's a business and my stuff is actually quite good, and I've moved up to lotions, perfumes, etc, everyone still wants the freebies   Hard to say no when you gave it away before, even if your ingredients now cost 3x as much.

I don't know what it's like to be in your position, but you could always try explaining to them that before it was a hobby and you were happy helping people out or giving it away. Now it's actually a business, and if you give away things for free, you're actually taking money out of your budget for supplies or dinner.

Not that I think they'll necessarily understand, but it might be worth a talk with some of the worst offenders.

[Jocelyn]

When I first started soapmaking, I gave away all of my soap to friends, family, homeless shelters, etc, because otherwise I would have had soap coming out of my ears.  Now that it's a business and my stuff is actually quite good, and I've moved up to lotions, perfumes, etc, everyone still wants the freebies   Hard to say no when you gave it away before, even if your ingredients now cost 3x as much.

'Before, you were a product tester. Now, I'm finished with product testing, and I've moved on into sales.'

[wheeitsme]

When I first started soapmaking, I gave away all of my soap to friends, family, homeless shelters, etc, because otherwise I would have had soap coming out of my ears.  Now that it's a business and my stuff is actually quite good, and I've moved up to lotions, perfumes, etc, everyone still wants the freebies   Hard to say no when you gave it away before, even if your ingredients now cost 3x as much.

'Before, you were a product tester. Now, I'm finished with product testing, and I've moved on into sales.'

I think this is a great response!