From E-Hell Blog: China for Sale!

[Blithe]

Added to the blog April 8, 2010:

    I have a story from my fairly recent engagement party.

    My parents hosted a lovely engagement party for me and my future husband at the family home.  Since they have a large house, they invited everyone who is being invited to our wedding.  One of the many guests was my Aunt B.  I don’t often see her as she lives quite far away, however, she made an effort to be there and I appreciated it.  Since there were so many guests, I only had a chance to speak with everyone very briefly.  I did notice however that she had brought a black wheeled briefcase/suitcase and had it sitting in front of her during the party.  The party ended and we had a wonderful time.

    Now my Aunt B, hand paints china.  I found out after the party from more than one guest that she had been trying to sell her hand painted china during my engagement party!  Thanks for making the extra effort to come congratulate me on my upcoming nuptials (enter sarcasm)!  I wonder if she would have come had she not been able to make a quick buck.  Luckily, my informant guests declined and didn’t feel obliged to make a purchase.  How very tacky.  I wonder what she will try to sell at the wedding!   0323-10

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Wow!  Now that I have heard of this happening, I can imagine a few different ways that it could have gone down (all rude) depending on Aunt B's personality.  My big question after I read it though was how would someone deal with something like this if they discovered it during the party?  And, now that they know Aunt B is willing to attempt to sell her wares in inappropriate forums (like other people's parties), what could be done to prevent this in the future.

As far as personality goes, I'm wondering if this is a matter of Aunt B being rather clueless or awkward typically, or perhaps easily persuaded by some sort of "sales guru" to think that she should just bring her wares along with her to all social events in case someone wants to make a purchase or if this is a matter of her just not caring that an engagement party does not equal a retail store or something else entirely.

[Merry Mrs Martin]

  I admit my first though was "well of course she brought her china , everyone at the party would spontaneously buy a set for the HC"

I think I would allow the hosts to handel it (whew doged a bullet)....If I were the host I would be harsh" Aunty Crassy may I speak to in the kitchen for a minute, put the china away. (any arguement) I must insist. I suggest you host a party to show off you wares, I planned this party for HC. "

[Jules1980]

I also wonder how it went down.  Could it have been that people were asking about a set of her china that she either gave the HC or the hosts and she said, "Oh, I painted it.  Its something I do on the side, if you really like it, I do sell it for $XXX."  I could totally see that happening and I don't think its rude in that form.

Now, if she was toting around a sample, and pushing it on everyone who listen, then that's rude.

[Blithe]

Thanks for the comments.  I too wonder exactly what happened here.  Based on the fact that the aunt had a suit case I think this was a premeditated act.  I liked Mrs Merry Martin's idea on how to handle.  Its probably the best thing to do in that situation.

[Clara Bow]

Now, if she was toting around a sample, and pushing it on everyone who listen, then that's rude.

I am assuming that the contents of the suitcase that she had were china samples.

[look in the tunk]

I totally agree with the PPs in wondering how this went.

Actually, my first thought that was someone (maybe another relative) had previously offered to buy the china from Aunt B, and the shower was the best meeting place for the purchase, "Oh, you're going to the shower? Just bring it then." I could see that.

Or perhaps several people had been asking her about it, and Aunt B thought she'd bring it to the shower since so many people had been asking lately.

There just really isn't enough information in this story to know if she was rude or not.

On the other hand, if she was going around randomly hawking it, then rude for sure.

[POF]

I totally agree with the PPs in wondering how this went.

Actually, my first thought that was someone (maybe another relative) had previously offered to buy the china from Aunt B, and the shower was the best meeting place for the purchase, "Oh, you're going to the shower? Just bring it then." I could see that.

Or perhaps several people had been asking her about it, and Aunt B thought she'd bring it to the shower since so many people had been asking lately.

There just really isn't enough information in this story to know if she was rude or not.

On the other hand, if she was going around randomly hawking it, then rude for sure.

I actually think that the scenarios described above are still rude. She could make arrangements after the party or before the party to show these items. Showing them during the party would be wrong ( even if she were asked to do so ).

[look in the tunk]

I actually think that the scenarios described above are still rude. She could make arrangements after the party or before the party to show these items. Showing them during the party would be wrong ( even if she were asked to do so ).

Agreed, still rude, but IMO maybe a little less rude than just going around making random in-your-face sales, lol.