No I Can’t

A buyer asked if I could make 3 of a small vase that I had listed, and naturally my reply was ‘yes, I can. Oh, sure. Of course, ASAP! ‘ But after her custom order listing was up, she changed her mind. Hence ensued a long string of convos about what she did want, so I altered the original listing with very precise information about what set I would make. She bought her custom order listing.

When the set was ready, I gave her a preview in my FlickR account. Her response was that it was exactly what she ordered but she has changed her mind about the sizes. Could she pass on this set and just order another one? She would also like to send me pictures of her dining room so that I could reformulate my glazes to match her curtains exactly. I am not making this up.

There does come a time to say no, I can’t, and that time should have been before I actually felt like using more colorful language that I did.  I offered her a no-strings- attached full refund. It took 2 days to get her to agree to that!

This morning I got another fairly unreasonable request, and I actually had to stop myself in the middle of it, go back to the computer, and reply, very graciously mind you, ‘no, I can’t’.

I believe wholeheartedly in the power of saying Yes! But sometimes saying ‘no,I can’t’ is a form of saying ‘yes I can’. As in, ‘yes I can respect my own time’; ‘yes I can choose to say yes or no.’ Gloria Steinem once said, “If you can’t say no, then yes doesn’t mean anything.”  I think she was referring to sexual harassment cases, but she could have been a great coach for customer service, too!

 Bottle Vase Trio on Etsy

May Flowers: Poppies

Roxanna, of Illuminated Perfume, has organized a blogorama on the theme of May Flowers, as a celebration of May Day. Please join in the fun for daily reads from writers and artists coming together from all parts of the world with their own unique voice. I’ve chosen poppies.

Who has never marveled at the audacity of raging color, an invitation to abandon sorrow and give in to giddy happiness?

    Orange Poppy Bowl by MarciG
Who has never touched the delicate petals and thought of them as a  lace spun from the heart of magic?
 
         Icelandic poppy by TheFaerieMarket
Poppies are associated with remembrance, with war or peace, with the solemn sorrows of loss. And yet to me they are a call to awakening. And that beckoning towards an unreasonable intoxication, a joyful delight, is a kind of holiness.

         Felted Skirt by Ingermaaike
Each summer they open. No matter how harsh the winter, no matter how many died, they push forth and unfurl as if waving taunting bright flags. Death is not final! And sorrow cannot keep joy from showing it's face again!