Funny Customer Stories - Light Side of Biz

[Crafty1_AJ]

I kinda strayed off topic in another thread by posting a couple of my cute / funny customer stories.  

 

So I decided to start a new thread about the lighter side of business - funny things that have happened to sellers here.  

 

Two of my favorite customer stories...sweet little old lady comes up to buy a bar of soap.  I hand her the bag and give a friendly reminder to make sure the bar is well-drained between uses and not left sitting in a puddle.  Her response, "Oh, I'm not going to use it in the bathroom.  It's for my underwear drawer."  LOL 

 

Then I once had a cute little boy in his Boy Scout uniform come up to my booth and marvel at the candles.  "How do you get them to smell so good?  Do you, like, squeeze pine needles or something?"    I stifled a grin and politely explained how we scent candles.   

 

Your stories?  Let's have a good laugh today.  

[NaughtyNancy]

I don't have very many customers yet still, more like a handful of people who like my stuff and keep coming back for more, they just text me when they want something made, and then come over to pick it up, very casual cash type transaction.

 

One of the ladies who has me make her things, though, is really fun to well, make things for. She never texts me saying general things she likes or wants. It's always a process, and always about a story or some historical thing she fantasizes about, and then we text back and forth until she decides what sorts of notes she wants in it based on the story/fantasy. She's the really creative/imaginative/eccentric personality type. 

 

For example, the last one was based entirely on Cleopatra, so she is doing searches online for smells that she feels represent Cleopatra in some way or another, based on what Cleopatra wore, common cuisine of that area and time period, common plants in the area, etc. In the end her list of notes that she wanted was a combination that I never would have put together on my own, but she is reliable in regards to, no matter how it turns out, if she asks me to make it, she buys it, so I'm always like okay whatever let's do it. I just adjust ratios of FO's and EO's while blending to try to make it as pleasant as possible based on her personal tastes. 

 

What is funny (in a cool way) to me, is that some of her combos, despite seeming a bit bizarre at first glance when she texts them to me, and despite in some cases having uh, interesting story ideas behind them, have turned out pretty nice! 

 

I think my favorite one so far that created for her, was based on some creative writing story idea she came up with about an elderly woman's ghost haunting a house, and this story had all manner of wildness in it from sex to murder and so on. So she wanted a scent to go with it while she is writing it. So she is texting me all these notes together, like patchouli, pumpkin, vanilla, gardenia, cinnamon, etc and then she adds, "Can you add the smell of blood?" And I'm just like, "Uhhhhhhh.. turmeric?" So then turmeric goes into it. Plus various other things. Cracked me up, but her murder-romance-old-lady-ghost blend actually smelled pretty good.

[Lighten Up]

I did a lot of craft sales when I first started out with candles. I would constantly get people asking if the candles tasted as good as they smelled - 'sure, lady, take a bite'.

[Faerywren]

Years ago I did farmer's markets and displayed some of my soaps unwrapped in baskets. One of them was a kitchen coffee soap that was dark brown, cut into chunks. A man walked by, reached in the basket, grabbed a soap and while bringing up to his mouth said, "What you got here? Brownies"? When I told him that it was not food, but soap, he exclaimed, "Who has soap out in baskets looking like food"? To which I answered, "Who randomly grabs things out of vendor baskets? And who would eat unwrapped food from a stranger"?

I have often had my soaps mistaken for fudge or cheese, but no one had tried to eat one with out asking before. 

[Candybee]

I've had people walk up to my soap before and ask if I had soap. I have also had people ask me if my candles were jellies or jams. Mason and jelly jars just seem to screw with some folks minds I suppose.

[Jcandleattic]

14 minutes ago, Candybee said:

I've had people walk up to my soap before and ask if I had soap. I have also had people ask me if my candles were jellies or jams. Mason and jelly jars just seem to screw with some folks minds I suppose.

 

I've  had people pick up my soaps, look at them at all angles, and then ask where the wick was to light it, thinking they were candles, or assuming they were VERY LARGE melts and asking how in the world would it be expected to fit in a melter. 

(I'm sure it's because of my business name, and them just not making the connection even though my signs do say candles AND soaps) 

[Sebleo]

1 hour ago, Faerywren said:

Years ago I did farmer's markets and displayed some of my soaps unwrapped in baskets. One of them was a kitchen coffee soap that was dark brown, cut into chunks. A man walked by, reached in the basket, grabbed a soap and while bringing up to his mouth said, "What you got here? Brownies"? When I told him that it was not food, but soap, he exclaimed, "Who has soap out in baskets looking like food"? To which I answered, "Who randomly grabs things out of vendor baskets? And who would eat unwrapped food from a stranger"?

I have often had my soaps mistaken for fudge or cheese, but no one had tried to eat one with out asking before. 

 

I can understand thinking it was food, but like you said, why would you grab it and eat it? Why would you think it' free?!

[Crafty1_AJ]

Probably thought they were free samples.  Argh...

 

I also had a customer once ask what my soap was.  When I told the customer, the next question was, "Like, what do you do with it?"  Then, "Does it WORK?"  Naw, I sell non-functional soap just to mess with ya...

 

Ack...
 

[Candybee]

2 hours ago, Crafty1_AJ said:

Probably thought they were free samples.  Argh...

 

I also had a customer once ask what my soap was.  When I told the customer, the next question was, "Like, what do you do with it?"  Then, "Does it WORK?"  Naw, I sell non-functional soap just to mess with ya...

 

Ack...
 

 

 

LOL I get that a lot.

[Candybee]

3 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

 

I've  had people pick up my soaps, look at them at all angles, and then ask where the wick was to light it, thinking they were candles, or assuming they were VERY LARGE melts and asking how in the world would it be expected to fit in a melter. 

(I'm sure it's because of my business name, and them just not making the connection even though my signs do say candles AND soaps) 

 

Okay, that's just strange! LOL

[Candybee]

One time when I was doing a fall craft show a snoopy little girl from another candle booth came up to me and told me her mother's candles were edible. I told her you don't eat candles, ever. That shut her up, she was being a little smart azz anyway. Her mom's candles were soy and had fragrance and colorants in them anyway. Don't care how 'natural' a soy manufacturer claims their wax is, its just not something you should eat even without fragrance or other additives.

[GoldieMN]

@Candybee There was a shop in town that had candles they claimed you could eat.  They were sold by a manufacturer, not locally poured.  I had forgotten about that until you posted.

GoldieMN

[Clear Black]

On 3/2/2018 at 7:27 PM, Candybee said:

One time when I was doing a fall craft show a snoopy little girl from another candle booth came up to me and told me her mother's candles were edible. I told her you don't eat candles, ever. That shut her up, she was being a little smart azz anyway. Her mom's candles were soy and had fragrance and colorants in them anyway. Don't care how 'natural' a soy manufacturer claims their wax is, its just not something you should eat even without fragrance or other additives.

 

I had a woman a few booths over from me at a vendor fair come over and start harassing me and asking in a very loud tone "WELL WHAT MAKES YOUR CANDLES SO SPECIAL??!!" "HUH, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY??!!"  My response that she asked what I had had said was, "Actually nothing maam, my candles arent special at all and Im sure other candles can be bought that are better than mine." Confused the heck outta her and I chuckled as she stormed off back to her booth

[Candybee]

1 minute ago, Clear Black said:

 

I had a woman a few booths over from me at a vendor fair come over and start harassing me and asking in a very loud tone "WELL WHAT MAKES YOUR CANDLES SO SPECIAL??!!" "HUH, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY??!!"  My response that she asked what I had had said was, "Actually nothing maam, my candles arent special at all and Im sure other candles can be bought that are better than mine." Confused the heck outta her and I chuckled as she stormed off back to her booth

 

That kind of harassment is something I would take up with the venue's manager. It should not be allowed and they could be kicked out of the show for that.

[Clear Black]

Just now, Candybee said:

 

That kind of harassment is something I would take up with the venue's manager. It should not be allowed and they could be kicked out of the show for that.

 

 

Agreed 100%, but since it was my very first show ever, and my mom was next to me selling her knitted baby blankets, I decided to just laugh it off and give that lady her moment.  Luckily it wasnt crowded and during a lull near lunch time so only a few customers were nearby. 

[Candybee]

I've been doing this for so many years I actually started taking advantage of situations like rude loudmouths and pointing out the selling points of my candles and soap. I can talk all day about my soap and candles and before you know it I've made a sale. Even to the arse that had a rude mouth. If you know a lot about your product and are proud of it it shows and people you talk feel more comfortable buying from someone knowledgeable about their product. Works everytime! I always say I can sell ice to an Eskimo! LOL

[Sarah S]

I have a large customer base at my gym (sweaty people love soap!), and most of my transactions are very casual requests to bring in a favorite soap or body butter the next time I'm in to teach or whatever. I keep it very low-key, and the managers are very cool about letting me run my side business as it were. Probably because they buy from me too, lol!

Anyway, one of my most popular fragrance blends is one I call "Dirty Love". Yeah, I have that kind of clientele. 😆

One of the girls recently seperated from her husband, and he wanted to buy some Dirty Love incense because he missed having that fragrance around the house...

Well, they still do Spin class together, and apparently right before class started, he says to her in a loud voice, "Hey, I thought Sarah was going to give me some of that Dirty Love!". To which she replied "Um, no, Sarah's Dirty Love is for me, not you!" 😂😂😂

When she told me about it, I just about died laughing! I also assured her I had plenty of Dirty Love for everyone! 😉

You can't buy that kind of PR, lol!!

[kandlekrazy]

On 3/2/2018 at 12:15 PM, Faerywren said:

Years ago I did farmer's markets and displayed some of my soaps unwrapped in baskets. One of them was a kitchen coffee soap that was dark brown, cut into chunks. A man walked by, reached in the basket, grabbed a soap and while bringing up to his mouth said, "What you got here? Brownies"? When I told him that it was not food, but soap, he exclaimed, "Who has soap out in baskets looking like food"? To which I answered, "Who randomly grabs things out of vendor baskets? And who would eat unwrapped food from a stranger"?

I have often had my soaps mistaken for fudge or cheese, but no one had tried to eat one with out asking before. 

My brother-in-law picked up a pkg of candy cane melts thinking it was white chocolate candy with peppermint flavor and tried to eat one.  Grossed out immediately!

[SueH]

One year I had  a family stop at my booth and were looking at my wax bears. I explained what they are and the father was asking where the wick was to light it

[Crafty1_AJ]

I was putting away sample / display soap bars once, when I noticed a small set of teeth marks in the bottom of one.  Kid-sized teeth marks.  Didn't even see the kid chomp on it!  Must have had my back turned for a moment.