In My Inbox

When I wrote "In my Inbox" I realized I should say - in my actual physical inbox - we do still get (an increasingly little amount of) mail here at Joie de Vivre and we have an inbox to put it in.  Said inbox often collects a variety of other items during the day and right now it is home to an otter and a sort of alien reindeer.  The otter was a heating pillow.  We sold it recently and the purchaser returned it saying her microwave had burned a hole in its skin - our first complaint of that nature and we suspect a very very powerful microwave.  The little reindeer was spotted in our front zinnia garden a week or so ago.  We brought him in to protect him from the rain, and left him in the front window in case a distraught child was roaming the street looking for him.  However, a week brought no takers, so he made his way to the back room - and made an excellent companion for our burned otter!  I guess I can't keep them in my inbox forever, but I'm enjoying their gentle company for the time being . . .

Better One or Better Two?

We have been selling the lovely solar queen for several years.  A dignified small version of Queen Elizabeth, she stands quietly in her pastel colored (or should we spell that coloured?) dress and does her mini version of the Queen's subtle wave.  Yesterday I went to the back to get a boxed queen for someone and was slightly taken aback by the first one I picked up. . . . it was something about that mouth - it looked not unlike - a vampire.  Just another example of what we learned a long time ago examining our plastic dancing ballerina magnetic toy (click the link and scroll down to May 1st) - some of the people who paint the faces might not be doing their absolute best.   Or in other words, it does not pay to look too closely at small plastic handpainted faces!

Do I Own a Store?

Readers of Joie de Blog may have noticed a lack of posts in the last two weeks.  The blog writer's ladder related injuries have not gotten worse, in fact, the scars are almost gone.  There is a much happier reason for this silence - an actual two week vacation!  At the beautiful New Jersey Shore, specifically, Long Beach Island.  Finding that there is something about swimming, thunderstorms, sunsets, light on the water in the late afternoon, playing cards, cooking, reading and catching up with family that puts thoughts of Boston and Joie de Vivre right out of my head.  So, apologies to anyone who misses our posts - and soon - we promise, we'll be back!!

On Visible Signs of Trauma

Struck by how unlike a typical Joie de Vivre blog post title that is! But during the last days of having a face that shows clear signs of trauma, I am also struck by the varying responses I get. Some people immediately say "what happened to you?" Anyone I know personally clearly falls into this category - as well as some customers and people I see everyday at the coffee shop,etc. And I'm seeing that some people say hello without really seeing you - they give their normal greeting and then a few minutes later, out comes the "what happened??" It's surprised me how many people who I see on a regular basis - customers, people at the bank, did not say a thing. I do understand the reticence of a complete stranger - for all they know I have a crazy boyfriend or a drinking problem - though friends in the know - those who ride bikes and have accidents - have assured me that my face looks scraped, not punched. Anyway, I have my store of funny lines at the ready: You should have seen the last guy; or never talk politics at a fancy dinner - or, wow, that last customer of the day on Saturday was really difficult. I just haven't gotten to use them as much as I imagined! And the other thing that strikes me is how lighthearted I feel about the whole thing. I can imagine how differently I would feel if I had been beaten up or abused; would perhaps want to stay inside and forget the whole thing, so it's making me look at other's faces in a new way as well. All in all, that fall from the ladder has brought up a lot of interesting thoughts. And of course, not least of those thoughts is how lucky I am that it wasn't worse!

Proper Use of Ladders

The Joiedeblog scribe has a confession to make. Said scribe is not the most careful person in the world, and often does things too quickly and somewhat recklessly. Said scribe probably breaks more things at the store than all the customers and other staff combined, simply by "virtue" of her impatience and foolhardiness. So far, she has never broken herself, but her luck almost changed the other morning. There is nothing quite like the sensation of being high up on a ladder - with one foot off the ladder balancing a bit precariously on a shelf, and feeling the ladder start to wobble. Sometimes you are lucky and can get down before it collapses. Research has actually shown that luck is just about the only thing that can help you in a situation like this, and sometimes your luck runs out, and you crash to the ground, scraping your face on the ladder as you go, ending up looking like - well, we won't go there. Then just a little bit of luck kicks in - you stand up and realize that although your face is a mess, you can walk and move all parts of your body. So, as a public service, the Joie scribe would like to alert readers to the fact that, ladders, improperly used, can be dangerous. Please use them correctly, as we will be trying to do from this point forward. And . . . if you're here in the next few days to a week, now you know - "we" haven't been in a bar room brawl or arguing with a difficult customer. But, see magnet above - happy to be of service in some way.

Whoops!

Arrived at work today and found this post it on our front door! Thank you, child of the 70s, for setting us straight - and for preventing further embarrassment. The television is now right-side up!

Well then - what IS it?

We were unpacking a box today and noticed a new sticker on one of our old favorite products - the floating penguins. These two penguins are real surfers - you can tilt their container and make all the waves you want - they will remain resiliently afloat. The new sticker says - as you can see below - NOT A TOY. And we want to know - if it's not a toy, then what is it? It's clearly something one plays with . . . otherwise the penguins will just sit there. And it doesn't "do" anything besides make you smile. And though the definition of this word is rather elastic - we're pretty sure it's not art!

The right place

Something crossed my mind last night as I was lying in bed: "The penguin race at Joie de Vivre is in the exact right location." I must remember to blog about this, I somewhat sleepily thought and to my amazement, this morning I remembered the whole sequence of thought that culminated in that sentence. We've been selling the penguin race for over twenty-five years, long enough that people who appear quite adult sometimes get very excited when they spot it. "That was my favorite toy!" or "I had one of those when I was a kid!," and they can't resist turning it on. Little kids adore it. We have it displayed one shelf up from the floor, so a child can sit and play with it at just the right height. It's been a few other places at the store - but I would say its main function is to entertain kids while their parents get to pay attention to other things - like actually looking around the store and shopping. We have other things that are displayed in a very specific place for a very specific reason. The kaleidoscopes are quite close to the front desk, so we can easily talk about them with customers. Certain noisy toys are at the front desk so we can control their use - as well as easily demonstrate them. I've tried to move other things - the music boxes, the tavern puzzles, the Buddha Board - but they always wind up back where they started. Some items just have a place that makes the most sense, whatever the reason. On the other hand there are items we move around all the time - and that has its own interest, as people notice them more - or less - depending on where they are. Anyway, somehow, I found it deeply satisfying to contemplate the perfect location of the Penguin Race last night.

This morning I made lunch to take to work, grabbed my gym bag, and realizing I needed to pick up a few things at the market, grabbed a big bag for that. Nothing remarkable about any of that. But as I loaded up my bags and headed for the car, I realized that all my bags were Blue Q bags. And that I loved the design of all of them both graphically and functionally. Could have written: This morning I made myself a little lunch before I left the house . . . and I put it in my Blue Q lunch tote. I grabbed my gym bag, the versatile Blue Q zip up shoulder tote, and also grabbed my big Blue Q shopper for groceries. The only other thing I'll say is - that's how great those bags are. I do of course own other products that we sell at Joie de Vivre - but I don't think I own any in the quantity that I seem to pile up those Blue Q bags!

The Things We Do For Joie

So, we recently had a chance to buy some French figurines that had (very sadly) been discontinued. Some Babar figures, some little bugs and a few of the characters from a series headed up by Barbapapa, a sweet pink guy whose name comes from the expression Barbe a papa - Daddy's beard - which means - a bit oddly - cotton candy. It does explain his color. Anyway, when we unpacked them we found that Celeste and Barbapapa were quite grimy, definitely not in condition to be sold. "I'll take them home and wash them" I said. So that's how I found myself spending part of an evening standing at the sink scrubbing away at tiny, grimy, plastic figurines. Exhibit A - in the dish drainer, and Exhibit B - all clean and dry. Anyone who happened by probably would have thought I was - just a little crazy? However, this was the end of the line for these items, so complaining to the company would have done no good. So, into the bath they went, and I have to admit, it was kind of fun to fill up the dish drainer with them all...

Does Not Compute!

We send things to customers all the time, both by UPS and through the mail. Lately, we've been using the mail a lot more for lightweight items as it is generally half the price until you get over a pound. So, I've noticed some weird inconsistencies in the post office pricing - for instance, we are about to send an 8 ounce package to someone in Portland Maine. I went to the USPS website and entered all the information to find out how much postage to use and found this: to mail first class - would cost 2.58 and arrive in two days. To use standard post would cost 5.60 and would take 3 days to arrive. I just can't wrap my mind around this! In what way does it make sense to have two choices with radically different prices - and, the more expensive choice arrives later. ? ? ? Maybe there IS a reason beyond email and the internet why the post office is going out of business. But to send the same package by UPS would be $10. Granted, it would get there in one day - but if we were sending an 8 ounce package to California by UPS it would cost $11 and it would take a week. (Mail to CA would take 3 days and cost 2.92) Anyway, this is a long winded way of saying that with the U.S. Postal Service - first class is the way to go - and half the price of standard. Too bad all first class experiences are not similarly priced!!

Got Our Money's Worth!

Just before opening Joie de Vivre 29 years ago I bought a small refrigerator for about $100. It's been plugging along for all these years, but it just up and died this past weekend. Pulling it away from the wall was like an archaeological dig — we found all kinds of interesting things behind it and inside of its exterior grill — a tiny plastic groundhog, a lint brush, a small mitten, many marbles, lots of paper, a postcard from a friend traveling in India — (we kept the postcard and the groundhog.) Monday morning I called our local appliance repair guy and asked him if it was worth having him come over and look at it. He laughed. "How long have you had it?" he asked. And, "how much did you pay for it?" When I filled in the specifics, he laughed again. "I think you got your money's worth" was his professional analysis. So, off to Home Depot — no small fridges. Off to Target (the two places he suggested trying). They had one — but no sample out of the box. Off to Sears. One small fridge. With an actual display model. $130. The salesman tried to convince me to buy an extended warrantee — but I don't think we'll be in business for another 30 years! One last observation: trying to find anyone to help you at Home Depot or Target — almost impossible. Sears was a little bit better — but now I have a better understanding of why it's so difficult to reach anyone on the phone in these stores — there's no one around!