Comments on: The Price of Experience

By: Melissa Homan

Melissa Homan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:13:59 +0000

Hi, Anthony and his friends!
Okay, I am NOT as skilled as your wife. Her skills are very much awesome and rare anymore. What I DO do is weave and I do so decently. I made some baby blankets recently (Baby shower gifts) and I probably put 40-45 hours into each one, including warping time. I also used some of my nicest, softest fibers: linen warp, baby alpaca, mohair, and an angora/worsted blend. I estimate that I have $90-$150 worth of yarn in each blanket plus my labor. Were I to take these to a craft show and attempt to sell them for even cost of material, I would be met with disbelief AND whines about how much I was charging. Similarly, Anthony, you haven’t seen my husband woodworking lately but, trust me, the man is getting good. A friend wanted an exotic wood showpeice (showpiece? I stink at spelling.) dresser for his bedroom. Hubby had already made some plain oak custom cabinets for this fellow’s sons, so this guy had an idea about the cost. Adding in materials, this dresser was going to run around $1000-$1500, most of that in materials. Well, he decided he couldn’t really afford it. (This I understand – pricey!) My point? Most folks have no idea about how much handcrafts really cost to produce. They don’t think about the fact that they are paying not only for the job itself but also for the experience behind the job. He is clueless and he has never actually made anything from raw materials in his life. He probably has no idea that his food started off with some fellow putting a seed in the ground – because all his food comes in a box. Americans, in general, are completely disconnected with the actual creation of anything that requires effort. This fellow is a symptom of that. (Also, as long as we don’t make anything in this country, we will continue to have economic woes.)

By: Monica Burns

Monica Burns — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:14:50 +0000

There are jerks in the world, and there always will be jerks in the world. The fact that you protest it and that others do as well (moi) means that hopefully we can shame some of the jerks into having good manners.

It’s unfortunate, but we currently live in a “it’s all about me” society. The only way to change it, is to stand up against irritating people like this.

I will say though this attitude has been around for a while. Like Rayna, I was in the military and I’d consider myself fairly intelligent. But it wasn’t until I got a degree that the rest of the world decided I must be intelligent. RIDICULOUS.

By: anthonystevens

anthonystevens — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:07:17 +0000

The fellow was neither poor, nor homeless. Like most of her clients, he was dressed quite well and flashing his iPhone. But I understand your concern.

By: Rayna

Rayna — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:04:39 +0000

I know now you feel, when you hear about people treating others like that. I do not have a degree, nor am I really licsenced to do that I was trained to do. But then I tell people I was in the Navy, they assme I was cleaning or “swabbing decks” or a mess hand. I was a nuclear mechanical technician and I am very smart. But I guess because I have chosen to stay home now and raise my kids rather than go to college and almost kill myself getting a degree I may never use, I am stupid for wasting my time. As a “housewife” I have learned to do alot on my own and personally with the lack of common sense in the world today. I am a gold mine. I may wear “mom jeans” and be covered in finger paint, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a head on my shoulders or know my own value. The moral of the story folks is: “Never judge a book by its cover” and just because you THINK its oneway, doesn’t actually means that it is.”

By: Lucille P Robinson

Lucille P Robinson — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:50:46 +0000

The man could have been a bum or just a poor man unable to afford a new coat. Still, he should have realized that people can stop what they are doing and do some work for him for pennies.