As most of you know, Project: Buy Local was this past Saturday (May 12th). Andy and I went there the moment they opened up at 9:00am. Obviously at that time we were the only ones there. We definitely showed our support by buying almost $100 worth of stuff!
Andy and I, unfortunately had a very busy day. We spent the rest of the morning helping move a family member. We did have a chance though to drive past Pansies at 10:30am and it was fairly busy. Nothing too out of the ordinary. At 12:30 we came home to grab a few things to head south to Andy's parents to celebrate Mother's Day. The street was loaded with cars. I mean lined up both sides. So this was a very good sign. In fact, Thursday and Friday had this "cars lining the street" situation too. I sometimes see Pansies get busy, but to see this many cars was definitely not normal. I was excited to see this!
Since I wasn't able to see how the rest of the day went, I was really eager to hear how things went. So I sent the owner an email asking how things went. I asked if she noticed a rise in customers or a rise in sales. A couples day past... no response. I saw she was at the shop one day, so I went over to speak to her... she had just left. Man, the anxiousness of knowing the results was killing me. I decided to send another email and I finally got a response this morning:
Good morning Lindsay!
I am sorry it has taken so long to get back
to you. This is a very busy time for us!! I do not know how Project:
Buy Local affected our sales last Saturday. It was a very busy day and I
am sure that Project: Buy Local helped!
I am sorry I missed you when you stopped in! I hope to get to talk with you the next time you stop in!
Thank you Lindsay!
Paige
Hmmmm... I don't know how you all read this email, but I was seriously disappointed. Honestly, I don't even know how to read this.
So this is how it ends. These are the results. I saw lots of cars (great!), I saw promising signs (great!). I knew lots of friends of mine went to spend at least $20 when they wouldn't have gone to Pansies otherwise (great!). I greatly appreciate the support from all those who did! But to not have any verification that sales were better or they saw a better outcome than typical for this time of year has been, just sucks (not so great).
So after everything, I'm not sure if I should keep Project: Buy Local as a yearly event based on the flat results of this one. What do you guys think?
I would have been mad at that reply....what the heck is her deal? Someone tries to help and that is the response you get? Hmm...
ReplyDeleteI am totally baffled by her response! Like, my stomach dropped when I read it. I have two thoughts, somewhat disconnected, so I'm gonna share 'em (since you asked).
ReplyDeleteFirst, Paige's response was extremely disproportionate to the amount of work, love and effort you put into this project. You basically did FREE advertising for her shop for like two months, you spent a lot of your own money there, you know other people spent their money there. Her response lacked any gratitude. If she wasn't positive that it affected her sales (which, COME ON! It totally did!) then she should have expressed gratitude for your efforts. "I'm sure it helped!" Right. Duh. I'm sure it did too. How's about a sincere "thank you". You know me. I am NOT easily offended (like, hardly ever) and I am not quick to judge, but I think you are right to be disappointed in her response. It was super lackluster (at best) and totally disproportionate. I'm sorry about that.
HOWEVER! My thoughts are that you should keep doing Project: Buy Local. NO QUESTION. In matters such as this (community organization, doing something new, trying to get people involved, trying to advocate for positive change, etc.) endeavors are almost always tiring and thankless... AT FIRST. But there is NO DOUBT in my mind that what you did through the project has had much deeper, greater results than either you or Paige could ever be aware of. For starters, you have brought awareness to people. You have made them stop to think about where their money goes and how that trickles into their personal economy (city, schools, everything is affected by local spending). That is something that simply has no obvious value at first. But think of whoever invented recycling. I'm sure it took years and years (and years and years and years) for ANYONE to get on board with it. Now it isn't given a thought - it's second nature to most people, right? But that took time. Some things are just wholly GOOD and worth doing, no matter what. I feel like this project is one of those things.
I am really proud of you. And I am inspired by you! I think you could get help from local officials and people in positions of power and prestige that want to help their local economy boom too. This could be something that becomes really important to Neenah. And even if that doesn't happen in your line of vision, good things are still taking place. At least those are my thoughts.
I don't think you should continue if it causes you a lot of stress or anxiety, but if your ONLY concern is that it didn't matter, then that is CRAZY, and you should definitely continue.
In short, I want to say that this project wasn't really about Pansies. Pansies was just the temporary benefactor. It was about awareness and much more. (which was a success.)
ReplyDeleteAnd, to give her some slack, maybe she is just really bad at writing, or even at the concept of gratitude. I know a lot of people feel shy and awkward to be the recipients of such love, so it can be difficult to express thankfulness for it.