Timbo
Member
So I'm at my show today. A lady comes in, starts looking over my pens and then starts raving about how beautiful they. Then she confesses to me that she loves pens and likes to collect them. She follows that confession up with another..."I already blew my budget on a pen that I bought from your competition down the block." Then she excited asks "do you wanna see it". Since I like seeing pens made by other pen turners/makers I said sure. So she digs through her bag and pulls out the pen and hands it to me. I believe it was a PSI Olympian 24k Gold Rollerball. It was dressed in a yellow acrylic. That's the OK part. The not OK part was that you could clearly see the glue through the blank, and the plating was nicked in several spots. In short the pen was disgusting. I actually felt a little sick. I don't mind losing a potential sale to a pen turner who makes a good product but this just didn't sit well with me. I pointed out the flaws (I couldn't help it) in a professional manner and showed her what an acrylic pen should look like. Then she said " but his prices are cheaper than yours". Being loss for words at that point, and wanting to attend to someone else who came into my booth, I just handed her a business card and offered that I hope she contacts me the next time she's looking for a quality pen.
I don't know who the guy was that sold the lady the pen, buy I refuse to believe he was an IAP member. If he was he'd know better. Next time someone asks " do you wanna see it", I'm going to say NO.
I don't know who the guy was that sold the lady the pen, buy I refuse to believe he was an IAP member. If he was he'd know better. Next time someone asks " do you wanna see it", I'm going to say NO.