Well, the Bizen Pottery Festival is finally over.
It's been a while since my last post (lol).
How was the Bizen Pottery Festival for everyone?
Actually, my camera broke, so I couldn't take any pictures.
There was such an incredible stream of people; I really wanted you all to see it.
But I was a bit surprised by the gap between this and my usual experience.
In the shop or online, conversations with customers involve quite detailed discussions, but at the festival, I was surprised that it was all, "How much is this?!" or "Make it cheaper!!"
Another thing that surprised me was that there were people selling works that I thought were clearly "not right."
Some customers who bought Bizen-style pottery fired in gas or oil kilns because "it's cheap, so it's fine" seemed to have a "Wait a minute?" moment when they saw pieces properly fired in climbing kilns.
Even if you prefer things to be as cheap as possible, I wish they would sell genuine Bizen pottery.
I truly believe that "penny-wise and pound-foolish" is never a good thing.
As someone from Bizen, I find it embarrassing.
As for myself, just recently, I broke the mirror on my car.
I took it in for repairs and was relieved when they said, "Since it's just the mirror part, it'll be 3,000 yen."
However, the next day, they told me, "Actually, the whole mirror unit needs replacing, so it will be 35,000 yen."
So I said, "Then forget it. (That's too expensive!!)" and declined the repair.
Then, I won an aftermarket mirror for 16,000 yen on Yahoo Auctions.
When I asked them to install it, they said, "The labor will be 30,000 yen."
Apparently, it was quite a difficult job.
In the end, it got fixed, but I discovered this sentence in the mirror's instruction manual:
"Because this product is not completely watertight, it may break during rain or car washes."
You'd go "Huh?" at that, right?
Writing only the good points on an auction site, and then after you've paid, saying "it might break"—what is that all about?
So, in the end, I had to order the genuine part, costing me 85,000 yen.
I suffered a major loss because I bought cheap junk from an unscrupulous dealer on an auction site.
I experienced "penny-wise and pound-foolish" firsthand.
So, from now on, I absolutely never want my customers to feel that way.
Saying "I want that, but I can't afford it, so this one will do" is probably not a good idea.
I want you to make purchases that leave you feeling glad you bought them.
Also, I now clearly understand what a store clerk should do.
We don't exist just to sell things; we should be there to assist people in buying things.
From now on, I intend to focus on a business where I explain the truth about the work, and where what happens after the purchase is what matters most.
The 85,000 yen loss is quite painful, but if I consider that I've learned to think from the customer's perspective, perhaps it was cheap after all.
