The first taste... of 'hate'???

This past weekend while selling books at the USO Bazaar I met and became friends with tons of other vendors. Most of the vendors were very friendly! We purchased products from one another and sent customers to each others tables. The Bazaar was completely dead all weekend. We were competing with the Grand Opening of the new BX which had been under construction since my family got to the island last year. It was pretty clear from the start that none of us would sell as many products as we'd hoped. Still we weren't in competition with each other and were pretty excited whenever any of us made a sale.

However I had an interesting experience with one of the vendors that didn't really make me upset as much as it made me wonder why people are a certain way.

This particular vendor was sitting directly across from me. When I set up early Saturday morning it was clear that we could be looking at each other all weekend so I made my way over to introduce myself. She was friendly enough. She said hello and smiled, but it was a stale smile, almost as if she were sizing me up.

At one point early in the day she asked if she could take a look at my book so I walked one over to her and she sat it on her table. She was Black and had a young daughter so I just knew she would buy it. Duh- what woman with a little black girl wouldn't buy a book titled "I LOVE my Cotton Candy Hair!" We made small talk and I bought a couple of lip glosses from her.

During the day we didn't get much traffic but my books were selling like crazy. I sold one to practically every other person that came by my table. Those with children and those without. Those with little girls and even those with a house full of boys. Everyone seemed to love the message. I was really happy and my vendor friends were happy for me. But I started noticing that whenever a customer at her table noticed my book sitting there, instead of pointing out my table- which bty all the other vendors did- she would distract them and have them look at another one of her products. Now we were all there to sell so I didn't expect her to send a customer to me mid-sale, but once said customer was walking away it would've been nice if she had pointed them in my direction.
Although my table was directly across from hers it was on the outer portion of the display area so if customers were walking through and their bodies were facing the center display area, I was easy to miss.

Toward the end of the day while passing her table en route to the restroom, I noticed that my book was underneath one of her chairs.
Is she hiding my book?
On the way back we made eye contact and she says, Oh you can just take that. So I smiled, bent my gigantic pregnant self over, and picked up my book. She never purchased one.
I didn't want to assume that this older woman would be hating on little old me so I just shrugged her behavior off as odd and let it go. I even went out of my way to say goodbye to her at the end of the day.

SUNDAY
There was maybe one customer in the bazaar the whole first hour, and she wasn't even really a customer, she was a friend of my nemesis (haha) there to get her makeup done on her way to church. I smiled at them a couple of times and at one point the friend pointed over at my table. When they were finished the vendor got up to do something and when she was gone her friend moseyed on over to me. She didn't have children and wasn't interested in buying a book, she was however interested in how I got mine published. I was super friendly and gracious and more than happy to give her all the info I could. I remember how frustrating it was when I was looking for a publisher and kept running into dead ends so I was happy to help her out. I even gave her my contact info incase she had questions later. Maybe it she just liked my personality but she asked more about my book and after hearing my story, decided she LOVED the message and wanted to purchase one. This would be the first purchase of the day for any of us! Now eagle eye across from me was watching the entire time. As soon as I pulled out my receipt book to write a ticket, she jumped up from behind her table and came rushing over.
Girl what are you doing? she says as she links arms with her friend.
I'm buying a book! Don't you just love these!? Her friend seemed oblivious to what was going on.
It's 10 after 10, you're gonna be late for church! Now she's actually tugging the customer in the other direction.
Smiling, I finish my receipt and chime in. You're pressed for time so you don't have to wait here while I sign it. Just take this to the cashier and when you bring back your stamped receipt it'll be all ready.

The day continued with the lady across from me doing everything she could to stop my shine. Even going as far as to get up and walk customers away from her table in a direction where they would be sure to miss mine. Weird right? But it didn't put a damper on what I was doing at all. Nor did it dim my spirit. I smiled all day long and still sold a book to almost every person who stopped at my table.

I viewed the day as a great success and her behavior as an anomaly that I hopefully won't run into much in the future.