HQReptiles
09-15-02, 04:55 PM
A day in the life of a Reptile Swap Vendor.
The day starts early, about 5:00am. The alarm starts to ring and I groggily reach for the snooze button. After several, three on this occasion, snoozes I roll out of bed. Have a quick shower and put the three boxes of geckos into the car and off we go. Hopes are high on this day, we have more geckos then ever before, and the hype for the show has been growing on the internet.
We arrive at the show about 7:15 am and start the long process of setting up. Quickly the stand goes together to hold up a sign, and the table clothes are on the table. We add three deli cup stands, and our display begins to take shape. While putting up signs for the show specials, and cleaning deli cups the other vendors stop by to say hello. Everyone compliments our geckos and how nice they have developed. Again hopes are high that today will be a big day. Shortly after nine things are going good, all the presold geckos have been picked up and the hall is starting to fill up. There seem to be a lot of people at this show, and our hopes are high that we will sell some of the beautiful geckos we are displaying. Several hours and many sales later the show is starting to die down. Its about 3:00 pm and Steve Marks is about to award the “Best Display” price. Its not us but there is always next show. The announcement is made and its Markus Jayne that wins, congrats your ball pythons looked great. It’s a few minutes later that Im off talking with another vendor and my partner is introducing a family to the world of reptiles, when someone walks off with one of our most beautiful geckos. No one sees the person that did this, and they have probably gotten off with out a hitch. They now have in their possession a High Quality Reptiles Tangerine Carrot Tail. Our own line that we have worked for more then 4 years to produce, and this individual steals it from us. What we have labored to produce is gone in a blink of an eye. Our high hopes for a good swap are quickly turned into anger. Not only do they hurt us by stealing our geckos they hurt the entire reptile hobby. If two weeks ago you asked us would we worry about a gecko being stolen at a reptile show, we would have had a good laugh. “Maybe at a big U.S. show but not here in Canada”, you might have heard us say. But alas here we are a few hours later and a whole lot wiser. So who ever took the gecko may have gotten away with it, and we are now forced to look every customer knowing that they may try to rip us off. Thanks to the few honest people that tried to help us track down the missing gecko. Especially Steve Marks, Jon Kendrick and Carol, its nice to know that we have friends. To the person that stole the gecko, please visit our web site and read on how to care for these wonderful creatures, we do care about their well being and don’t want to see her die needlessly.
Thanks
Matt and Susan
High Quality Reptiles
The day starts early, about 5:00am. The alarm starts to ring and I groggily reach for the snooze button. After several, three on this occasion, snoozes I roll out of bed. Have a quick shower and put the three boxes of geckos into the car and off we go. Hopes are high on this day, we have more geckos then ever before, and the hype for the show has been growing on the internet.
We arrive at the show about 7:15 am and start the long process of setting up. Quickly the stand goes together to hold up a sign, and the table clothes are on the table. We add three deli cup stands, and our display begins to take shape. While putting up signs for the show specials, and cleaning deli cups the other vendors stop by to say hello. Everyone compliments our geckos and how nice they have developed. Again hopes are high that today will be a big day. Shortly after nine things are going good, all the presold geckos have been picked up and the hall is starting to fill up. There seem to be a lot of people at this show, and our hopes are high that we will sell some of the beautiful geckos we are displaying. Several hours and many sales later the show is starting to die down. Its about 3:00 pm and Steve Marks is about to award the “Best Display” price. Its not us but there is always next show. The announcement is made and its Markus Jayne that wins, congrats your ball pythons looked great. It’s a few minutes later that Im off talking with another vendor and my partner is introducing a family to the world of reptiles, when someone walks off with one of our most beautiful geckos. No one sees the person that did this, and they have probably gotten off with out a hitch. They now have in their possession a High Quality Reptiles Tangerine Carrot Tail. Our own line that we have worked for more then 4 years to produce, and this individual steals it from us. What we have labored to produce is gone in a blink of an eye. Our high hopes for a good swap are quickly turned into anger. Not only do they hurt us by stealing our geckos they hurt the entire reptile hobby. If two weeks ago you asked us would we worry about a gecko being stolen at a reptile show, we would have had a good laugh. “Maybe at a big U.S. show but not here in Canada”, you might have heard us say. But alas here we are a few hours later and a whole lot wiser. So who ever took the gecko may have gotten away with it, and we are now forced to look every customer knowing that they may try to rip us off. Thanks to the few honest people that tried to help us track down the missing gecko. Especially Steve Marks, Jon Kendrick and Carol, its nice to know that we have friends. To the person that stole the gecko, please visit our web site and read on how to care for these wonderful creatures, we do care about their well being and don’t want to see her die needlessly.
Thanks
Matt and Susan
High Quality Reptiles