Will you sell your doll to me?

Yeah, actually, it is, and I'd say that about someone pawing any personal posession of mine. So yes, I will get snippy when someone pesters me repeatedly, offers me money for something that is clearly not for sale and generally forgets that my personal space is MY personal space and entering it will result in strong words.

It's really nothing to do with the dolls, as I said, if someone did that to me regarding ANYTHING I was wearing or carrying I'd react the same way and just to clarify, this is not about the people that politely mention they admire it and enquire where I got it, those I have no issue with whatsoever and I myself have sometimes complimented people on an item of clothing or jewellery and asked where they got them.

Just because you admire something you see someone with doesn't give you the right to snatch it, touch it without permission, touch it's owner without permission or wave a wad of cash at them. That's just RUDE and passing it off as non-doll people not knowing what they say is really just making excuses for bad behaviour tbh.

 

Wow.... some of the Veruca Salt Syndrome stories up in here.... .... Entertaining yet vile! Chills the spine!

Jesus, talk about your sense of entitlement. I myself have never had anybody make demands like that re my doll-- people who bully & persist & insist that you ARE going to sell them your possessions right here-and-now on the street, no matter what. Probably I should have encountered it before; Californians are not known for their reticence & sense of personal boundaries. ^~ But I haven't; the Muggles out here are generally inquisitive but nonthreatening. Of all the things I've been asked to sell to strangers, my doll ain't one of 'em. XD

Given the depth of the stupidity that I have heard firsthand, I really shouldn't be surprised to hear these horrifying stories. But it just always makes the blood run cold to actually witness, in public, in real life, some snotdripping little Disney Princess crotchmonkey stamping her foot and whining "Daddy, I want it NOW". You half expect her to suddenly burst into song, and then end up falling down a garbage-chute.

Does life really imitate show tunes? Are people really that disgusting? Yes, Veruca, they are.

... but yet, they do anyway! Which is why many peeps don't feel we have to condone bad behavior by "giving them a break". They have been given too many breaks in the first place, which is the root of their entitlement problems. First these People Without Boundaries need to evolve & learn to show basic respect. Then I offer the first ounce of compassion. But you can take the high road if you want to.

 

I don't think I've ever been asked by anyone if they could buy my doll/have my doll. I know a lot of people have asked me about them, where you can get them, etc, etc. The only time I remember anything really off was when this one woman freaked out, and she was all grabby about Kizimir (DM Uri Rich) it was real awkward, and in the end I told her she couldn't touch him. ^^;

 

Typically, I get asked "Is that your baby?" by grown up women... >_< Seriously? Does it look like a baby doll to you?!

But I have been offered money at cons for mine, or even just outfits at doll meet ups before. Sorry, but I'm not going to make my dolls go naked in public just because you like their pants, I already get enough weird looks LOL!

 

All good points! I totally understand what you are saying here. I just don't want to see us taking the stance that non doll people are to be feared I am getting that vibe in this thread. But BunnyDots, I might just be lugging in some past thread baggage ya know.

I also I don't mean to discount anyone's true horror story! I only think we should try to understand where the non dollers are coming from sometimes

JennyNemesis I also hear your point. I really don't think anyone should be touching our stuff or disrespecting us. I am just saying that a bit of patience might be in order for the people guilty of relatively harmless offenses like asking the price or thinking that a doll is only worth 100 bucks? As for the high road...well I typically seem to miss that wee little path

 

Agreed. 100 percent.

I am not passing off super rude behavior either as I said in my post.
I was really thinking more along the lines of the people who do relatively harmless stuff like ask a price or ask to buy your doll. I don't think they should be feared.

I totally agree that the world needs more good manners! If someone is really rude they totally deserve your strong words! (you should have heard what I said to the girl in the Saatchi Gallery who reached over and scratched a painting) I just think we should not make mountains out of mole hills when it comes to the more harmless offenses.

 

I often will talk to the people and give them the few urls I remember, and of course my email to give more information to them.

One person at a comic convention saw my cuprit and asked how much I told him I would concider Any offer over and above 5k cnd. And he seriously made an offer of 5k! I had to smile at that and told him I wanted cash, he said it would have to be credit card and I told him about paypal and he had no clue about it or the computer. So she didn't sell.

But some people have offered to buy the dolls we have when at meets and when they are told how much many walk away shocked!

 

I've been asked where to buy dolls like mine before, and I have no problem providing that information. I've had a member of my favorite band ask to sign my first doll, which I respectfully disallowed. I think if anybody asked that I sell them one of my dolls after first inquiring about the price of the doll, I would respectfully decline, then walk away.

If they offered me some super low price for it, like $50, or asked if they could have it and then proceeded to be blown away that I thought it unreasonable, I'd lose it. People like that remind me of a conversation I overheard while helping some customers buy a camera one day.

Teenage girl #1: Hey, it's that new Sony camera!
Teenage girl #2: How's it turn on?
Both reading together: "Please do not attempt to pry the faceplate off. To turn the camera on or off, please slide the faceplate up or down.
Teenage girl #1: *pries the faceplate off*
Teenage girl #2: *giggle* Oh my god, you broke it. *giggle*
Teenage girl #1: Oh well. Good thing it's not mine. *tosses faceplate on display bar.*

(I reported the girls, but security let them go because we don't have a "you break it, you buy it" policy.)

 

what the &$#@(&Y(@#?!?!?!?! that makes me cringe badly. i would have had them arrested or something!..... i can only image if they'd gotten their hands on a doll *faints*

 

I have not yet run into this situation, i did however have some middle aged man talk down to me and ask me some strangely worded questions, for instance he asked me "would you buy that for someone?" i wasn't really entirely sure how to answer him besides saying "I guess so, yeah, why not?". we weren't really talking about cost, coz I refuse to give honest answers to weirdos on the street. I'm still not sure what was going on in his mind when he asked me that, maybe he was trying to judge my level of crazy *shrug*

 

Yeah, it was a $300 camera. We still have it. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow.

 

Stuff like this makes me remind myself that I believe in karma, because otherwise I would have lost faith in humanity years ago...

I guess the other worry I've always had is letting someone hold one of my dolls and them dropping him or her, him or her breaking and the person just going "oops, sorry!" and walking away... So, even though it seems extreme, I ask that they sit down when they hold him or her, like a child asking to hold a baby.

 

I've been asked a few times through PMs on DeviantArt. There's been two rude encounters I've had in those cases. One a person asked if they could HAVE one of my dolls. When I said No they asked if they could have a specific one and I just said no, I'm not selling them, they're important to me. After that I directed them to sites they could find dolls at and never heard from them again.

The second was someone who had asked to buy a doll of mine even though I'd said no repeatedly. After about three replies of me saying NO and giving them site info I just stopped replying.

 

For me it's not really a question of worrying about "non doll people". I tend not to take expensive items of ANY kind out in a public place of ANY sort unless it's an "appropriate" public place. For example, if I have an expensive piece of jewelry, I might wear it out to a fancy dinner party, but I won't be wearing it to the mall, the 7-11, or to school. It's just because I don't want to lose it or have someone else take too much of the wrong kind of interest in it. Similarly, if I have an expensive doll, I might take it to a doll convention, or a small get-together that's going to have friends of mine there. But I wouldn't go toting it out in the open around the mall or the public park or down a busy city street full of people.

If the dolls only cost 10 dollars I probably wouldn't worry so much about lugging them around a mall, but they cost more like 300, 400, 500 dollars. Heck, I don't even carry around a handbag that costs that much, because I don't want to look like I have money, or have the item snatched. Maybe this is a reflection of the places I've lived or how I've been trained, and I was mugged once for my pocketbook in the past, but I just would prefer to be careful and enjoy my things in a safer environment where I won't be bothered about them.

 

Completely agree! In fact, I welcome people who ask questions like its price. It's perfectly normal to be curious about such an oddity. If you're polite about the whole thing I'd be more than happy to direct you to some websites and/or DoA. I probably won't mention the price, simply because I don't want to be seen as showing off.

However, if you ask if you can buy my whatever and I say no, the polite response is either "OK" or "OK, where can I buy it". Not OMGGIMMIEANYWAY. That's a real quick way to get security called on your sorry, spoiled butt.

 

I was going through a checkout at the hardware store one day and noticed the girl at the till had lovely blue hair. What struck me was that it looked so soft. I complemented her on it, told her it looked like it was in beautiful condition. We had a nice conversation about it, I learned how she achieved the effect, and asked if I could touch it, which she let me do. (Yep, it was really soft.) Simple human interaction. Respect is the key.

It sucks that there is such a lack of it in the world (which has always been the case). It's only gotten worse, and you throw in the growing number of spoiled selfish people with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement - and we're basically doomed... I'm going to go play with my dolls...

 

Nobody has asked me to buy my doll yet but one of my red neck nieghbors saw me outside with him taking pictures and asked If he gave me 10 bucks could he shoot at him with a beebee gun! O.o

 

*Laughing at this* AND I totally agree

On another note:

I can share a story about one time I was out taking photos on the street.

I had Laine sitting on this fence in Montreal and an old man came out of his house to watch me taking photos. Eventually he walked up to me and started chatting and asking me what the HELL I was doing. After talking for a while his son came out and was like &#8220;Dad! leave her alone she is doing something!&#8221; So the old guy waved and went back in the house. After about 10 minutes he came back with a small rag doll in his hand. He wanted to know what I thought about the doll. He had bought it for his daughter many years ago and he had kept it all these years. I was very very touched. He was comparing our dolls but had no idea that my doll was this ridiculously pricey hard to get thing. Why would he care ya know? He was looking with such affection at this little rag doll and talking with me about dolls and how nice they are. Eventually his son came out and said &#8220;DAD, they are not the same thing....oh sorry miss etc...&#8221; I stopped the son because I was liking the conversation with the old guy. I am truly honoured that he let me hold his doll!

I will never forget that. It was a really beautiful moment and reminded me of why I think dolls have some kind of weird *magic* something about them!

 

That was such a sweet story, and you have just the right outlook ^_^

I never take my dolls out... ack I'm pretty agoraphobic anyway, it's hard enough to leave the house without making myself look like a target!!! I always say I find dolls bring out the worst in most people, though I can't imagine why. I guess you really like them or really don't!

My strategy with public photoshoots is to do them when few people are out, preferably in not-the-best weather. And a phalanx of bodyguards (family members) is a must! XD

I haven't had any problems, luckily!
Raven

 

I got it a lot when I worked at the register at a small resale shop located inside of a retirement home last year around when I got my first doll, Serenity. I had been talking about her non stop to my co-workers so when she finally came in the mail everyone told me they wanted to see her. In my forsight, I made a sign for her that said "I'm not for sale, only visiting! Please do not pick me up!" and hung it around her neck.

Turns out it was a good idea. Before lunch alone, I was asked if I would sell her about 50 times. And one woman picked her up. I was flattered that they'd want to buy her. Lots of people didn't bother reading her sign, but usually only talked to her and touched her hands which I didn't mind. When this one woman picked her up without asking she made a face I said "Yeah, she's heavier than she looks huh?" But then she put her back down and we talked for a bit. Whenever I brought S'ren in after that she'd say 'Hi' to her and stay at a respectable distance.

Another time a woman asked me "Why isn't she for sale?" and I looked at her with a bright smile and said "Because she's mine?"