The 2013 Flea Market Thread — Page 2

Richard Ridge sold me an Anarchist mug (he saw my window card from a mile away and knew what I was looking for) and told me that someone had just bought 16 of them. Is that person here, perchance?

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At about 5:30, they started packing stuff up for the day. Very strange.

And photos with Bernie were SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS?!?!?!?

I think it was 16 mugs, not windowcards. Ridge tried all day to get me to buy a mug for $1 but even that was too much.

Wanted a Bring It On sampler CD with 3 tracks on it. The guy wanted $5 for it and wouldnt budge. Oof.

I really wanted to get a photo with Faith Prince, but when they told me I had to wait in line and they couldn't guarantee I could get a photo with her unless other people wanted one, I lost interest instantly. Now I'm even more glad I didn't stay, because that on-the-fly pricing would've aggravated me. They advertise $10. That's what it should be.

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And I don't meant to kvetch because I know it's for charity, but a lot of us that attend have to set ourselves budgets...

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I spent $35 total this year, and my two favorite purchases were a $1 "Livin' Evita Loca" shirt, and a $2 Elf Santa hat. I wore that Elf hat all day; two people tried to buy it off me.

Agree that the prices seemed way out there this year - when I was at the Kinky Boots table and saw that they had some random (meaning not opening night, not signed, etc) bathrobe from Wicked priced at $200, because it belonged to Jerry Mitchell, I kind of figured I would be looking more for the fun cheap items this year.

At 5:30, they pretty much decided to call it a day. I went back around 6:15 and the whole thing was shut down. But I really do have some major issues with some things this year -

1) The autograph table. They really need to figure out a way to not combine this with the photo booth. I was right at the front of the line at 2pm and we still waited almost until 3pm to get Bernadette to sign our stuff and that was done in a rush because she had spent her whole hour almost at the photo booth. That's really not fair for everyone behind us who waited so long to see her and couldn't get anything signed. And that' was after waiting around 35 minutes for Laura Benanti to come back from the photo booth. It seems they put the focus entirely on that photo booth and if they have time to come back to sign, they'll let them and that is completely unfair and wrong. They should have the stars commit to 2 hours and do 1 hour at the table and 1 hour at the photo booth to make it fair for both lines. Because this system that they've been using for so long just doesn't work.

2) Autograph Table issue #2. I called BCEFA and was told it was 3 items per person to get things signed so that's exactly what we brought. No issue for the 11am line. At the 2pm line, we were told that they had changed it and it's now only 2 per person. F*CK. YOU. I wasn't having that at all and gave each person 3 things which they were glad to sign since I'm sure they didn't even know about the limit to begin with. I doubt everyone behind me in line who had their 3 things was as brazen as we were to put them on the table but you absolutely can not change the rules at the last second like that AFTER people have paid. It's unfair and just an all around real SH*Tty thing to do.

3) The prices. Again, I know this is for charity but they need to send out a memo on what's acceptable pricing otherwise they're not going to make any money off these things. They were trying to sell me a "KINKY BOOTS DEMO CD" for $10. I asked if they were demo tracks different from the actual CR and was told no, it was just a sampler. $10 for a CD sampler? Are you F'ing kidding me? They can't GIVE those things away and that's exactly what they were trying to do at the end of the day since nobody had bought them for that outrageous price.

4) Table workers attitudes. I got there around 9am because a lot of times you'll find the best things early and for the most part, people will be more than happy to sell to you early. And after all this is on a public street and they can't stop people from walking in and wondering what's going on and wanting to buy stuff they see for sale. But this year the attitudes of a lot of these people was just atrocious. At 9:55 I was looking at a HANDS ON A HARDBODY opening night gift and asked the lady who was basically standing around picking her ass, how much it was. She told me it's not 10am yet and they haven't even started pricing things. At the same time someone else was looking at something on that table and the old man working with the woman actually YELLED at him to "STOP BROWSING! IT'S NOT 10AM YET! NO BROWSING UNTIL 10!!!!" I really wanted that HARDBODY thing, too and when she saw that I was just going to stand there she took it off the table and moved it behind the table somewhere. I wish I could remember what table it was but I don't remember even seeing a sign up for it. But I wanted to kick her in the tit.

Jordan, after you spend a day working one of those tables you get back to us on how charming and polite you stayed while fending off vultures who try to buy things before you have a chance to put it out, slobs who throw all your merchandise around, and especially those who think that because you are standing behind the table that you know every single thing that your group donated and can tell them exactly where they can find it and how much and can they have it for less?

When I've worked the booths, I made sure that everything was priced and labeled BEFORE it was brought to the table (live and learn!), but unless you've done it before, it's a HUGE and wearying task. Remember that EVERYONE working there is giving up a valuable morning off so that they can help out- they're not professional flea-marketers. To show up and lug big boxes of junk through Times Square at 9am and then have the vultures trying to buy things before you are ready to sell is highly annoying. There's a start time for a reason, and just because you are there early doesn't mean everyone is ready for you.

That said, no, they shouldn't have snapped at you. But try to understand why they did- because if you were so eager to buy something, then maybe they could raise the price... it IS for charity, after all, and we always try to get the most money we can AND get rid of everything we have. This is why prices start high and are marked down during the day.

I have loved working the booths and will do it again when I can- but it's a damn hard job (especially when you have to leave to go work a matinee, then come back to clean up) and the people who are giving up their time to help you find that flop-show windowcard deserve a break.

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I find the use of the word "vulture" to be highly unnecessary. While there are some jerks I'd say most of the people are nice and polite.

Like Jordan said - most of us are there spending our hard earned money. Saying we're there to get as much out of as possible kinda borders on a vulture like attitude


ETA: Agreed, Lizzy.

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Updated On: 9/22/13 at 07:55 PM

Geez, folks- it's just a word. Though most people are lovely, there ARE those few who behave rudely. I apologize to anyone offended by my language.

Please don't kick me in the tit.

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I had a guy shove through me saying, "EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME!!!" at one of the $1 t-shirt tables and he said it in such a way I thought he'd dropped his wallet or phone near my feet, but no, he just wanted to look at the shirts in a much more urgent manner than I did, apparently.

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Sorry, "vulture" isn't appropriate for most people at the Flea Market, but it certainly is for some. Obviously without the people who are spending money on the items, there's no point in having the flea market, but there is a standard of decorum and respect that every year I wish were observed, and every year it is not. The odds that the person in front of you browsing for Playbills is looking for the exact thing you are...slim to none. You can take a breath and wait. I watched a girl in a Matilda shirt all but run over someone on crutches trying to get to the table because her favorite Matilda was over there selling or something. It was definitely a ruder crowd than I've ever seen before and I felt for the volunteers. I've worked it before but it was certainly not as bad.

I just think it would be nice to keep in mind that there are many people there who want to enjoy it as much as you do. The people organizing it and donating their time are giving just as much as you are because without volunteers and without donations and without everyone from big Broadway stars to unpaid interns for Broadway Spotted choosing to be there in a hectic, stressful, difficult situation for free the flea market wouldn't even exist. That's no excuse for sellers to be rude to anyone, there are better ways to set ground rules and make decisions about when to sell without snapping, but really this year something was in the Kool Aid because people were straight up cutthroat and nasty. What the f could they possibly sell at the flea market that's worth being a psychotic monster over?

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