Er, which side of the fence am I today?

Do as you would be done by, yes?
Well yes but also, recognise that others mostly do as you would be doing if you were where they are. That is, en masse and specifically when shopping. More specifically, when wandering round the market.

Us market traders have a whole batch of punters we do not love. Those who do the three 'p's (pickup, put down and piss off), those who spend ages trying on, handling, admiring and then say it's lovely but I don't want it. Those who frown studiously at the goods and then leave without acknowledging the existence of the trader, three feet away. Those who scowl disgustedly at the goods from a safe distance Those who launch into a lengthy discussion of their own interests, ventures and ideas on your goods before leaving without buying anything (and also block the stall from people who might have bought something). Those who look and pick up and handle and then say to their friend "I could do this". Those who say "where do you buy the mounts, frames, backing, photos (!), hooks, table cloth" (I positively lust after a cloth owned by one of the traders but I bet she'd sell it to me for a small fortune if I asked and I haven't earned one of those yet) and then wander off having gained lots of information for free.
After all, most of us have items on sale for around £1. A tiny price to pay for spending time winding up our hopes!

So we traders do in fact discuss you punters as you wander off and some of us get quite vituperative and cynical about it! Well we're all so nice to each other and it's all a bit frustrating and exhausting so we have to vent our feelings on someone (as well as the weather and the failure of Oxford Council to provide us with free parking though they do provide it for the regular market traders...a vastly inferior and uninspiring regular market at that, so I'm told)*

But I must remember that when I shop, I sometimes don't want to engage with the person on the other side of the counter and yet sometimes I want to ask them things (though I think I'd buy a little something if I did) and often I want to say "Hey, I do this too!!!" And sometimes I'm in a filthy mood and the goods I'm seeing aren't filling me with joy! And I expect sometimes my face purses itself up and scowls at things all by itself while I'm not paying attention to it!
And then again, one of the pleasures of shopping is to pick up, handle, admire and enjoy without feeling obliged. After all that is sort of what it's all about. You display things to the general public so that they can enjoy your stuff. The buying is a whole 'nother stage of the process.
And one of the nicest kinds of punter, whether they buy or not, is the kind who looks, smiles at the goods, then gives me a small, shy smile before either buying or moving on...sometimes a little thank you even. Also, I couldn't help liking the very tall thin bearded one who veered towards the stall, shot an eyebrow up in apparent astonishment, paused, did the eyebrow again together with a rather birdlike neck stretching thing and veered off. Well he was funny!

So, ok, I'll pop back to the other side of the stall and forgive most of the punters for annoying me, (I do still feel cross with the ones that talk for ages and ages about their plans to do what I'm doing and then don't even buy one tiny card for £1.10 and I can't help disliking the ones who ask how much for the frame without the picture!) and then I'll meander back to the punters' side and remember that the traders have been up since five or sixish and are probably desperate for a loo, and be nice to them too :) Golly, I'm just too good to live aren't I!!!

Having said all of which, I'm going to take next week off. The logistics of providing what people might want (Oxford cards, other local cards, flowers, animals) aren't working out with the logistics of getting to market. And there are still some people who definitely do want something (fiddle cards, brewery cards and Newbury cards) and I haven't even taken the photos for some of them. It's easy to forget that the pictures are only available to be taken at rare and special moments. You can take a hundred, but only one will have that combination of light and subject and perfect moment which makes a picture).
Pffffffffft (to borrow from Mel:)
While I'm on the stall I take pictures every so often just for the hell of it.And after I've set up (this is the new layout)And also when I'm leaving at 6 am. And on the park and ride bus in between setting up and parking.Because after all, that's what I like doing :)

Overnight thought, summing up everything:- The difficulty between traders and punter really, is that they have opposing aims.The one to receive lots of money and the other not to part with it! Since both groups know exactly what is the aim of the other, they/we all expend a good deal of mental effort trying to bridge the gap!

*I mustn't believe everything I'm told though, it may really be a fantastic market. And of course it belongs to Oxford city council and its traders pay a huge public liability premium and for all I know a goodly fee for the hire of the stall. To the council.