A tale of one tee: Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful

Even if you’ve never read Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” (this author sheepishly raises his hand), no doubt you’re familiar with its opening paragraph.

It’s a doozy.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

I offer the quote A.) because it’s exquisite, and B.) because it came to mind when I experienced such vastly different customer responses on consecutive days in early October. This is a tale of one tee: our Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful shirt, which has been our best seller since Day 1 of Stay.

First, the bad.

A young woman visited the Stay tent on Saturday at the Harrisburg Flea. She had an obvious interest in the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful tee but left. She came back with a man whom I assumed to be her father, steering him to the tee.

He asked me how much it cost. I said $25.

We are unapologetic for our prices. They’re highly competitive, particularly given that everything we sell is made in the United States. We’d rather that a customer focus on quality and the design first.

We hope that customers also appreciate our brand and what it stands for: American made, locally printed, supportive of local charities. We recently began a sponsorship of WITF, both because the audience is an ideal fit for Stay and because public broadcasting is essential to our democracy.

The best of times

Of course, not everyone takes in that bigger picture when considering a purchase. To wit, the man at the Harrisburg Flea when I told him what the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful tee costs.

“That seems pricey to me,” he said.

The man asked whether the price was negotiable. I said no (that wouldn’t be fair to other customers; besides, we’re running a business, not a yard sale), and he walked away.

Now for the best of times.

Well, it wasn’t the best of times for the customer who reached out to me on Sunday. I had met him at a show in late July and, after the fact realizing that he’s a talented maker, exchanged kind words with him via Instagram.

“Thanks so much for your support of Stay,” I wrote to him. “It was so nice of you to stop by.”

“Glad I was finally able to get a shirt from ya,” he wrote back.

Ten weeks later, he told me he was going to need another shirt. He said he, “Got in a fight” with a piece of equipment that morning “and it ruined the shirt.”

He added: “Probably saved me from getting a little dinged up though.”

I felt honored and humbled that so soon after suffering an injury, he was worried about his Stay tee.

To quote Dickens again, it was the epoch of belief.