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Batch Projects
Submitted by Miggy (as posted in the egroups)
Day 1 of the Bazaar
I woke up to a very cold and gloomy morning. What seemed to be 5AM was in fact already the 8Th hour of the 15Th day of November 2007. It's the first day of the bazaar. Said my morning prayer and lifted up the batch project, thought that dedicating a few more minutes to quiet time was more than necessary to make it successful.
I volunteered to man the booth from 2-4 in the afternoon. It was just 9AM and in front of me was my list of errands and appointments for the day. I was set to do the first item on the list.... however, I couldn't help but wonder and worry if my batchmates at our stall were doing OK. I brushed aside those thoughts, convincing myself I had to be productive that morning. After several minutes of being spaced out and distracted, I finally decided to reset my appointments and delegate the other chores so I could head straight to UP and help out in the bazaar.
It was a pathetic sight that welcomed me. First of all, it was wet all over... and muddy... and dark... and not appealing to the eye at all. Somehow, the gloomy weather casted a heavy mood over the bazaar. The rain was unrelenting. Foot traffic was sparse.
Not allowing the rains to dampen our spirits, Waya found a way to illuminate our booth (buti nalang anak ng director ng Infirmary  ); Nitz, the-ever lively entertainer that she is (artist pala, artist...), made us laugh and forget the hard work while dancing to (mocking pala) the chill music i was playing on theipod... tugtugtug tugtugtug complete with hand movements... para ba kase ethnic ang dating? hahaha
Somehow, we really had a fun time selling.... and buying from each others' stash just so there's economic activity going on. Kami na ang nag occupy ng parking space (Nitz, Rem, Waya and UPIS88 had 4 separate showcases under one tent), kami na rin ang customers hahaha...
The presence of friends who dropped by and bought items to show their support helped lift our mood and give us a reason to continue with the sale regardless of how discouraging it seemed. But what really made our day was seeing the buyers' faces light up when we gave in to their discount requests... hugging the precious finds against their chests as they left.
There was an old lady who kept passing by the tent. She pretended to go through the rows of books, but obviously, she was drawn to this cute little stuffed toy at the end of the table. The tag price was just P15. She kept touching it, checking if it was damaged then would put it down and leave. Again, she'd come back and go through the same motion. Can't remember how many times she did it. Finally, she asked: "Pwedeng sampung piso nalang?" How would you respond to that? A part of me wanted to laugh... and cry... and hug her.... Five bucks? Ibigay ko nalang kaya? But it wasn't mine to give and we haven't sold anything yet. So I said: "Ok, it's a deal. You can even claim your free cup of soya milk or taho at the back.... Have a good day!" So there, our first customer. A very satisfied customer. Sigh, baka malugi ang stall sa akin. 
It was really difficult to sell to those few customers who glanced our way. We even came up with that buy1 take1 (taho) promo and squeezed out all the pa-cute and hard selling powers that we had. But I guess the rest of the UP folks preferred to stay in their warm beds in that cool Baguio-like weather. Nevertheless, we were able to sell P2,550 worth of books on our first day of the rummage sale.
Again, going back to my realization... next time I shop at a bazaar, I guess I'll just skip the haggling part if it's reasonably-priced anyway and give the tindera a break. That way, she won't worry about the day's rent and it will encourage small retailers to continue with their businesses.
Guys, do drop by and check out the stalls across the church in UP. It's running til December. Several UPIS alumni have stalls there, one of them is our batchmate Andrew Serrano. He and his lovely wife are selling nice Christmas decors from Laguna.
Sorry for my loong post. I'll keep the rest of the report short. Promise.
Maya :)
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'88 Projects 
