Rob's Word Shop

2010-06-01T14:24:00.003-04:00

May 27, 2010 - Day 11, Last Day at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 10:48 on foot (rain was expected) and arrived at the shop around 10:57 AM. Set-up from 11:00-11:10. Immediately following set-up, I received my first 2 customers who came in together.

Customer #1 requested that I assist him in his choice of a phrase. After considerable discussion about his new project, we decided upon the phrase: "all that's left." Total sale: $3.00.

Customer #2 also requested my assistance. In this case, we enjoyed a lively conversation about a famously disputed umpiring call in the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. The phrase that we decided upon together was: I'M STILLIN'. Total sale: $2.00.

Customer #3 arrived around 11:30 and patiently waited for Customers #1 and #2 to finish their business. When it was her turn, Customers #1 and #2 stayed on to help Customer #3 in her choosing. Customer #3 purchased 7 words, on 5 separate sheets of paper (1 purchase was a phrase). There was a collaborative discussion between myself, Customer #3 and Customers #1 and 2 for each of her words/phrases; the results were:
Balslamic
Galvanic
Azurious
Seabed
Lights, for sure

Total sale for Customer #3 was $7.00.

Customer #4 arrived around 12:30 and purchased 4 words on 4 separate sheets of paper. The words were: BIRD / WILL / SING / A. Total sale: $4.00.

Customer #5 also arrived around 12:15 when several other customers arrived. He purchased 1 word: "Their." As a gift from the shop to his family, I scribed the following phrase gratis: "Where are you?" Total sale: $1.00.

[At this point, I took inventory of my paper supply because I had a few new customers who had large orders. I realized that I was about to run out of paper, so Customer #5 graciously offered to watch the shop while I ran to the Copy Shop 3 blocks away. I was gone for 8 minutes.]

Customer #6 arrived with a list of 19 letters, words, and phrases to be purchased. They were:
PORTLAND
ICELAND
HEATH
BATMAN
WITCHYPOO
MUDKIP
PANDA
BONDI
VIRUS
READING
EQUALS (gratis)
DISTRACTION
PONG
SONY
SQUARE ENIX
MARIJUANA
DREAMWORKS
ILYY
TL;DR

Total sale: $18.00 (1 word gratis for purchasing over $10).

Customer #7, who arrived with Customer #8, purchased the following:
W/
Tangentially Judicious
Landmine
Through (across 2 sheets of paper)

Total sale: $4.50

Customer #8 ordered the following words and phrases:
SPARKLE
DRESS CIRCLE
LASHES
PEANUT
CHARITY
ORVIL PYM
GALLEYS
DUPLICITIOUS
DARLING
DARLING
CRISP
TUBULAR (gratis)

Total sale: $13.00

Customer #9 arrived around 1:45. We agreed to a barter beforehand--he exchanged 2 CDs from his band for the following purchase:

1) approximately 60 periods (.) as part of a series;
2) the phrase: "algae & tentacles"

Total sale: $0

Customer #10 purchased 4 words (plus 1 gratis):
AJaR
SINK SYNC ("sync" was gratis because this was suggested by the other customers)
ROBERT
FITTERMAN

Those last 2 words were written in script like a signature and Customer #10 wanted the words written inside of a book titled "Notes On Conceptualisms." Total sale: $4.00

Customer #11 was waiting patiently for her turn as the last customer. She purchased 2 words: "Committee" and "Ampersand." The latter was purchased as a series of letters from a stencil set. Total sale: #2.00

Packed up the tools of the shop, disconnected the printer, and removed the signage. Left the shop at 3:10 PM.

Total for the day: $58.50

Rob's Word Shop is closed.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in Rob's Word Shop. Check blog periodically for updates on this project.

2010-06-01T13:40:00.002-04:00

May 26, 2010 - Day 10 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 10:51 on Bicycle and arrived at shop around 10:56. Set-up was very quick and easy between 11:00-11:10 AM.

Customer #1 arrived around 11:20 and purchased the following sentence: "Are you going to the Guggenheim for the Buckminster Fuller film, or what?" We arrived at tis phrase together--it was part of a short prose "portrait." Total count 13 words, $13.00. Because Customer #1 had purchased over $10 worth of goods, I offered a free letter, word or phrase. The free phrase he chose was "kimono clooney," which is also related to his prose portrait.

Customer #2 arrived around 11:45 and chose the word "poetic." We tried it both as all caps printed and as lowercase script. We both agreed that the first choice looked better, but I offered the other as gratis. Total sale: $1.

I also filled 3 mail orders:
Customer A : die moglichkeiten (umlat over the "o") $2
Customer B: antique / grandmother / short $3
Customer C: "Frame This" and, gratis, "Pipe Down" $2

Total sales: $21.00; amount received $13.00.

2010-05-25T22:12:00.002-04:00

May 25, 2010 - Day 9 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 10:48 on bicycle and arrived at 10:56. My "Business Hours" sign had fallen down and took some effort to re-affix to the window. Set-up from 11:00-11:15. Filled mail orders from 11:20-11:50. Customer #1 arrived around 12:15 and purchased the word "Simulacra". He asked for the word to be written on the cover page of his of the book he came in with: Philip K. Dick's "The Simulacra." Customer #2 made 3 purchases: "pronoun", "the madness of decision", and ":P" for a total of $5.50. Customer #2 asked about bartering a musical composition for the words and letters, and I agreed. Customer #3 purchased the word "puella" and she asked to have it printed from the computer. Total sales: $2.00 (+$5.50 in the barter exchange).

2010-05-21T17:09:00.003-04:00

May 20, 2010 - Day 8 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment on bicycle at 10:50 AM. Arrived at Word Shop at 10:58 AM. Set up was completed by 11:10. From 11:15-11:30 I worked on the blog post from the day before.

Customers #1 1nd #2 arrived around 11:30. I spoke at length with customer #1 about his situation so that I could arrived at a phrase. The phrase I came up with was "french class girlfriend." He seemed very pleased with his phrase which was hand-written in cursive, lowercase.

Customer #2 had many orders to fill; all of the words and phrases were provided by the customer. He ordered 12 words, each in marker on separate sheets of paper. Here is the list of Customer #2's words:
-PORTRAIT
-LANDSCAPE
-BUDDHA
-Wife
-Supernatural
-The
-Daughter
-A
-Rubber
-Baby
-Bottle
-Nipple

Customer #3 ordered the word "divine"-- he had me write it with my eyes closed and left-handed.

Total sales: $16.00

2010-05-20T12:10:00.002-04:00

May 19, 2010 - Day 7 at Rob's Word Shop

Left apartment at 10:53 walking. Stopped for coffee. Arrived at Rob's Word Shop at 11:03 AM. Set up between 11:10-11:20.

Customer #1 arrived at 11:30. He ordered the 2 words "Robert Fitterman" and asked for them as a signature. I produced this signature on 4 separate pieces of paper (pen, marker, print & script) but only charged for the 2 letters. Customer #1 also asked for quotation marks on a separate piece of paper (all punctuation marks are free.) Lastly, Customer #1 ordered the word "Pichler" in cursive as a signature. For this last order, the customer produced his own sheet of paper that already had the word "pichler" printed on it. $3.

Customer #2 arrived at 12:15 PM and ordered the words: "Don't make YOUR problem MY problem." The charge was for 5 words because "problem" is repeated. The words were written in lowercase cursive marker except for the pronouns "Your" and "My" which were written in uppercase block letters. $5.

Customer #3 ordered 3 letters on separate pieces of paper: "I' "K" and "E". These were written in marker, all uppercase and centered on the page. $1.50.

Customer #4 ordered 2 words: "under" and "where" on a single piece of paper in marker and written in cursive. $2.

Customer #5 ordered 6 words: "manufactured scarcity" as a phrase on a single sheet of paper, "retarded practice" as a phrase on a single sheet of paper, the word "I" (single sheet) and the word "ressentiment" (single sheet). This customer received a 20% employee discount which made the total $4.80.

Customer #6 ordered 2 words as a phrase on a single sheet: "oil'd pelican." We arrived at these words together. They were written in lowercase cursive with marker. The word "oil'd" was offered free of charge as a student discount.
$1.

Customer #7 ordered the words "flowers" and "ICE". "flowers" appeared on a separate sheet of paper--it was written in quotes (gratis), lowercase cursive with marker. "ICE" was written in all caps with marker. $2.

Total sales: $19.30

Left Rob's Word Shop at 2:20 PM; stopped at stationary store for folders, new marker, 2 Sales Books, and a computer printer toner cartridge. Total price $28.70. Arrived at apartment at 2:45 PM. Received a phone message requesting "Gift Certificates." Designed two $1 Gift Certificates and sent to patron as an attachment via email.

2010-05-19T07:36:00.002-04:00

May 18, 2010 - Day 6 at Rob's Word Shop
Left the apartment, walking, at 10:53 (rain), and arrived at the Word Shop at 11:01. Set up shop from 11:05-11:30. The extension cord for the printer had been misplaced, and it took some time to reconfigure the wiring. I had 1 customer and 1 mail order today. My customer arrived around 11:45, and she did something that no other customer has yet to do... she wrote her purchased word by herself. In an effort to do business-related activities when business is slow, I beautified the "Rob's Word Shop" storefront sign from 12:45 to 1:30. Total sales: $3.50

Customer #1 "EARLOBE" $1
Customer #2 (mail order) "Robert M Fitterman" $2.50

2010-05-16T09:16:00.002-04:00

May 13, 2010 - Day 5 at Rob's Word Shop

Left apartment at 10:55 on bicycle. Arrived at Rob's Word Shop at 11:00 sharp. Set up from 11:00-11:12. Organized ledger and receipts from 11:15-11:30. First customer arrived around 11:30. I was continually busy with 6 customers from 11:30 until closing at 2 PM. Total sales: $12.50.

Customer #1 "BEANS DEAR?"
Customer #2 "S" and "S" (this now makes "S" our most popular item)
Customer #3 "the small form"
Customer #4 "diarrahea z"
customer #5 "nizes and shape / An overall blend"

2010-05-12T16:58:00.005-04:00

May 12, 2010 - Day 4 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 10:45 on foot (rain). Arrived at Rob's Word Word at 10:55. Set up shop between 11:00-11:15. First customer arrived around 11:45 and purchased 1 word and 3 letters for $2.50. 1 letter was given gratis because the printer was not printing properly. This was the first customer to request a computer printed document. The word was "mouth"--there was an additional "e" at the end and an "n" underneath. Additionally, the letters "o" and "n" were hand-written over the "ut" of "mouth."

My second customer arrived around 12:30 and purchased 1 word: "footprint." This word was generated by the customer's initial word "wince." After some research on the word "wince" we learned that "wince footprint" is the name of a software program. We decided that the 2 words were very nice together and so I wrote in marker "wince footprint." I only charged $1 for 1 word because the first word was primarily a generator for the 2nd word. I left the Shop at 2:15 and walked back to my apartment. I arrived there at 2:25 PM. Total sales: $3.50

2010-05-11T19:59:00.005-04:00

May 11, 2010 - Day 3 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 11:00 on bicycle. Arrived at "Rob's Word Shop" at 11:05 AM and quickly set up shop. I had no customers today, but I did have 2 requests for mail orders and 1 hand delivery. Left the shop at 2:10 PM, dropped off hand-delivery, and bicycled home. Arrived at my apartment around 2:18 PM. Total sales: $11.50 (payment pending).

Customer #1 "S"
Customer #2 "On errands of life, these letters speed to death."
Customer #3 "feldspar" and "gones"

2010-05-08T09:00:00.002-04:00

May 6, 2010, Day 2 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment on bicycle at 10:30 AM for "Rob's Word Shop." Stopped at stationary store for envelopes and folders ($5.25). Arrived at "Rob's Word Shop" promptly at 11:00 AM. First customer arrived at 12:30 PM. Served 7 customer continuously from 12:45 to 2:05 PM. All 6 customers preferred single word purchases. Closed shop and left 308 Bowery at 2:15 PM. Arrived at apartment, on bicycle, at 2:30 PM. Total sales: $7.00. Below is a list of words sold on 5/6"

Customer #1 "Constraint-B"
Customer #2 "better"
Customer #3 "technicolor"
Customer #4 "tops"
Customer # 5 "nachleben"
Customer #6 "unscripted" and "off the books" ("off the books" was gratis for a friend)
Customer #7 " Poetry"

2010-05-05T18:37:00.002-04:00

May 5, 2010 - Day 1 at Rob's Word Shop
Left apartment at 10 AM. Picked up computer printer from friend's house at 10:15.
Took taxi to 308 Bowery ($4.50) and arrived at 10:45. Set up printer, completed signage and opened at 11:00. First 2 customers arrived at 11:10. Together they ordered a combination of single words, multiple words, and letters for a total of $26.00. For this first customer, my record-keeping was disorganized and I do not have a record of their purchases (but I will be requesting this information from them directly and I will post it when I receive it). My second customer arrived around 11:50AM. This customer purchased 2 words for $2: "interpolate" and "selfhood." Third customer arrived at 1:30 and purchased 1 word for $1: "escape." This customer sought consultation in choosing her word. Closed the shop at 2:00PM. Walked home and arrived at 2:15 PM. Total sales: $29.00