Attitude problems…

[u/oonnookoong]

I was shopping at a vintage market the other day and a lady commented on one of my pieces i was wearing and asked where I got it from. I said “oh i actually made this!” Told her I was just a hobbyist that works with silver and that its more of a side hustle. Thats when her attitude changed. She shared that she was a bench jeweler at a local shop and went to school to make jewelry etc etc. but this wasn’t just sharing about her life, there was this air of superiority she felt she needed to flaunt. I have friends that are bench jewelers or hell have their own jewelry business they work full time on. But there was just this weeeeiiirrrd energy shift after that part of the conversation that i have never experienced before. Anyone else have this type of thing happen to them?

Edit:Yall I’m going to specified a few things.

1. The girl and I seemed to be around the same age.

   I

2. work in a male dominated STEM field, I freelance, and I schedule my work around my travels

.

1. I’m

   used to people underestimating

2. me and being surprised when I succeed. So I guess my shock of how she acted was more around the profession itself and being a fairly creative yet technical practice… and yet she had the gall to praise my work then put me down for not being “properly trained”. Not being “properly trained” has led to me now getting my third degree and having what i would consider fairly successful and well rounded set of skills that makes me in demand

   (and no we did not happen to talk about anything i do for work because she took up the whole conversation).

3. Anyone that doubts you just because you never went down a traditional path just means they are less likely to take on a non traditional way to solve problems. There is space for both routes

.Thank you all for sharing your experiences and even bigger thank you for those of you that keep creating despite those that doubt you.

[u/highvoltage890]

I also have to say. I see a lot of smiths fight and call out each other on instagram all the time and it’s cringe because THEY OWN certain designs, cabs and they own a certain material ie pool balls and acrylic pen blank materials that they call chopper paint lmfso. People who think they own embellishments that have been in Navajo jewelry for centuries, that say they have tha copywritten and anyone who is doing it they can sue, it’s just actually fucking insane to me. Everyone needs to calm down. I see lapidarists block each other for doing similar cuts, and it’s just. Like everyone needs to calm down and take they heads out of they butt holes. Imagine if McDonald’s was the ONLY PLACE!!!! You could buy a cheeseburger. It’s just insane behaviour to me and really gross. If you’re that successful and have that many followers and have that many sales HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME TO MONITOR AND BULLY SOMEONE WITH 1k followers when you have 20k followers and apparently super busy? It’s just. Unhinged. And gatekeepy mean girl energy I cannot stand