Entitled mom demands 14-year-old give their $15 handmade bracelet to her kid for free: 'She's five years old. Its her birthday'

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A craft fair with a group of people hovering around a table with antiques

"Come on! You'll only lose $15!" Said to a broke kid doing a fundraiser.

I (14 NB) sell handmade jewelry for a farmers market. I sell it to help my marching band team pay for fees and stuff. I have Kandi ties for $15. They take like 150 beads and 30 minutes for me to make! They're very hard work. So I sell them for 15 dollars. Well, Karen comes up
with her kid. Her kid holds out $1 and says "can I buy that?" While pointing to the tie. I tell her it's $15. Normally I would go down for kids, but the funds from the ties often go to materials and band gear. Im also broke and I really need the money. I figured her mom would buy it for her. But nope!

This story just kept getting worse.

Karen leans on the table and goes "come on. Shes five years old. Its her birthday. Can't she get it for free?" I gently told her "No. Im really sorry but im selling this to pay for band gear. This is a fundraiser." Karen starts FUMING. "Come on. Dont be r de. My child wants the the tie. Just give it to her!"
I again told her no. Then she had the audacity to say "UGH. COME ON. Its 15 dollars! Youre not losing much! Where's your mother? I bet she'll have common sense." My mom was getting food for us at the time so I just said "lady, youre out of luck. Pay the 15 or leave. II
She left. But it was so weird. You're a grown a woman.. pay for it yourself!! EDIT: there was some confusion in the comments so ill clarify

You shouldn't have to defend yourself for refusing to give away your stuff for free.

-when I say "im broke and need the money" I mean that I cant pay for the 2000 dollar band fees out of pocket. neither can my parents because we have a lot of financial issues :( -by "paying for materials " I mean band materials like silks for color guard flags and stuff. materials and gear are kinda the same to me. (also im in the colorguard section of band!)

Commenters weighed in with their opinions.

Kene6969 Look, when dealing with entitled people, make sure they don't get what they want.
Cautious-Panic-879 There are crazy ones out there. I had a work polo shirt on while working a convention. Lady compliments my shirt and then says I should change into one of the t-shirts we were giving out and give her my polo shirt.
(It was not a joke and she wasn't hitting on me). I finally had to get to the point of saying "I'm not discussing this with you anymore, please leave." My coworkers and I found it very odd and kept looking for the camera of some influencer/youtube prank channel.

This commenter shared a similar story.

Annieco-2334 I'm reminded of an opposite occurrence. Someone donated a bunch of decent stone necklaces to our rock and gem club. We decided to sell them at our rock show for $5 each. A little girl and her dad came by and she said, "I want to buy one for mommy!" And she did out of her own little purse. She was so happy!
People browse items at an outdoor market
Embarrassed-Row-2025 Tell the next one you'll cut her a deal, you're going to give it to her free, as long as she donates $30 to support the band, it's for the kids, can't she spare an extra 15 for that?

The apple often doesn't fall far from the tree.

Jcamp9000 I hope her kid doesn't take after HER!
Leading-Analysis-572 to the child "ah, is it your birthday? maybe mommy can buy it for you since you dont have enough, its only $15 after all"

Artists deserve to be paid for their work.

Trondant13 It's sad and frustrating how so many people don't understand (or even care) how much an artist's time and the cost of the materials themselves are worth. I'm glad you held firm, whether for a fundraiser or not.
stitch22903 I am glad you stood up for yourself. Artists should get paid for time and work. Wishing you all the success and better customers going forward!!!

Apparently this happens a lot...

white_tiger_dream Omg I had a similar experience at a craft fair. I brought custom stickers and handmade crafts (that I made.) First some kids LOVED my crafts and wanted to buy them. Their moms were like "THIS STUFF IS UGLY!" and tried to talk me down in price!
They were even threatening their kids like "If you buy this I'm not buying you anything. else!" It was so weird! The kids both ended up buying my "ugly" crafts
Odd_Tea4945 The entitled woman wanted to take advantage of you. if it indeed was the little girl's birthday, why didn't she paid the $15 for the tie as a present?

Some people have to pay the entitlement tax.

JonJackjon In a different but similar situation, I increased the price (like to $16). I was told I couldn't do that, I told them I could an did.
OZFOX42 I admire your sass in this situation; giving Karen a decent dose of reality. You demonstrated you're more "grown up" than she was and didn't back down. Nothing in this world is free.

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