A bad business venture

So Sharon and Carol were setting up shop. And I was filling out her paperwork for the Visa. I would go visit her at the shop for a few hours once a week, and when I would go the inside decorating got uglier and uglier! It looked like a bunch of old people (a Ma and Pa store) started a secondhand dress shop. Nothing that attracted a young bride to buy from. They did a good job on the display window and the front of the shop looked good, but once you entered it took a downward spiral. At first they had it open as they were trying to move-in and organize their merchandise, nothing was out to sell but people could walk in at any time... they said this was so people would know that their shop was there. I kept trying to convince them to get a sign, it didn't necessarily have to be an expensive one just one to let people know going down the road that the shop is there. I do not know how many times my husband and I drove down the road and overlooked the house because for one, there was no sign and number two, the house is set so far back on the road that no one realizes it's there at first.

The shop was pretty small to begin with and in the main room where the cash register was supposed to be was a big long table with red crepe paper (reminded Chuck of the tables selling prom tickets/raffle tickets that you see), and across the way was a little round table with a matching wire chair with out the bottom and a wing chair that was found on the sides of the road and the arms were totally ripped up (like they were mauled by a cat) so they put on an ugly piece of fabric over the chair to hide the arms. They had some other stuff, like a sewing table (only without the sewing machine), and an armoire (full of cake top and other bridal accessories). The room was so small that with all the junk in there, no one could hardly move! One of the neatest decorations they had was a picture of a Peacock with shiny gems throughout the tail, it was made by Carol and since the store was named The Jeweled Peacock it fits.

I was asked to make some flyers for the shop so they could announce the grand opening. I was actually glad to be participating and not have Sharon be downing me by saying I was too lazy to help like she did my husband. They had their grand opening, but it wasn't so grand. No one came, but in a way I do not blame them. The basement (the shop) was not heated and it was in the middle of January and there was snow on the ground. A few days later, a pretentious bride bought a wedding dress from them. I wasn't there, so I can only go on what I was told, but I guess the dress was a halter top one and she had to try the dress on in the back room... the furnace room... in the cold. Sharon told me her arms were all full of goose bumps and were turning a light purple. I kept trying to explain that they need to invest in some sort of heater right away. But according to Sharon they did not have enough money right now, I told her well your ex-husband (the dad) has an old gas heater sitting in the garage which he is not using right now and I am sure he'd be more than willing to work out some sort of payment plan so you could have heat. She would just shake her head and claim he would be so mean and tell her no.

After they got their checks for the shop, Sharon would notice little odds and ends appearing around the shop. Carol would walk around with the checkbook on her just to make it look like she actually had money. Sharon did not know it she could trust her after she had put herself as president and Sharon as a manager without consulting Sharon about it. We found this out as I was filling out the last of the Visa papers and the I had to put a job description and such. So Sharon had asked me to keep an eye on the bank account (I basically turned into a bookkeeper for the business) and tell her how the money was doing. I said okay because I had already submitted the Visa papers.

I do not know the full reason why, but Carol got upset one morning and threw the checkbook at Sharon's feet and said she was done and stormed out. Sharon did not know the first thing about running a business and she was terrible with money, so was under a lot of stress and would cry whenever she talked to her mother (which was every day, several times) I was asked by her mother to help her out in the shop and I said okay (like I knew the first thing about running a business!).