Geology Rocks! and Minerals really is more than just a shop. Even if you're not from our home town you've likely run into us at least once or twice. This is because we participate in a multitude of different shows and events all around the country! From huge gem and mineral shows, to small local events, we've really done it all! These events are usually tons of fun! Plus they're a great opportunity to meet people, talk about crystals, and show people what it means to #doitfortheGRAM! That being said, not all shows are as fun as others..
The worst show I've ever participated in was actually the most recent show. Every summer, our small town hosts farmers markets every Thursday evening. It's a really fun, family event with tons of music, food, and local businesses. I've been a Chico local for most of my life, so getting the opportunity to work them was too enticing to pass up. Although, this one time in particular didn't end up as much fun.
Now, to further the idea that this terrible show was entirely my fault, I'll now list the reasons to cancel going that we openly ignored.
Reason #1: The sky: I remember packing up the truck for our booth, going inside for a minute, and coming back out to all black skies overhead.
Reason#2: We checked the weather on our phones, 20% chance of rain, and decided ah fuck it. That quickly changed to 80% when we showed up
Reason #3: There was lightning, subsequent thunder literally TWO seconds later, and I still didn't think that it'd rain
Reason #4: Everyone and their mother told us to go home
Alas, despite all these perfectly acceptable reasons to avoid this one show, we went anyway. wanna guess how it went?
Terrible.
Well there we were, at the market. We went through the extremely tedious task of unloading all the crystals and organizing them on the table. And after that, we waited. For some reason (likely the impending rainstorm) there weren't as many people at the market as usual. This offered us a chance to really check out our surroundings. At this point this sun was completely gone, swirling clouds that looked like crashing waves were looming overhead. In the distance was the sound of thunder, and every time it struck it seemed to be getting closer.
"But you know what? it was supposed to rain last week and it didn't, so??"
-My Boss 10 minutes before it rained
You guys wanna know what happened next? huh? can you guess?
..It rained... h a r d
Luckily we had a canopy over our table, but man, it was raining raining. We immediately rushed to get all the inventory we could inside of the tent and into their own boxes. The problem was that the rain was basically coming in sideways, and we were in the middle of the street for the show. So while I was rushing to (painstakingly I must add) put all these hundreds of little rocks back into their own personally marked boxes, my co-workers sacrificed their dryness to walk these cardboard boxes through the torrential rain to put them underneath a building being renovated close by. Because, apparently cardboard doesn't do too well when it's wet. Not only that, we weren't allowed to leave. My boss ran to grab the truck so we could get home, but the market narks wouldn't let him in. They said it had something to do with the market "still going on" which seemed impossible when the booths were essentially soaking in 2+ inches of water.
Either way, we got the truck in and made it all the way home. Every single one of us was DRIPPING wet (drip drip) and kind of sad, but we made it. And, we only lost like nine boxes out of almost 60 so it wasn't a total loss.
Moral of the story: Dont Google weather !! It said 20% CHANCE!! how does the chance of raiN juMp LikE 60%???