Good Talk with Erin Dreps

July 16, 2012 | 826 Blog Post

It’s going to be a hundred degrees tomorrow, you know what that means? Ann Arbor Art Fair is coming! Today, we present Good Talk with Erin Dreps. Erin is our robot shop intern, and she writes some of the best emails we’ve ever read, which will be shown again and again in this new staple of the Staple.

Stay cool, and stop into the robot shop if you’re out and about for Art Fair!

Yours,

–Editors Amy–

Erin Dreps
11:32 PM (0 minutes ago)
to me

Greetings Robotiers!

Art Fair, yes. Art Fair is happening. Confirmed. Anything else?

Okay, then two words: good luck. We'll add buena suerte, for anyone who only speaks Spanish when frazzled. (I'm sure such a condition exists. Consult your doctor.) Count 'em: 1) good, 2) luck.

But why? One veteran Robotier who will be mysteriously, suspiciously unavailable for a shift next week probably knows: the world is about to (re)discover our little shop, and things can get a little crazy. PLUS, do you know how many rookie robotiers we'll have working at this year's Art Fair? EIGHT. I counted. And do you know how many of those eight were programmed by me? Only three, so actually we're pretty lucky in that regard.

Now I'm going to add two more words: don't panic. My calculus teacher once told me "It's not time to panic yet." And you know what? SHE WAS RIGHT. This scenario seems analogous enough, in that someone is being wise and calm (that's me now) and someone else is receiving wisdom and calm (that was me, but now it's you). Okay, so we're up to four words, but keep your counting fingers out, because we're adding three more: you'll be fine. Seven words is safely within the five plus or minus two things you can remember at a time, so you're welcome. Shall we review anyway?

Count with me: 1) good, 2) luck, 3) don't, 4) panic, 5) you'll, 6) be, 7) fine.

Art Fair is happening, yes, but it's perfectly fine, happens every year, lots of Robotiers go through it, and there's nothing to feel awkward about. The good thing is that we can predict when it's going to happen: Wednesday, July 18 - Saturday, July 21. During that time, here's what you do: openers and closers, flip the open/closed sign and turn the lights on/off (not as suits your mood, but as is applicable to your shift). Everyone else, just do what you do. In this way, things continue pretty much as they've already been programmed to do. CHECK. Good work, team.

You WILL start to notice some changes, which is normal. A create-your-own postcard station will develop in front of the store, in the same vein as our create-your-own button station, so it's no big deal except it will be AWESOME. Also awesome will be the BRAND NEW, LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE Robot Ann Arbor Bags that will become available. For a mere, piddling $20, they'll offer everything our customers and their bots need to survive (and remember) Art Fair: a 826-themed Sappi poster, an LSRS&R water bottle and sticker, a walking map of downtown, AND a bottle of soda (or, to bots, "coolant").

In summary, Robotier-ing will not drastically change. Everything's going to be fine. A hot mess at times, perhaps, but fine. There will probably be a lot of people, and some of them will want to buy things (maybe even some new things), and that's a good thing. This is what you've been programmed for! So warm up your voices and practice your "We're a storefront for a non-profit writing center" spiel, because THEY'RE COMING.

Consider yourselves advised. ONWARD ROBOTS.

Good talk.

Erin

Erin Dreps
Store Intern
Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair | 826michigan
erindreps@826michigan.org

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Robotier Robot wrote:

Dear Erin,

Art Fair. Please advise.

Yours,
The Robotiers



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