A Grudge, A Burden
Dear Ann,
I was quite excited when my Etsy store was opened last August to tell the world that my Christmas Puddings were available for anyone who wanted a home made one just like Grannie made. I had no idea how they would sell on line & really didn’t mind if it didn’t take off, but I just wanted to have a go at it.
David was also quite enthusiastic about it on my behalf: so much so that he put an ad on Gumtree for me, which I thought was sweet of him. So imagine my surprise when I received a message from John Smith in September which read :
‘John smith replied to your ad. Illegal & unregistered kitchen, not Food NSW notified, no HACCP Food Safety Plan, illegal labels, not Fsanz compliant, illegal marketing claims, you are in for huge fines, Centrelink & Australian Tax Office aware of your additional income. Toronto Fair? Lake Macquarie City Council & Food NSW to be notified.’
You can imagine how I felt on receiving an email that contained so much venom. So much for a stress free life. For a few moments I felt positively sick to realise that I was hated that much, so I immediately sent the email to my advisors, Philip & David.
Centrelink is the Government body who pays our pensions. As for the Tax office, I wish I was earning enough to pay taxes! With my Christmas Puddings I am doing what hundreds of people do when they retire: they create a hobby out of something they are good at & take it to small markets.
When we had Newcastle’s Pudding Lady business & making forty or fifty tonnes of puddings annually we took them to big fetes & fairs where they were widely known by the general public. The sales for the day at these fairs were huge, amounting to several thousands of dollars taken within four to five hours. Not everyone sold in that volume, but we did because of the popularity of the puddings. These sales would naturally go into the business for taxation purposes.
I always loved the hype on fete days as people would flock to our stall early in the mornings – Â when we were still setting up the display – to make sure we didn’t sell out before they got to us. The fairs would be held on a Sunday. Our stall always looked quite grand & Max would be outside the stall giving out tastings getting a laugh when he would invite all & sundry to come & try & not to worry as there were no calories on a Sunday!
Dawn in her apron ready to sell.
While he did that, I was behind the stall in my special apron with Newcastle’s Pudding Lady embroidered on it, looking like a little old Grannie who made the puddings. Myself & another helper would be flat chat taking the money & handing over the puddings. I loved those days, we would come home tired out but satisfied with the results. It was hard work as sometimes we would need to take two car loads of puddings which meant a lot of packing. setting up etc. but it was loads of fun. And when the Tax Office came around to do an audit it was all okay.
So when I received a note in my letter box from the Toronto Chamber of Commerce advertising Toronto Fair it brought back memories as this was one of the fairs we always did when we had the business. So I booked myself in, as it was quite a small one & I didn’t need to take hundreds of puddings.
Dawn and Max looking fine at a fair.
That also must have upset John Smith because ‘he’ was also booked in to it & goes there every year with the puddings ‘he’ makes. Of course John Smith is not ‘his’ real name. My family knew immediately who John Smith was, as did I.
‘John’ is half of a couple whom we have known for years whom I will call Kay & Em. Their friendship with us was eighteen years old when we had Newcastle’s Pudding Lady business. They lived in Sydney & when in Sydney we were guests in their own home, as they were in our home when they came to Newcastle.
They were interested in the pudding business & in time I taught them everything there was to know about the business. They became agents for us doing other fairs & fetes for us that we didn’t have time to do.
There were even times when Kay, Em & myself would travel to Canberra to take the puddings to the Canberra Show for a week, with Max needing to stay at home to take care of the business. We loved all that too as we were very dear friends.
It was all very personal, friendly & nice. We would stay at a motel near the show ground & each night after the show we would go out for dinner. We did this for many years & they were very happy times. I have dozens of loving, caring cards from Kay & Em expressing the love they had for me. These are still in my possession,
While Max & I ran the pudding business when we had the kitchen built specifically for our needs, it was Philip who was the Manager. However, when Philip was moving to America to live he felt that we needed someone to take his place in taking care of the managerial part & who would be ideal for this position?
None other then Kay & Em who were only too eager to take on the job. We really only needed one to do the job, but there was a big snag in the fact that they lived in Sydney & the job was in Newcastle. After much discussion we both compromised as, after all we were friends, so a sum was settled on for their employment plus a proviso that when we were ready to sell the business we would give first offer to Kay & Em. This was agreed on.
However, I guess you have heard the old adage ‘never mix business with friendship’ & it is so true. After Philip & Greg went to live in America a lot of discrepancies kept cropping up in the business. The ‘affection’ & the high esteem I felt I had been held in by Kay & Em dwindled rapidly. It was also the case where Max was concerned. The situation was far from pleasant.
So much so that Philip came home from America to look into the situation. He immediately called in a business lady who was noted for assisting in businesses when they appeared to be going downhill. When this was done the situation got really hostile, so much so that we were obliged to engage a lawyer.
We were ultimately advised to lock Kay & Em out of the premises &, sad as it may be, that really that was the line of action that had to be taken, because of the illegal things that were taking place.
However, we kept our side of the bargain & gave Kay & Em first offer to purchase the business. They made an offer, but in the meantime, the business lady who became involved, along with her brother, showed interest in also purchasing the business. The outcome was that we refused the offer by Kay & Em & accepted the second offer.
So myself & family have no doubt as to who John Smith is & that a grudge has been held because of the fact that we didn’t take their offer. How heavy that grudge must have been to carry for fourteen years! The advice I received after that hateful email was to do nothing about it, which is exactly what I did.
However, this is not the end to it all. I always try to look for the silver lining in the cloud no matter how daunting it may look. I will look forward to letting you know what happened when I write again as it opened up a new world to me just when I needed it most.
God Bless & Loads of Love. Dawn O X O