The old honesty box

[oldherbaceous]

My mother who is older than me [funny that] lives at the other end of the village, she has a little stall at her gate selling pickles, chutneys, jams a few plants and veg. She just leaves an honesty box for the money as she can't be about all day. Most of the time this is fine, but on odd occasions she does lose bits and pieces or the money. But this sunday someone stole the honesty box and a lot of the produce. That was a dirty trick to do on mothering sunday. She is really considering stopping, but that would be a shame for her and her regular customers. I think the only thing that will keep her doing it is, some of the lovely notes of praise left on her little stall. It makes me so angry that a few people can spoil it for everyone else.
I was just wondering if any one else has a stall and honesty box.

Kind regards a very angry Old Herbaceos.

May the lords hand weigh heavily upon them.

[Guest]

I've occasionally sold surplus plants at the gate and the money is nearly always posted through the letterbox. I put pots of excess chives out once with a sign saying 'free to a good home' and got pots of other people's spare plants left on the doorstep with thank you notes

It is a shame about your mother's stall Old Herb, but most of the world are OK decent folks and you can't let the odd mean spirited b*****d get you down. A customer was telling me the other day he got a ton of top soil delivered, went in for a cuppa halfway through moving it and when he came out, someone had nicked his spade - now that's low

Sue

[Sue]

Sorry - done it again and not logged in

[pigletwillie]

Herb - You do paint such a lovely picture of your mum with her stall set out with all her lovely homemade jams and pickles. It's awful to think that probably someone you know may have stolen the money and produce, but I like to think that maybe someone who couldn't afford it wanted to really treat their Mum and just couldn't resist. A gift from God! But if it was just some scrote seizing an opportunity to steal, without a care for your mum who put so much love into her produce, then believe me, they will get their come-uppance.

Maybe a good idea would be for your Mum to sell her goodies at the Church fete. Since you live in a village, I am sure they have one. I, for one, always go straight to the homemade goodies at our Church stalls. Don't lose heart - there are still some good honest folk around - why they're all here on the KG Forum!

Mrs Piglet

[Tigger]

Sorry to hear about your mum. There's a lady along the lane who sells produce from the bottom of her drive. She has a locked postbox fixed to the gate for people to leave the money in. At least she's sure of getting her money if they are honest enough to leave it. You can get them from the DIY centres.

[frantony]

Tell your mum to keep on with it, it's nice to think that some people have old, honest values, not that i'm that old, but I am honest, mostly, hang the B's

[Tigger]

I called into a farm yesterday that I've been driving past every day for the last 2 years They've always had a sign outside saying 'potatoes' but yesterday the sign said 'Organic Veg' so I turned in.

There was no-one about bar 2 dogs but in a shed I found bags of onions, celeriac, carrots, leeks and various potatoes, all priced up from 50p to £5. On the walls of the same shed were copies of the SA certification categories.

I gathered up a selection and deposited my cash in the box provided, in which there was at least £30, so that restored my faith in human beings.

[oldherbaceous]

Thanks to one and all for the support and very kind words. I have passed them all on to my mum and she is very grateful. By the way she is going to continue with her stall. Mrs P we do have a lovely village fete but my mum helps with the refreshments as mums do. Thanks again.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

When i'm not fishing i'm mending my nets.

[oldherbaceous]

So sorry to hear about this Peejo, don't no if this might help.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

[MrsL]

I've had a gateside table for the last 5 years or so, and never any problems until this year, when I lost 8 heritage tomatoes, several nice heraceous plants and some herbs, all at once. B***** even took the trays, one of them specially adapted for carrying plants to the table. Teh car was seen and the woman, as my friend happened to have to wait behind her to pass her car as she had aprked so stupidly on the road. Most of the time the money is for me, but this time some was for the Garden Club and Village Hall. Two days later, someone nicked the padlock off the empty money box..........
Won't deter me, though, I'll get some more stuff out soon. I just expect others to behave the way I would, but am obviously a bit naive maybe.
And angry............

[Johnboy]

Hi Mrs L and welcome,
Regretably we all suffer from the same petty pilfering and regret to say that the worst offenders for nicking produce are 'Old Ladies'. They are also the worst ones for nicking 'cuttings' as they go round your nursery. Years ago I used to put Bedding plants and the like outside in my entranceway and one day saw an old lady running up the road to a waiting car with the boot open ready carrying a tray if 15 Black Jack and another tray 15 Sunbeam Violas
she put them in the boot and left it open so that I could not see the number plate. Not exactly a bank robbery but b...dy annoying never the less. It was obviously not a spur of the moment thing and wonder how many 'jobs' they could pull off in a day.
Well she had £15.00 from me and there are a lot of people on the same road between me and Hereford 25 miles away and to have a similar amount from each could be quite profitable.
Regretably this is something that you will never stop.
I have 60ft of railings in front of my property with a low wall. As an advert for my Nursery I made a 60 ft trough and filled with summer flowers and over night the whole lot disappeared. Had I sold those plants it would have been quite a lot of money.
It was then that I decide not to put anything else out and never dealt with the public again after that and produced for the trade only.

[MrsL]

That is so sad, though isn't it? I really try and believe that there is good in everyone, but that theory is well and truly tested sometimes.

[submariner]

I wonder how people live with themselves. They probably boast about the plant they got "for free", or sell them themselves. There is a lot heard about yobs, and yobesses(?) but in my experience sometimes the "poor" pensioner is just as bad. They are probably the same people that complain about the young, most of whom are decent and well brought up.

[Belinda]

Regretably we all suffer from the same petty pilfering and regret to say that the worst offenders for nicking produce are 'Old Ladies'.

Sadly I have to agree with Johnboy about 'Old Ladies'. One such has been politely asked to leave our allotment site. She had 3 prime location plots, none very productive or tidy and was always suspected of 'helping herself' as veg used to disappear at regular intervals. Then one day she was seen by a plotholder cutting cabbages on someone else's plot. Not just 1 but 4 or 5! The plotholder struck up a conversation steering it towards whether or not she had permission, which of course she said she did.

As I'm sure you have guessed, she had not been given permission to help herself and has consequently been asked to leave. The saddest part is if she had given up all but half a plot, which is realistically what she could have managed, many people would have been happy to make a gift of excess produce or plants.

[Johnboy]

Hi Belinda,
As a Propagator I used to produce amongst a host of other things shrubs and one old lady was caught with over 300 cuttings she had taken from my stock for sale. We only found out because she fell stepping back off one of the beds and spilt them all over the path.
I prosecuted per for theft and she got fined £100.00 and had to pay my costs. I recut them and stuck them and got about 100% strike so although unwanted went up for sale later.