Hat Writing Hell

[Princess Jasmine]

In the past 2 days, I have encounted more aggravation caused by guests when it comes to Hat Writing (nevermind that I can't stand the Brother machines in general) than I have in the almost 2 months I've been a Hat Writer, so I figured I'd make a thread for other HW CM's to vent....

Whether it be about guests or your frustrations with the new machines. (Like the fact if there's more than 1 in a location, they all have a fancy to go down at the same time when you have 36,833 hats waiting.)

A funny story though....

I actually had a guest today at Hatmosphere ask if I could embroider the 50th Antenna Toppers.

[Ansem]

An antenna topper? Wow... Just wow.

[joanna71985]

Haha! That is really great.

[BirdMom]

I saw the Brother machines and was wondering what was up with those things. The old hand cranked machines actually required a skill that had to be learned - are the new machines programmed so that supposedly any fool can be a hat writer??? I used to be a hat writer way back in the 80's and I can remember being terrified that my first name on a hat was going to be really long or have an "x" or a "y" and it ended up being a Japanese guest whose name was merely "Ai." That was it... Seeing a bunch of hat writers in the old days was sort of like seeing people who have headsets attached to their cell phones today. Whereas today you see someone who appears to be talking to the air (and therefore crazy), back then, you used to see people demonstrating the letters by making motions with their fists, which could have been interpreted as either crazy or obscene (depending on the letter - don't ask, if you weren't a hat writer you wouldn't get it)...

[Princess Jasmine]

I saw the Brother machines and was wondering what was up with those things. The old hand cranked machines actually required a skill that had to be learned - are the new machines programmed so that supposedly any fool can be a hat writer?

Exactly. Supposedly everyone who is in Front Of House Store Operations is going to be trained.

I hate it because manual hat writing was something I was actually good at. And I loved hearing the comments from guests. "Oh my god, did you actually just hand write that?" They're no longer amazed or say "Wow! You just typed in my name and pressed a couple of buttons! AWESOME!"


:(

[BirdMom]

I hate it because manual hat writing was something I was actually good at. And I loved hearing the comments from guests. "Oh my god, did you actually just hand write that?" They're no longer amazed or say "Wow! You just typed in my name and pressed a couple of buttons! AWESOME!" :(

It seems to me that when I saw the hats recently, the lettering was really big and loopy. One of the signs of a great hat writer was having the script on the smaller side, and trying to make it look elegant - big and sloppy meant rookie. Some people (myself included) used to do little hearts or daisies at the end of girl's names. We used to have hat writing contests when it was dead in the old days - we'd break out the practice stuff or paper towels, and do things like trying to do the entire alphabet as small as possible without breaking between letters, or doing the alphabet in a spiral without breaking. The ones who were really good could sew backwards, from right to left, and the best ones could go stitch for stitch over something they'd just sewn - both backwards and forwards.

(Obviously, this was AFTER making sure that all the shelves were stocked, dusted and free of fingerprints :p: But then again, you know how it gets in January...)

[Main Streeter]

Supposedly everyone who is in Front Of House Store Operations is going to be trained.

Oh damn, are you serious? :mad: I've not heard a word abt this. Wonder if I can plead illiteracy?

[LittleDollClaudia]

Oh, come on Main Streeter! I'll be your first victim. By the way,my real name is Shaquandra Lee. Can you fit that on one of those snazzy pairs of pirate mouse ears?? ;)

[DLRhatwriter]

Some people (myself included) used to do little hearts or daisies at the end of girl's names. We used to have hat writing contests when it was dead in the old days - we'd break out the practice stuff or paper towels, and do things like trying to do the entire alphabet as small as possible without breaking between letters, or doing the alphabet in a spiral without breaking. The ones who were really good could sew backwards, from right to left, and the best ones could go stitch for stitch over something they'd just sewn - both backwards and forwards.

There is (well was) only one person that I know of who was doing daisy's and MM heads on the end of names. We used to do contests like writing supercalifragilisticexpealadocious on the back of the hat alone. I can write backwards using my left hand (I'm right handed). Don't think I could go stitch for stitch tho.

[CA Screamin Dude]

Oh damn, are you serious? :mad: I've not heard a word abt this. Wonder if I can plead illiteracy?

Me too!