Puff n Ponder: S.3 Ep1

It's been a little over a year since I was slinging the devils lettuce to any Tom, Dick and Harry that walked through the doors of my dispensary. I slang that good good, I taught clients how to roll in the parking lot, I helped grandmothers get totally toasted for either their first or last time. I sold experiences and helped people find what they couldn't express they wanted.

Being a budtender was a HUGE part of my life for almost 3 years of my life. I was in deep. Budtender groups, magazine subscriptions, ig,  cannabis groups/news/activists/brands and so forth.

I consumed as much cannabis knowledge as I did cannabis.  Talked about weed any given chance I got with whomever I could at whatever time I could. Which,  in fact due to time zones and budtender sites I could technically do it for 24 hrs a day 7 days a week until I died.

Now,

Well now I'm just a customer.

I still do my research, menu shopping and industry following, but its impact and reasoning are different than before. The reasons to be in the continuous loop was necessary while being an active community driven budtender.  

Now I'm just a customer, an overly informed and opinionated customer (and those can be some of the worst.) which is a blessing and a curse. I could go toe to toe with the good,  the great and the educated but that rarely happens and I've found less knowledge in stores than what I'd find in a 30 second google search.

Sure there's still some corners of the world/internet where I can talk and chat about products but I don't feel the value in it was the same from when I was in the retail side of the industry.  I don't need to know much except if I like it or not, if I'd rebuy it or not, the other information I don't need; it's more of a want. Now I'm the mate at the sesh who talks too much. 

The educational samples are truly missed, I greatly miss smoking garbage for free so I could warn people not to waste their money on the trashy products out there. Sure there were some seriously banging samples and those helped things get sold, but it was the dust collectors and buy backs that were priceless to me. Now it's relying on reviewers and not reps. Now it's more of a gamble without a sample.

I truly learned alot from those samples, and was able to help more with recommendations with having tried it myself. Granted this also freed up more money to try other products.

SWAG as a budtender I was drowning in just weed shit. Hats (which, no lie is still my fave), shirts, pens, note books, backpacks, umbrellas, jackets, patches, Coloring books, branded pipes, papers, sunglasses, sweat pants, emergency blankets, hammocks and so much more. Now I don't see shit. Customers tend to get fuck all and honestly why would we want them? Cool now I know you smoke weed. Yay.

Sure I would love some promo stuff from the brands I throw my money at but if I'm not going to be a billboard in a store what's the point of me getting it, and yes I still wear cannabis branded clothing. I've gotten so much of it in my three years. There's still stuff that I have that I adore, from brands that made an impact on my future choices of products and raised my quality to a whole new level. I wear some of my swag with pride and some with shame.

While budtending I started collecting what I called “swag of the dead”. Collections of useless merchandise from companies or brands that no longer exist. I also wish I had some of the failed marketing ploys companies used as well but that's even harder to get. Now as a customer that's just not going to happen any more.  It was more of a budtender hobby than a consumer hobby. I got some choice pieces but they'll stick with me until they fall apart.

One thing that's not truly offered to me anymore is the Cannabis events. Yeah as a customer I could go, I could pay x amount of dollars to not get samples, to not know anyone and lastly to not care about any of it in the same way. 

As a budtender/purchaser/dispensary manager these are great ways to network, gain education on products and learn more about all avenues of the industry. I personally have met and conversed with many of the great minds and souls in the true heart of the industry and it would have been impossible to do this otherwise.

In hindsight I wish I would have gone to more of them.

Being on the other side of the counter has its perks don't get me wrong. I love playing dumb customers, I like talking to other customers while I shop, and I like not being bored out of my mind for eighty percent of my shift.

YO BEING A BUDTENDER WAS BORING MOST OF THE TIME. Seriously, people don't buy that much weed if your area is overcrowded with shops. That shit was bunk, the “competition” was Google reviews and walking distance.  The cool customers or loyal customers were seen once every 3 to 7 days. Time goes slow between them. If you get a dumb or rude or just plain ignorant customer, guess what! That sits with you for the next couple of hours and festers deep in your emotional guts. It's hard to forget when you're bored. As a customer I can leave the shop if I want to and most of the time I leave as soon as I appear.

The job had some perks but no benefits, or dental. It's treated like a normal retail job which it is but isn't. I miss it but that's only because I'm not in it. I salute the survivors and mourn the fallen great ones, but I'm just a customer now.

As always,

Peace, love and pre-rolls 

Papa Jefe.

These views are mine and mine alone and do not reflect of those of cannaviews.ca