In disheartening news out of Oakland, CA, Rose Withers is still waiting for the embroidery kits she ordered off Etsy and on which she spent most of her remaining income.
“The pandemic was just starting and I thought, ooh, I’ll pick up a new hobby,” says Withers. “Little did I know I was going to be laid off and the postal service was going to shit the bed.”
Withers’ partner, John Bradley, was not initially supportive of this idea.
“I told her to save the money since we didn’t know what was going to happen, but then she spent her last 100 dollars on embroidery kits. Are embroidery kits even supposed to be $100? I don’t even know. They’re still stuck in customs 4,000 miles away.”
Upon further investigation, we found that embroidery kits do not cost $100 – Withers just ordered five for some reason.
Rose is one of many who spent what they did not know they were going to be laid off and financially invested in a new hobby too early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I tried to order a bunch of oil paints so I could finally get into oil painting,” says fellow hobbyist-failure, Pooja Shah. “It cost me $150 to order everything and only half the stuff came in the last six weeks.”
Since the largely unfruitful purchase, Rose Withers has been trying to make do by entertaining herself with other free activities. She has been hiking, working out, and learning Spanish in her free time.
“Hiking is all fun and stuff, but there’s nothing like spending a bunch of money you barely have on a hobby you haven’t even tried once,” Withers said.
At press time, Withers had finally received the embroidery kits after eight weeks but did not care for the activity.
