Wanna know one of the most frustrating and difficult parts of running a GIANT pottery studio with hundreds of members?

It’s knowing when to kick people the fuck out.

And then following through with it.

It always feels like I’m playing judge, jury, and executioner. And I hate that feeling.

Keeping the community here at The Clay Hole full of good-souled, ever-trying humans is extremely important to me.

A single toxic person can literally lead to dozens of other members quitting, staff quitting, and an overall unpleasant experience. 

Toxic people quietly spread their negativity cancers in the background, and it takes a while for that cancer to make its way onto my radar. 

It usually starts with whispers and murmurings of how wrong or strict or unfair certain of my rules are. 

Then it moves onto them sewing discord with their classmates about the money side of things. 

Then comes the personal attacks on my character, always slight at first, but they get bigger and bigger. 

Soon that escalates to where it’s no longer commenting on quirks but rather attacking everything I do and say as malicious.

Then comes the pot shots about other members to other members. That’s usually when it finally reaches me. Someone overhears it and has finally had enough. 

By that point, a lot of damage is usually done. And that damage is usually unrepairable because there’s no way to actually know the full extent of it.

The kind of toxicity that sneaks in sometimes is tricky and it’s deceitful, because it’s almost always done with big smiles on the toxic person’s face, a feeling of caring and empathy they’ve mastered displaying, and weird, absolute friendliness. 

Ew, it gives me so much ick.

Luckily, out of the six hundred or so people who have come into The Clay Hole for pottery, it has only happened seven or eight times between all of my members and employees.

And ugh, when I do finally figure it out, my least favorite part of all of it is the part where I have to kick them out and just hope…

Hope they don’t do anything crazy or irrational. 

Hope they don’t go on a verbal rampage.

Hope they don’t show up at class and make a scene.

Hope they don’t come and angrily destroy property or pottery.

Hope the rest of the members will understand why I had to cancel a membership even though I can’t really ever tell them the reasons.

Even hope that the person getting the boot doesn’t get hurt too much by it.

Toxic people are, after all, hurting deeply themselves, and I don’t want to add to that.

Anyways…

I will keep fighting the fight to get these people out of here when they show up.

My members come here for an epic escape from the stress of life, not to constantly sit in another person’s problems and negativity. 

I know that. I’m aware of that. And so, I’ll always seek to figure out who needs to go and I’ll get them gone.

There’s a reason why the energy here is so good all the time. 

Lots of weeds will choke out the flowers, but lots of flowers will also choke out the weeds. And it seems that’s what we’re doing here.

Damn if I’m not thankful for all of our members who are just the most amazing humans in Utah.

You’re all gorgeous flowers. Every single one of you.

You just keep being you and doing your thing. My team and I will try to stay two steps ahead of it all.

Just all of you do me a favor and when someone has to go, trust that I had a lot of damn good reasons that it had to be done. 

I’ve got your backs. Thanks for having mine.