Billing for your toy shop in Chandigarh
The balloon cylinder at the door, the toy kept aside for a birthday and the teddy in five sizes.
From balloons blown by the bunch to balloons counted, and a toy kept aside with its part-payment
The cylinder running out in the afternoon, read from the balloon count
Make the single balloon, the bunch and the big foil balloon three items, each with its small rate. On a Sunday the count of the singles tells you by two o'clock that the cylinder will not last, and the boy is sent for another before the families come.
The birthday toy held behind the counter, so a helper does not sell it again
Put the toy behind the counter with the birthday's date on its slip and the father's name on his page. A helper who did not take the order reaches for it, finds it already marked and sells another. On the child's birthday it is there, and nobody looks for a slip.
The middle teddy's birthday weeks, read from last year before the order goes
The middle of the five sizes sells out in the same birthday weeks every year. Open last year's days for those weeks and you see when it went, so the order to the supplier is sent early enough for the cartons to arrive before the first birthday.
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Why the balloon cylinder at the door is never counted, a toy waits behind the counter for a birthday and the teddy comes in five sizes
The balloon cylinder at the door on a Sunday, and the bunches nobody counts
On Sunday afternoons the families walking back from the lake stop at the shop door, where a boy fills balloons from a gas cylinder and ties them in bunches. A bunch goes for a few coins, a single balloon for less, and a big foil one for much more. The cylinder runs out in the middle of the afternoon without warning, and at night the coins in the box cannot be matched to any number of balloons.
The toy kept behind the counter with a name on a slip until the birthday
A father likes a toy on Monday, pays a part of the price and asks the shop to keep it until Saturday, when the child turns six. The owner writes his name on a slip and puts the toy behind the counter. By Saturday the slip is under the cash box, the toy has been moved to a shelf, and the father's part-payment is remembered by the owner and not by the paper.
One teddy in five sizes, and the size that goes at every birthday
The soft toy comes in five sizes from a pocket bear to one as tall as the child. The middle size is the birthday size and it goes first, in the same weeks every year. The owner climbs to the loft for the next one and finds only the smallest and the largest. On a Saturday the shop has the same queue of fathers every week, each asking for the middle size.
Tools for a counter where boxes are opened, toys are kept aside and teddies come in sizes
Bills on your phone
A single balloon, a bunch and a foil balloon billed in a second at the door on a Sunday, with a toy and a part-payment noted on the same phone.
Low stock warnings
The middle size of the teddy shown as it runs low, before the weekend of birthdays.
Your own online shop
The toys of the week sorted by the child's age on the shop's own page, the toddler's gifts together and the five-year-old's together.
What a Chandigarh toy shop owner asks before starting
The boy fills balloons at the door and sells them singly and in bunches. Can the day's balloons be counted?
Yes. A bunch is one unit and a single balloon is another, so a bunch is never counted as ten singles. At night the door's singles and bunches are read apart.
A father who left a part-payment for a small toy now wants a bigger one for the same birthday. What happens to his payment?
It stays on his page with its day. Bill the bigger toy to the same page, and the balance is the new total less what he has paid.
A father takes the big teddy and some balloons from the cylinder. Can both go on one bill?
Yes. Put the teddy and the balloons on one bill, so the father pays once at the counter and the balloons do not go out unwritten. The few coins of the balloons are still counted in the day's balloons.
A toy has a part missing when the family opens it at home. Can I get the part from the maker?
Yes. Ask the maker for the part by its name, and hand it to the family when it comes. The toy they bought stays on their page as it was, and the part is not a second sale.
Bows, arrows and masks at the Dasehra stalls
At Chandigarh's Dasehra in October 2000, roadside stalls near the venues sold bows and arrows and clubs, did brisk business and drew the children. A toy shop near a Dasehra ground sells the same few things in a rush, and its count of each shows what to order for next year.
A 1999 Tribune report said Chandigarh children at Dasehra most wanted toy swords, gadas and masks for acting out the Ramlila. Those are seasonal stock that sit for eleven months, so a shop does well to know how many it sold before it buys again.