Shot Show 2022

Shot Show 2022. Pretty rough start. The Shot Show people were mad I was making coffee and not getting charged as an actual vendor. I was tagging along with one of the most significant vendors and making coffee for them and their customers. No one saw the conflict involved. I was shut down the first day, though.

I went to the Spiritus Systems booth after making their acquaintance at DARC (Direct Action Resource Center). I didn’t overtly state my frustration, but I’m sure it was palpable. I’m an ultra-small business. If this line of work were easy, everyone would be doing it. But, the truth is, it’s hard. Long days and lots of work. Adam asked what was up, and I just vented for a moment. He instantly understood.

He told me to bring everything over to his booth and start to set up. I could fire up coffee there for the remainder of the show. The samples of coffee helped bring people in and raised some eyebrows. Those raises were due to grade-one beans and the new medical bag I’ve had my eye on since. The off-angle zippers were smoother than a hot knife through butter,

While Spiritus Systems didn’t need to act on these actions, they chose to. They decided to help out a small no-name company and allow them to advertise their product at the show. They didn’t even ask to charge me anything, although their rabid fans did grab handfuls of slaps at a time. These were acceptable casualties in my massive budget to attend the show.

The kindness of Spiritus Systems speaks volumes about a company, its people, and, more importantly, its actions. I appreciate my time in Vegas and look forward to returning the kindness to others. Spiritus Systems is expanding, and it’s not by accident. They are, rather than to seem.

Edit: This is where I met Ethan. He's a badass pilot who does other badass things. I routinely find him doing flyovers now when I do deadlifts. I'm not creeped out. I'm actually flattered.