Peeve: parents placing open beverages on my work space!

I don't mean to pat myself on the back but I'm one of the sweetest bubbliest painters out there. I try to be patient and kind with everyone. That being said, there are times when parents put open drinks down on my table next to my equipment. I stop and nicely ask if they could please move it. I use my "sorry to bother you and I'm a little embaressed" face. I try not to sound "bitchy". I smile and explain that accidents have occured in the past and it makes me nervous. Then I get ATTITUDE!   What the heck?!!! I've got kids running all over the place grabbing at that table and bumping into things and you just put a full open beverage next to my expensive PAINTS! ARE YOU GOING TO CLEAN IT UP AND PAY FOR THE DAMAGES? I understand that they might not be thinking and set it down for a second. That's why I say it nicely. BUT ATTITUDE? Not "Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't thinking". REALLY!!!!! Just had to get that off of my chest. Thank you for listening.

If I do happen to see the person who set their drink on my kit... I stop painting and I pick up the glass and tell them, "Oh, you forgot this!" and hand it back to them. If I find a surprise empty glass on my kit. I stop painting, throw a towel over my kit, and take the glass to the kitchen, explaining and apologizing to those in line that there was a dirty glass left among my paint for some reason, and I cannot mix food and drinks with my paint or my insurance is void. (Or something similar).

I did a summer event where this kept happening over and over. When the organizer came over, I told her that I could paint much faster if I wasn't bussing dirty wine glasses off my kit, as parents kept leaving them. In the end, they had me stay extra time (which I would not have had to if I wasn't removing used glassware from my kit. I was the world's best paid busboy!!! My solution is this....there is no extra space on my table, ever. I take up every inch with my paint. My table is a foam core board, cut and scored and bungee corded onto the top of my FatMax.

Happy Painting!

That is one reason why I bring my own table. It is not big. I make sure my things take up the entire table.

That isa smart thing to do! Good idea! Some people got some nerve!

You could always pretend you think they bought the drink for you . . . and when you say thanks a pretend to take a drink. Catch the look on their face and say "oh, you put it on MY table . . I just thought . .Well here you go," and hand it back.

Good one, Laura!

I had a guy spill a beer in my paints at a company event... The company had to pay for the damaged paints lol... YES I HATE IT AS WELL!!

fairyfox wrote:You could always pretend you think they bought the drink for you . . . and when you say thanks a pretend to take a drink. Catch the look on their face and say "oh, you put it on MY table . . I just thought . .Well here you go," and hand it back.

That's hilarious!

I hate the left drinks. I don't always see who does it because I'm so focused. But I also hate food trash. I hate that more then drinks. Wrappers of ice cream treats and icey pops. eww.

Having everything inside my paint case solves that...altho' I may get something placed next to it occasionally...

Did an HOA Barbeque recently, and as there was no bin nearby, the table accumulated kids trash. I neatly, passive aggressively stacked the trash, cups, etc. at the corner of my (their) tent...

Hmm... I'm wondering what they'd do if you washed out a dirty brush in their drink??... (not that you would want to subject your lovely brushes to such treatment, but I bet they'd get the message!)

My pet peeve is the people just walking by who help themselves to my wipes

By the handful!!!...(Tip:Stash them under your brush holder).

AAAh ha ha...great idea to rinse your brush in their drink!! I too bring my own table which only has enough room for my kit and nothing else. However, I have had this problem a lot at the county fair I used to do. My booth backed up to a very arrogant chiropractor. (to give you an idea, his first year there...which happened to be my 10th or 11th...he offered to give me referrals, and send kids from his booth over to mine if I would pay him a percentage. And yes, he was serious!! Get real!!) Anyway, he'd repeatedly tuck his beverage behind his curtain, setting it on MY table (yet behind my board)...where it would proceed to sweat all over my hand-sewn and hand-painted custom fabric table cover. Grrrr....I just kept either throwing his drinks away or setting them on the floor...the nerve!!! But yeah, I'm right there with you...SO bugs me!!

Coral3 wrote:Hmm... I'm wondering what they'd do if you washed out a dirty brush in their drink??...  (not that you would want to subject your lovely brushes to such treatment, but I bet they'd get the message!)

 

You guys are HISTERICAL! I do have my own table and it's pretty darn full but they just nudge stuff over so they can sit them down! I love the "taking a sip" idea! I'm sarcastic by nature and I have to bite my tongue so much sometimes it's bleeding by the end of a long day! Instant zombie makeup! LOL

Mabey a sign that says "I don't come to your cubicle and paint butterflys on your computer screen.... Please do not put drinks in my work space."

not only do I get this all the time (even though my whole table is filled with stuff), but I have 3 larger buckets on my table. One for clean water, one to pour dirty water in and one for my garbage like dirty wipes and paper towels. I have had people (when I'm not looking and busy painting) throw GARBAGE in my WATER buckets, both dirty and clean!!!!!!!

People are forever throwing food trash (not always gone, mind you) in my trash bins at festivals.
Seriously, folks. These are tiny bathroom trash cans. There is no room for your 44 ounce soft drink cup!
And whoever put their child's ice cream in there needs to come back and clean. it. out.

LOL, Diane! They're lucky I don't catch them throwing their crap in my water pails, or the Brooklyn in me would come out, lol!

Ew, Tina, not nice!     
I think I'll stick with my lidded water jug!...and keeping my 'slop bucket' & other rubbish bin under table out of sight!  

The wipes though...if I stash them under something it takes me longer to grab one, and I do use them frequently.  I bought a rifle case to hold my paint, and have just lined out the lid with a strip of elastic to hold brushes...I have spare space, wondering if elastic-ing the wipes into my lid might get them out of 'help yourself why dont you!' range?

lol Coral, it's not as bad as you think it is. I have a very long table and those buckets are at the end, not where I'm working, along with lots of other buckets. I don't think people even really notice, and it's handy for me. No one ever had a problem with it, I book parties all the time when people see me painting...I think they're just happy to see me change my cups of water often so I'm working with clean water on their kid! :-)

^ Oh Tina, I hope you weren't thinking I was criticizing how you work at all!? I was just thinking that if the general public are actually SILLY enough to dump rubbish in your water then that's one more thing to try and prevent, if I can. It hadn't occurred to me that some people would be THAT thoughtless!

Oh, I DID misunderstand lol. I thought you thought it was disgusting that I had my dirty water and garbage on top of my table. LOL, thanks for writing again. :-)

No, not what I meant at all!