I'm glad I got the deposit at least...

I've been burned before so when I got a call to paint at a party that was less than a week away, I made sure they dropped off the deposit right away.

So I arrive at the party at the designated time and for the first time ever, there was room in the driveway and I had to ring the doorbell! Usually the party is in full swing and cars are parked everywhere. There was no one in the driveway and I thought I must have the wrong house. But no, they answer the door and let me in.

It's the party host's sister's house because they don't have a big enough place and were supposed to be there too. This is where I made the mistake...I carried my stuff up the stairs and set up. LESSON LEARNED...DON'T SET UP UNTIL THE PARTY GUESTS HAVE ARRIVED. I call the host's cell and she tells me she's on her way. I wait...still no one. Finally the dad shows up with the 3 year old. I'd told the mom 3 was too young to paint but she said there'd be lots of older kids too. Fine...

The dad asks for the birthday girl to be painted and I try to get her to sit...nothing doing...sitting on dad's lap doesn't work either. She wants to use my brushes and paint! After wasting almost an hour I tell the dad it's a lot of money to pay me to do nothing and maybe I could go home and they can call me when the party is in full swing. I could come back for an hour and paint. I live less than 10 minutes away so it just meant I'd have to set up twice and drive an extra 20 minutes. Yeah...they didn't call me back.

I hate wasting time! I wasted time preparing paperwork, getting my kit ready, painting my face, setting up, etc. When she first called and asked if I was available, I said no. But since she was so close and there was only 16 kids, I said I'd come for just two hours. She was so grateful because she had someone else cancel on her at the last minute and was worried she couldn't find anyone. So why the heck didn't she have me come after the party was started? So from now on, part of my dialogue when booking an event is to make sure guests have arrived before I get there.

Hope this helps prevent something like this happening to you

Why did it matter that you weren't painting anyone... they signed a contract for you to be there for 2 hours. They had to pay you no matter how many showed up. Not your fault they aren't good at hosting a party. It was a bigger waste to set up then leave. If you didn't get paid then it was a big waste, deposit wasn't worth the drag up the stairs & set up. You may be losing time away from your family. But with few people there you get a great opportunity to take your time and practice on who ever is in your chair. Basically getting paid to practice or making quite a bit of money per face.... I see this a great opportunity rather than a waste of time...

You had to be there...there was garbage bags piled in corners, dinner dishes and food still in the sink...the family was sitting in the living room watching TV doing nothing. The mom didn't make it yet because she was waiting for a ride from someone. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting any more money anyway. I just cut my losses and got out of dodge.

Ick, not my kind'a place to sit 'n wait either!

Good lesson!

That stinks, so sorry you had to go through that and glad you were able to get out!

Generally I arrived BEFORE the party starts so that would be a normal situation for me... no one there, lots of parking... etc. Often only the dad is there as mom is out with the kids picking up the cake.

However, given the situation you were in... I'd have left too.

Okay that makes sense... Doesn't sound like they were having a party. But any other (nicer) situation then I would have stuck it out.