You KNOW the face painter is unhappy when...

Becky521 wrote:

girlbyjuly wrote:

One of my worst nightmares is a kid puking on/near me, I am suuuuper vomit-phobic and would probably run screaming from the gig

Me too! After a year of therapy and anxiety meds, I can FINALLY care for my oldest daughter when she has a tummy bug without having a panic attack. My husband still has to help me when our younger daughter is sick though (she rarely makes it into the bucket). Emetophobia is a REAL disorder and more people have it then you think! I can absolutely agree, being puked on/near is one of my biggest fears too!

I fear the moment someone pukes while I'm face painting. I'm a sympathy puker & would probably join in

I had a kid power puke on me...twice... 2 years ago at the daycare I work at part-time for my best friend. I picked the little girl up because she was crying and sat in a chair and hugged her..... out it came, all over my whole front side... I was in complete shock for a several looooong moments and then came out round two!!!!

We always make sure the kids have an extra change of clothes in their cubby... but Miss Ronnie had to take her shirt & bra (oh, no, not the bra!!!) off and wear my winter coat all zipped up for the rest of the day.

Good times...

Oh, and I'm going to be painting at that little girl's 6th birthday party in a couple of weeks... we're bonded together forever apparently

Here's a new one: One of my gigs yesterday was at a small apartment complex right in the city of Syracuse's Near West Side... a low-income property that had precious little parking and tiny patches of what was supposed to be grass, but was mostly dusty dirt with a few clusters of grass here and there...

Yet somehow, the mom was able to fit THE LARGEST BOUNCE HOUSE I HAVE EVER SEEN AT A PARTY - GINORMOUSLY HUGE - on that lawn.... it literally took up the whole area. I think it was 17' X20'... packed tight into this horseshoe shaped cluster of really close buildings.

When bounce houses are set up on loose dirt, it is a recipe for an unhappy face painter.

The people were wonderful and fun and the kids were all darlings...

Thank God they had me inside a screened tent... which helped a little bit.

I was not able to keep my paint uncovered because of the dust flying around. I was sneezing a lot and it made me cough. The air looked like smoke hovering around. And the worst part was the constant tasting of gritty dirt in my mouth.... YUCKY-POO!!!!

My car was covered with dirt when I left.

Oh, the stories we have to tell.....

Loving this thread! LOL I've had a few moments like these!

My last event was Friday at Relay For Life and I had my kit next to the bouncy basketball goal. It was 6 inch from it. Well, about halfway thru the event, a young teen decided to squeeze thru and knocked my whole palette(all my most used paints and rainbow cakes were on it) with my fav chunky glitter into the grass!!! Ugg! I was so mad, but of course, I had to play it cool for those future customers The teen turned around looked at what she did and then walked away! I had to stop the line and proceed to sanitize everything. My chunky glitter was knocked out so I only had my poofers I was so bummed!

I was hoping some of the people in line would've yelled at her for me!(now they had to wait longer while I sanitized everything). One of the girls that I had already painted did come over and help pick it up

I hope that teen got paint all over her clothes and it stained!

I am not sure how to explain it in words but I one had an adult drunk man, put the v fingers in front of his mouth and move his tongue back in forth while making matching noises while I tried to paint the requested "flash " on him.

Wow Eva. I think you win. Ewww.

Luckily my big brother was there so I didn't feel intimidated, but grossed out a bit. I did manage to paint him and then pack Up and run.

Man, some girls get all the luck, eva!

Oh....my....goodness. I'm not nice enough to allow someone to treat me that way. I had a dream that I jumped on a man's car last night and screamed at him. (just an example of my temper...lol). If someone did that to me, Eva, I would have raised an eyebrow at him and said, "really?! What are we, 12?" I may have said it a little jokingly but if he kept going I would have said, "keep it up, and you'll have a penis on your forehead".

Kat, you crack me up!

I guess I am just not easily offended , although I probably should of painted a penis on him, he would of never known.

I am still voting for cat litter, I couldn't of handled that without vomitting

Poor Miss Ronnie, it has been too long; I'm afraid I would even know how to paint one...

Miss Ronnie you are cracking me up!

Denise, you were with me for my worst gig. I'm so sorry you got shafted. I almost went to a similar event--it was the one that the lady from the Sportsplex told us about. Later, I found out it was a total bust, so I'm glad I didn't sign up.

Miss Ronnie, I think entitled brat birthday parties are the WORST! I hate it when parents treat me like "the hired help." I know that I am, so I'm always polite, but seriously, we're living in the 21st century people!

I've been lucky enough not to have a truly hell gig so far, but I've had my share of hell customers. Like all of you, I've been sneezed and coughed on, had customers with crawlies in the hair etc.

My most recent ppf gig had a (really large) bunch of really delightful kids/parents and then these two gems.

The first was this wee boy who sat so still for his facepaint that I eventually praised him for it. The father pipes up "Oh, he normally wouldn't be this good but he's not feeling well"
Err....I've already started, so I say "I'll stay away from his nose and mouth then and do a mask"
"Oh, that's not the end you need to worry about"
WHAT THE HE**!!! Does he not think that germs are passed around by nose and mouth? I had to throw that brush and sponge away and I didn't breathe until I got him out of my chair, as fast as possible. Ugh!

The other was a teenage girl, clearly of the 'entitled brat' variety, who rocks up, looks into my money jar and says "Hey, can I have a dollar? I don't have enough money for candyfloss". There I am with a line a mile long, haven't peed, drunk, eaten or taken a deep breath for 3 hours and she wants some of the money I've earned?!? I looked her up and down, said "No" in a completely disbelieving tone and picked up my money jar and moved it away from her. Forget about appearing polite and professional at all times, if she's rude enough to do that, I figure she's probably rude enough to help herself next time I'm not looking!

You experienced face painters are real troupers!! I haven't laughed this hard in quite sometime! And gotten educated too...Emetophobia. Never heard of it, but found out it is the 5th most common phobia!

I admire and respect you all even more after reading this!

OMG, I just laughed and winced and gagged over all these comments! I've been doing glitter tattoos for quite a while, and just recently started face painting. Now I'm a bit scared! I'm also a Hair Stylist, so I'm used to dealing with all sorts of people. But all these stories take the cake! If I ever get thrown up on, I think I'd throw up myself - EWWW! Wow! How do you explain to customers booking a party - I only want to work in sanitary, respectful conditions? I realize there's just no way to avoid some of these situations. The worst I've had so far is a preschool where I was to face paint with other face painter volunteers for 2 hours. No was else showed up and how can you stop when you've already started the little ones in the class? I was there for 3 1/2 hours. My worst kid (although she was adorable) was almost 3 and kept putting her hands on her still wet face paint, and smearing it everywhere. Any thoughts on how to handle that situation? (I didn't think anyone would approve of me tying the hands down - hee hee) Keep these stories coming - I'm sorry for all of you, but your stories are very entertaining!

lorikenh, face painting any age child can be a struggle. There are 3 year olds who sit motionless and 12 year olds that can't/won't stop moving or talking.

Oh, and some adults are just as bad.

Happy painting!

Thanks Miss Ronnie, I'll keep that in mind. Now I'm just afraid of getting barfed on!! ewwww!

Oh here's a new one. You know the facepainter is unhappy when she has to volunteer for the school fair, spends all day making stencils for the 'mom volunteers', shows up WITH CONCUSSION and paints ALONE for 4 hours without a single break.

At the end, the principal of the school rocks up and says "did so and so come and see you?" I reply "No"

"Oh, she told me she'd seen you and you had it all under control."

RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHH!

Grrrrr, that is frustrating!!!!

Kara... all I can say is...that really sucked...

I found my silver lining. I was way too busy to eat at the fair thanks to that mom.

The entire school is closed with a stomach bug (food poisoning?), but I'm fine.

I shouldn't laugh, because of course, my husband and kids got it too and it was a truly awful 24 hours for them and for me cleaning up after them.. but... BAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

ahem. that is all.

artyfacesbyluz wrote:

fesspenter wrote:The second birthday party I ever did professionally, I was placed next to a stinky cat litter box.
The lady had two cats.
They had frequent, foul-smelling, loose stools.
Their kitchen, where they moved me to smelled even worse.
Dad was boiling something in a big pot.
He was doing something with moose entrails from a recent hunting foray.
When I left, I felt I could smell cat diarrhea, burning moose fur and boiled moose fecal matter for days.

You made my day, I laughed until I cried.

I just giggled hysterically as well..ohhhh the crap we put up w for a paycheck lol

Here's some new grumbles and gripes from yesterday's birthday party....

1) Got put under a tree in a backyard full of trees and growth that kept shedding little stuff into my water, my kit and my paints.

2) Don't know what the heck they were, but creepy crawlies kept creepy crawling up my legs.

3) I was 20 feet away from the ginormous fire pit that was being fueled by cardboard... the breeze brought all the ash right in my face, my mouth, my paints, my water and, undoubtedly, my underwear.

4) I forgot my sponges....didn't have one blessed sponge to work with!!!!!
Oi Vey! (managed to do a pretty good job, I think.)

But I was still thankful for the work