From: RkyMtnTrls@aol.com
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:34:00 EDT
Subject: Re: Another line dilemma / sponsors under hiring
To: facepaint@email.sparklist.com, Animals4Kids@onelist.com,

Although this thread is geared to face painting .... it equally applies to 
balloon twisting and other such line work.  

"....did a Family Fun Festival for the entire city... the city had hired us 
for a flat fee... Good for the clown alley, bad for the situation... 3 
P.M.... until 8 P.M ... 100 people in line... The line stayed that long (all 
day)... There were 3 of us painting at the time...."

This is a very common problem!  I hate it when a sponsor (co-ordinator) 
basically uses us as a door matte -- meaning, takes a big advantage over us.  

Big gig co-ordinators (anything larger than a 15-child birthday party)   
typically will try to hire with as little dollar input as they can --- for 
BIG jobs.   I have stated right in my contract that my painting speed is 1 
child per 3 minutes, per painter.  It also states what the fee is per half 
hour that we are requested to do overtime.  I do this so that there is not 
LEGAL hassles when it comes time to close my line at the end.  The only thing 
is ---- the co-ordinators rarely to about never will pay for extra time ---- 
they often will try to get it for free! ---- so I have learned to be very 
business like (and that IS professional!)   to not give more than 15 minutes 
extra.  It means I've had to try out and learn many types of line control and 
the hardest thing of all to learn --- how to say and stick to "...I'm sorry, 
but we can't paint anymore before our time is up...."

Sounds like the clown alley gave the painters a bum rap --- accidentally or 
deliberately miscalculating how many painters were needed to handle a job of 
that size for that many hours.  It's not hard at all to calculate for both 
--- just figure up the painter's speed, number expected for the crowd, number 
of hours to be working, etc.   I do that all the time for my own painting 
gigs and for my apprentices who paint for me now.  I have 2 apprentice 
painters at this time, with 2 more begging me for jobs --- I have older teens 
as my helpers, and they have to go through some intensive training and show 
proof that they are ready before they get their first painting gig.  No joke 
- they have to earn the right to go to work.

 "....first time I've ever run into a situation... even NEAR that many people 
in line...a bit flabergasted.  I'm sure it would have been better and less of 
a line, had we been charging per face or even taking donation...."

Sounds like the city got a handful of painters super cheap and milked the 
situation pretty good.  Yeah - that's putting it pretty bluntly - but sums it 
up.  Not good for you the individual painters though!   If it's any 
consolation --- I've worked many gigs like that and probably will work more 
-- but the change is that I now try to screen them out -- by informing the 
co-ordinator before the contract is even signed that I can pain xxx faces per 
hour, and then I ask "...how many are you expecting for the event?..."  If I 
hear from them far more than one (or even three painters) can do in the time 
frame we're being hired for --- I'll point out to the co-ordinator we can 
paint only xxx faces of the xxx size crowd they're expecting.  That's really 
all you can do - if they still hire you, well, then you know what you're 
getting into before you get there at least.

For my little company, it goes like this:  I tell the co-ordinater, one 
painter can do good work at a speed of 15-20 kids per hour .... if they are 
only hiring us for 2 hours, one painter, then expect only 35-40 kids out of 
their crowd of 500 (once it was a crowd expectancy of 2,000!) to be done in 
that period of time.  Yet, the co-ordinators invariably will only pay for 1 
more painter, or just say, "....that's ok, do what you can..." and I read 
that to mean, "... gee, we're hoping you'll stay longer out of pity for the 
kids and do extra time for free...."   Sounds sarcastic, but TRUE STORIES 
none the less!  And I am not even on the high end of the pay scale --- I 
charge $65 per hour for myself (I'm good, not bragging) and only $20 per hour 
for my teen apprentices ----------------- this is a VERY good price and still 
the extreme examples of cheap co-ordinators just won't pay for it - they 
don't care if you are good or kah-kah --- they want lots for cheap, bottom 
line.  We've heard all kinds of reasons / excuses --- from:  "...oh, we have 
some mom's who are going to do it for free..." which ends up looking like 
kah-kah.   We also hear "...can our volunteers use your paints to help 
out?..." which is an absolute NO!  (Said tactfully, of course, but still 
firm.)  Of course, the liability insurance I pay for my company covers myself 
and my teen apprenctices - it does NOT cover their amateur volunteers and 
even more to the point --- their volunteers' poor work marrs my hard earned 
reputation for quality work.  This is what I mean --- parents who might have 
hired later on for a party see the volunteers' poor work and assume that THAT 
person might be sent out to do their party --- so there goes 5 years' worth 
of reputation building down the ol' toilet -- at least at that event.

In the case of volunteer painters --- I strongly recommend that you NOT allow 
them to paint off of your table.  Have a professional looking sign saying, 
"Painting at this table done by _______(business name)"      I am always in 
my cowgirl costume and my apprentices always ALL wear a uniform red shirt 
WITH my company logo in large print on it.   The volunteer's table is not 
going to have anything even close to what I'm doing to represent my company 
---- so that's the best I can come up with on making it clear that there is 
two totally different painters present (ie --- that guy/girl is NOT part of 
us!)

It sounds awful - but we are businesses and we do need to protect our hard 
earned reputations.  True, this is a FUN business and brings a lot of joy to 
many kids.  BUT equally true -- for many of us --  this is how we pay the 
bills.  If we do not watch over our business reputations, it is we who loose 
out.

Sher