Safety

[Alison]

How do you feel about leaving your supplies in public.
At a festival? Overnight?  In your car? 

I'm a worrier, so I protect myself against situations in which I might worry.
But that makes a lot of extra work for myself.  (And some pretty uncomfortable
situations for when I don't want to leave my stuff in a Public Park to go
to the bathroom.)

Yet I've never had anything happen.  Except if you count one small time
when I found a kid opening my markers and looking at them when I came
back from the bathroom in a swanky Party.  No harm done.

Did I never have anything happen because I'm not so naive?
Or did I never have anything happen because there's nothing to worry about - chances of the bad-guy coming around are very unlikely?

[Sherry]

I don't worry too much about my supplies.  I think I did when I was first starting out, because they were expensive to accumulate, so I'd pack all that up every night.  I've never worried when taking a lunch or bathroom break though.  I usually worry more about my money, so I now wear a fanny pack, so my money is always attached to my stomach.  And I never count my money until after the event when I'm away from everyone.  I don't think it's safe to be flashing the money you earned around.

I will often leave my supplies overnight, but I take time to pack them away and hide them, so they won't tempt anyone.  Especially when the event says they'll have patrols, I will leave them.  I don't think your everyday person would want to steal my face paint supplies, I don't think they'd have much use for them, but I could be wrong.

I worry a bit more about my chairs, thinking they'd be useful to someone and easy to cart off. 

I don't leave my supplies in the car, if I can help it, because I don't want the heat messing with my face paints or balloons, I'm in the south after all!  If I must, I'll roll the windows down.

[GaFacepainter]

At the end of the day I like to take the most valuable/ money making stuff and put into a small rolling suitcase and take it with me. The rest I leave. I figure if anything was to be taken it would be stuff that I didn't have to wait a few days to replace. A chair or table is an easy run to walmart to replace. The only black/ white you had and have to reorder is something else! If they want to take your board off, let them free advertising!!

[Alison]

Interesting replies here.  Seems like we're always dealing with a trade-off.  Of I'll take a chance with this but not with that.  But why should we have to be taking chances?  Do other professions leave their stuff, perhaps their computers, their chairs, their hair-dryers, whatever

and just imagine, like, who else would want this stuff, anyway?

Does the dentist leave his plyers?  The Janitor leave his mop?  The actress leave her costume?

Not just because of thieves.  But also because of well-wishers who don't know why it should be there.

I think we are in this situation.  I'm just saying that it's part of this career that I do not like.

[Sherry]

At festivals, I've noticed a lot of vendors leaving their things overnight.  They're probably taking their most valuable things with them, but many times, they're putting things under the table and closing the walls on their easy ups, or lowering the tents.

[Alison]

I can never get used to that.  I figure, better safe than sorry.

Today, for instance, I went out for dinner with another Artist after our gig.
We had our papers out, and we were sharing designs.  I have no problem
leaving my stuff with him - He's a friend.  But  he decided to go to
the bathroom at the same time that I wanted to go to the bathroom.
So I just forced myself to wait til he got back - So one of us would
be with our valuable papers at all times.  And That wasn't even our
Supplies.  I just imagine how horrible I'd have felt if our papers


disappeared.