RANT: WTF? Why did you call ME???

[sparklingfaces]

Okay, I dont know what the deal is but lately I've been getting alot of businesses calling me.
They say they want me for 6 hours, it's a grand opening / festival / fair / carnival / whatever ....
I'm like " great! for 6 hours of painting I charge __insert reasonable price here__ "
But then they ask if I would do it for $10/$15 an hour???!!!!  WTF?
WTF? Why did you even call me???!!!

" doctors don't even make $100 an hour, and all you're doing is face painting."
WTF? - Why did you even call me???!!!

" well I have a budget of $100, is that okay?"
NO! it's NOT okay - WTF? - Why did you even call me???!!!

" well, minimum wage is $7, I'm willing to pay you $12 an hour"
AND?!!... WTF? - Why did you even call me???!!!

My rates are on my website... what are these people thinking???

Someone pass me an asprin before I go completely bonkers!!

[reginanewsum]

I understand your flustration, and I have the same thing happen here on this side of the states! I had one lady call me three times yesterday for a birthday party! 10 to 12 children is what she kept saying. I gave her my price and she still kept calling, trying to dicker me down!  I said no this is my price!  She called again this morning and ask for pictures!  I directed her to my site!  She called back again and ask would I be available on June 5th. I said yes as of today I am available, she asked if she called back a few days before June 5th could I still come! Hmmmm!  I told her if I am available then, but I couldn't put that in stone! Ahhh one more call back this evening from her! She stated she viewed my pictures and that  she must have me at her daughters party, that she was more excited than the kids now that she saw my work! She booked and paid, so after about 6 calls in two days, moral of the story "stick to your guns on your price"  I get that all the time, famous words from clients "can you give me a better deal?"

[Sherry]

Are you kidding me?  That's crazy!  I've had the occasional, will you work for free/charity thing, trade/barter or PPF, but never $10 - 12 an hour.  This was more than one person and a business at that?  Businesses normally have money... I wouldn't buy it.  They have money for bouncies, don't they?  Caterers?  If they're a struggling business, then maybe they're not ready for a face painter and should get family to help out and do cheek art or something.

Normally when businesses call me, they don't give me a price, but will ask me if I can do better... if I can give them a better price.

Good luck to them finding someone to work for those prices! 

[Sherry]

Gina's post made me think of an incident that happened to me last year.  At that time, I was charging $70 an hour and a business called.  They wanted us to come out from 9 - 10 a.m. and then come back again that evening from 6 - 7 p.m.  Not the greatest!  I don't know about you, but coming out for one hour, leaving and returning again that evening for another hour, seemed to be tieing up the day with little one hour events.

Before agreeing to hire us on, she asks if I'll come down in price.  I wouldn't and told her that that was a really good price.  She gets off the phone and I'm feeling really annoyed with her.  Thinking to myself, nobody wants to be coming out there for only one hour and then returning for another measly hour and for so little money.  She calls back a few days later and hires us and she's become one of our best repeat customers and no longer books us for one hour either!  We get at least one event with her company every month.

[MsMollie]

you guys are doing better than me!...lol....i have gotten about three calls and all of them almost fainted when I told them my price. I didn't budge, but they never called back either...lol. Well, that's life!

[Kristal]

I say drive over to where they are and punch them square in the left nostril. Haha. Knock some sense into them

I got passed over for a gig last month, too. She called, and was so excited that I was available for the whole weekend - grand opening for a bowling alley, 2 days, 6-10 hours each day, and they wanted me to paint and 2 of my contractors to twist. I call back with a quote (10% off for the 6 hour days, 25% for the 10 hour days, which I pretty much never do)...turns out I'm "waaaaaay" over their budget. They had set aside $250/artist for the WEEKEND. Taking into account prep and cleanup and all of the paperwork etc on my end, that's like $5/hour. BULL!

I ended up making more than that, that weekend, in 3.5 hours of work instead of 20. I'd take that any day! I win.

[MsMollie]

you go Kristal!....