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Sunday, 16 December 2007 20:01So, yesterday was my first day at the portrait studio...and oh, my god, did I pick a hell of a day to start. I had a bit of a bad feeling about this when I got there near 11 AM and saw that the studio itself wasn't even open yet. Normally, the studio opens at 9, and already there was an angry mob ready to kill the first person to come in and open the studio. I'm not joking. Close to 10 or so angry parents were at the studio, some who had portrait appointments, and some who were picking up their pictures. Me, I'm sitting here thinking that if no one shows up in 15 minutes, I'm going right back home. However, just before 11, a man named Richard came into the studio and proceeded to open it up and get it ready for the day, ignoring the immediate surge of people who began talking and yelling at once. Meanwhile, he kept right on going opening up the studio, ignoring the multitude while he got ready for the day.
I was made aware of several things yesterday: one, yesterday was the last day for people to get their holiday portraits done in time for Christmas, and so the entire day was booked solid. Two, the other photographer who was supposed to open called out with a bad cold. Three, I remembered why I never wanted to go back to serving the public. Even though this studio is located in a Wal-Mart, it is not run or owned by Wal-Mart. Didn't stop the endless onslaught of angry, impatient, selfish bastards that we had to deal with for the entire day. There were probably 3 or so people of everyone we dealt with who were actually nice or patient. I hadn't seen such gross cruelty since leaving Wal-Mart. They didn't care that I was the new guy. They didn't care that someone called out. They didn't care that Richard was essentially running the show by himself--I simply observed for 8 hours. All they did was scream, yell, and complain--telling us that we should hire more staff, telling us we should be calling other studios and asking them to send some help...by halfway through my shift, I was ready to quit. No fucking way am I going to deal with this bullshit. One woman, angry with the results of her pictures, came in and began blasting Richard--demanding a refund or the manager's number, and that he had two minutes to do so. The damn woman TIMED Richard as he tried to get a refund in. Two minutes elapsed, and she demanded the manager's number.
All 8 hours, it was like this. I managed to get in a lunch break--7 and a half hours in, Richard needed to have a break. He hadn't taken one, and so he simply left to grab a sandwich at the Blimpie inside the Wal-Mart. The several people who were waiting to have portraits done protested, and several of them got Wal-Mart management to berate Richard.
By the time 7 PM rolled around, I ran out of there as fast as I could.
As first days went, that one was a nightmare, and I was very much considering not coming back. Quitting right there. That's not how I choose to spend my weekends. I was supposed to be in today as well, but with the winter storm blowing around out there, I called out, not wishing to be on the dangerous roads. However, now that the Christmas portrait rush has come to an end, I'll most likely give it another shot next weekend, and if it's anything like yesterday, I won't think twice--I'm gone. It's not like I need this job for income--I already have that working for the Lottery.
It made me realize something, though...photography is an art. And like all art, it can't be rushed. To get the perfect image, the perfect pose, takes time and setup. When you have a bunch of angry, selfish, impatient, and ungrateful bastards rushing the hell out of you, you're going to create an inferior product. It doesn't matter what your subject is--you want to use all the time you want to create the perfect shot. In my very limited training yesterday, I was told that once you begin shooting, nothing else matters. Don't worry about the angry mob at the door, don't worry about the phone. Once the shoot begins, don't do anything else until it's done. It boggled me to find out that for the holidays, they were scheduling appointments every 15 minutes--every shoot that was done yesterday, from start to finish was at least 30 minutes. Now that the rush is over, they're scheduling every 30 minutes.
This position is only temporary, anyway--it's the experience of working with professional equipment that I'm after. I can handle asshole customers--I've been battle-hardened at Wal-Mart and McD's...but I'm going to find it extremely difficult when impatient customers try to rush you. No one has any patience anymore, and during the holidays is when we see the worst in people, it seems.
We as a society don't believe in humility anymore, don't believe in patience.
So that was yesterday. Sure picked one hell of a day to start.
Evening was better, though--got home, and April and I got our tree...which we're going to decorate.
Right now.
I was made aware of several things yesterday: one, yesterday was the last day for people to get their holiday portraits done in time for Christmas, and so the entire day was booked solid. Two, the other photographer who was supposed to open called out with a bad cold. Three, I remembered why I never wanted to go back to serving the public. Even though this studio is located in a Wal-Mart, it is not run or owned by Wal-Mart. Didn't stop the endless onslaught of angry, impatient, selfish bastards that we had to deal with for the entire day. There were probably 3 or so people of everyone we dealt with who were actually nice or patient. I hadn't seen such gross cruelty since leaving Wal-Mart. They didn't care that I was the new guy. They didn't care that someone called out. They didn't care that Richard was essentially running the show by himself--I simply observed for 8 hours. All they did was scream, yell, and complain--telling us that we should hire more staff, telling us we should be calling other studios and asking them to send some help...by halfway through my shift, I was ready to quit. No fucking way am I going to deal with this bullshit. One woman, angry with the results of her pictures, came in and began blasting Richard--demanding a refund or the manager's number, and that he had two minutes to do so. The damn woman TIMED Richard as he tried to get a refund in. Two minutes elapsed, and she demanded the manager's number.
All 8 hours, it was like this. I managed to get in a lunch break--7 and a half hours in, Richard needed to have a break. He hadn't taken one, and so he simply left to grab a sandwich at the Blimpie inside the Wal-Mart. The several people who were waiting to have portraits done protested, and several of them got Wal-Mart management to berate Richard.
By the time 7 PM rolled around, I ran out of there as fast as I could.
As first days went, that one was a nightmare, and I was very much considering not coming back. Quitting right there. That's not how I choose to spend my weekends. I was supposed to be in today as well, but with the winter storm blowing around out there, I called out, not wishing to be on the dangerous roads. However, now that the Christmas portrait rush has come to an end, I'll most likely give it another shot next weekend, and if it's anything like yesterday, I won't think twice--I'm gone. It's not like I need this job for income--I already have that working for the Lottery.
It made me realize something, though...photography is an art. And like all art, it can't be rushed. To get the perfect image, the perfect pose, takes time and setup. When you have a bunch of angry, selfish, impatient, and ungrateful bastards rushing the hell out of you, you're going to create an inferior product. It doesn't matter what your subject is--you want to use all the time you want to create the perfect shot. In my very limited training yesterday, I was told that once you begin shooting, nothing else matters. Don't worry about the angry mob at the door, don't worry about the phone. Once the shoot begins, don't do anything else until it's done. It boggled me to find out that for the holidays, they were scheduling appointments every 15 minutes--every shoot that was done yesterday, from start to finish was at least 30 minutes. Now that the rush is over, they're scheduling every 30 minutes.
This position is only temporary, anyway--it's the experience of working with professional equipment that I'm after. I can handle asshole customers--I've been battle-hardened at Wal-Mart and McD's...but I'm going to find it extremely difficult when impatient customers try to rush you. No one has any patience anymore, and during the holidays is when we see the worst in people, it seems.
We as a society don't believe in humility anymore, don't believe in patience.
So that was yesterday. Sure picked one hell of a day to start.
Evening was better, though--got home, and April and I got our tree...which we're going to decorate.
Right now.
