bad customers

[voodoo]

have you or how do you deal with them ?

[olboys]

depends if before the tatt,i tell them i don't need there business if they don't chill out,then i make them pay up front which i do most of the time,anyway.if im in the middle i ask them if they want there tattoo done,if they do they no they payed already and they shut up.

[voodoo]

:mrgreen: good idea-pay first,or at least a deposit!

[Anonymous]

I always make sure my clients are payed up front , Its way to easy for someone to just get up and walk out without paying ...

[Madd Chef]

I always get paid after because i charge by the hour. I joke saying if any one dosen't pay I'll cut my art work off there body with my BFK, Cause I'm a Chef aswell and am damb good with a blade. (I did say I said it jokingly, though I'm 6'3" 300lbs so that may work too!) Besides every one ive tattooed sofar ar freinds or freinds of freinds. :D

[Madd Chef]

I dont know if this fits in here but I tattooed a big tribal on a guy and he sat there till it was done then came back 2.5 weeks later for touch ups and tried getting me to add a bunch of other stuff to a peice I didn't even do. He said come on your using the needle anyways just do it, so i said min. charge of nothing. He reluctently pay and havent seen him since, though hes still telling his buddies I do awsome work. bad customer but good?

[Anonymous]

Theres always gonna be customers like that , espescially when u start working on the General public ...What I do is just guesstimate how long it will take me to do the piece , and just give em a price , which is 100 $ per hour for me , with a 40 $ minimum . Once u get to doing alot of work its not hard to figure out how long it will take , and sometimes I still go over or under, but it all evens out .
the bad thing about taking payment afterwards is what if someone did try to leave without paying u ? Really what would u do ? Beat his Ass ? so then he presses charges for assaulting him , or sues u ? Trust me it will happen , and its not worth the trouble , especially if u are working out of your home, u dont want to make enemys and take the chance of them coming back when your not home and your family is...

[DOPPLENHAKEN]

that shits happend to me twice ,both females.theres nothing you can do.the first one i was totaly burnt on,but the second one i told her i'd finish when she had the cash.it pisses me off they think that it doesnt cost us nothing so why should they pay,like i'm just doin this for them.my advise get at least half up front.and don't take "all i got is this".tell them to kick rocks! :x

[Choppers4Life]

I ALWAYS make people pay up front for two reasons. One. I get paid. Two I have seen it too many times where someone will pay after a tattoo and the first thing they want to do when the tattoo is done is touch it for some reason or another and next thing you know, they are reaching in their pocket with their hand that may have just touched a contaminated area and hand you money that is now contaminated for all practical purposes. Then you get that hand shake and thanks and next thing you know, you may face a possible cross contamination issue. Maybe I'm picky but thats how I do it and I won't change for anyone.

[theprofessor]

Not to mention that money is pretty damm dirty in the fist place. But as for bad people I have been lucky to have only one but it went real bad. Working on this awsome backpiece on this girl, custom fitting it around other peoples work. Well we were doing a pay as you go thing and I was looking forward to having this be a real good signature work well things went badm she stopped taking her meds and flipped out on me. Now there is a back wondering around unfinished but at least she is not bad mouthing me about it but maybe her other personalities are!

[MedusaQueen]

You will not avoid having "bad" customers when you are in an industry that deals with all walks of life. Most people want something for nothing and will try to haggle the prices and look for ways to add freebies, which can sometimes be frustrating. I just tell them they are not in a pawn shop. Of course freebies here and there and haggled prices are fine and dandy if you don't mind the extra work, and hell, practice is practice no matter how long you've been in the business, just try not to let them think they will get that deal every time. It can be more time consuming to stand there and haggle than to just move on to the next customer that's more than willing to sit down for what you are worth. Of ourse, my least favorite are the ones that are willing to pay but find that they can't handle the application (usually the the little girly girls that come with 20 friggin people just to watch the one get a tattoo). They jump and jiggle and squirm every time the needle even starts; god forbid she lets you pull a straight line. I'm thinking "How much did I bid this thing for? She's turning a 30 minute peice into 3 hours!" I have to remind myself it's not about the money. It's about the art. So what if she squirmed, if it looks good, those 20 other people she brought will be back, but not just to watch.

[Papa Gee]

I've not had anyone give me a bad time yet but I have had several "shoppers" who have just about run me ragged.

I do a lot of my artwork on computer and can mix and match flash to make a unique tattoo for someone. Several of my female clients have sat wiht me and designed a tattoo, be it a lower back tribal or in the case of my roomates 21 year old daughter, a very elabotrate fairy tattoo only to suddenly decide not to get it done today. So I'm sitting here with about two hours worth of art work on my computer with no one to apply it to.

So far it's only been female clients and I get the feeling its a shopping thing for them. A little frustrating but I guess it comes with the turf.

[sundance4725]

I tell tattooists r like prostitutes you HaVE to pay first no exceptions on walk ins in home tattooing if u got a family can be shady theres so many sick people i started tattooing on gang members on the west coast in denver omaha there is some thesepeople you dont want in your house because to you hear things you dont want.but i think even some of the craziest dont mess with the tattoo guy cause we tattoo some bad pussycats that love there tattooist

[DOPPLENHAKEN]

i tatted the daughter of the vp of a biker gang,then he wanted a whole back piece.have you guys ever seen the drawing of a women sitting in a chair staring in the mirror and her reflections a skeleton.until she payd me,his wasn't going to be finished.they can take your guns but they can't take your talent :shock: :)

[MedusaQueen]

LOL.... my favorite phrase is "Don't piss off your tattoo artist"....especially if he's working on your back!

[gremlin]

I know what medusa is talking about. I had a girl who wanted a georgia peach on he butt with "georgia girl" surrounding it. easy job right? wrongggggg! I started the machine and she immediately puked on my floor. then when she finally got back on the table every time i would start to pull a line she would scream like I was murdering her or something, geez anyone outside would have thought I was removing her tonsils through her butt with a rusty bottle opener and a pickle fork.
That same week I had a dude who had a few jailhouse picked tattoos who swore I was ripping him off and not putting the ink in deep enough. he said and i quote" man you ripping me off, you aint putting the ink in deep enuff I can tell cuz it aint hurtin, all the tattoos i got picked in the joint hurt like a @#$#$ ".
Has anyone ever had This inquiry. "I want a full sleeve, and I need it done by tonight, how much down to put it on layaway" [/quote]

[Preacher]

Hello,
I had a girl get a lower back piece good tattoo. The next day she called a sad the ink was comeing out. so i asked her if she was rubbing it and what with. She said a paper towel and every time she put on aftercare cream. Everytime i said how many times are you putting it on. Whele everytime it iches and the staff at my job is applying it for me. No washed hand or nothing. That night i had her come back and went over the aftercare sheet again. She said she put cream on about every 15min through the day. Got her straight on that. Then a couple days later she went to the doc. he told her she had a staff infection. So who did she blame me. But the doc said it was not me because she would have had it sooner. Probebly the people who applied the cream without wash there hands. What do you think? :?: :D

[voodoo]

no wal-mart action &wash your stink'n paws before touching a new tatt! :evil:

[Valdar]

lol I was looking at Madd Chefs post about the BFK. It is amazing the responce a 12 inch french knife gets especially when people know that you know how to use it very well and make an offer to do a 1/4 inch dice on their fingers.

[hollhart]

Hey I just said I'd repo it, when asked how I said "I'll use my eraser" was givin' a puzzled look and then said "Sand paper" good times good times.

[TwistedMr]

I did a tattoo on friday of a guy with Tourettes.
He didnt swear any more than my usual clients, it manifested itself more in facial and neck spasms.
He was able to control himself pretty good while inking and kept the spazzing to when I was dipping.

[voodoo]

Thats a crappy thing to have..We had a lady that used to shop at a store i worked at and she would yell out fu*k and stuff like that!She was very nice.We just got used to her yelling!