anybody have this experience??

DrayBono · #1 04-17-2009, 10:17 AM

so the other night this chick and her friend come in wanting matching tattoos. they only wanted small nautical stars and didnt want to pay more than our minimum. while they were filling out paperwork the one friend (who we will call the 'subject' since she is the subject of this post) proceeds to tell me about the horrible tattoo experiences she's had at nearly every other shop in town (which is not surprising, she was covered in bad tattoos).

so i'm doing the tattoo, all is going well, lines are nice and straight, the color fills are nice and saturated and its a decent tattoo so far, then i go in for the bells and whistles. i do a nice little color fade out of the corners for a background and add some white highlights and i think its pretty sweet lookin. she takes a look and becomes unhinged. she's flipping out because its not what a nautical star is supposed to look like, i said yeah it looks better, i hooked ya up, theres no extra charge, chill out. shes not havin it. the owner wasnt here at the time but she makes arrangements to talk to him today. i do the friend's tattoo and shes perfectly fine. so the friend pays and its the subjects turn and she flips out again and rips the bandage off her wrist. i tell her however she may feel about the situation, i really need to re-cover her wrist for her safety, nope. she yells some more and leaves without paying. i called the cops, filed a theft report and here i wait to see what happens when she comes in today.

you guys ever dealt with similar? what the hell was this chick's deal? i've never had anyone react that way, do you think theres anything you'd do different?

BRANDON BOND · #2 04-17-2009, 12:51 PM

communicatioin prior to tatooing - explaining what your doing will help some dont want bells and whistles

some are just plain nutz.

tattooing is a wierd gig everynow and then

ronnyv · #3 04-17-2009, 01:03 PM

cash up front.

and communicate. tell them "hey, if i do this, i think it would be my best." it's their skin, not yours. if they say no, whatever. its less time they spend in your chair. who's next?

but yeah, clients by and large are retarded. still gotta give some measure of respect. they pay your bills.

you can get your creative rocks off on the not retarded ones.

word of mouth is powerful. now that dummy is off telling her friends your SHOP f'd up your tattoo.

but then again, her friends are probably bottom feeders too...

she was probably molested by her dad or some sneaky uncle.

Frostbitetattoo · #4 04-17-2009, 08:03 PM

I had a chick try that on me once ( the not paying part ) she said she didn`t have enough cash when i quoted her the price a week ago and stated it was $20 more than anyother shops would charge and walked out without paying! As i was muttering what a cheap whore she was i saw her car keys were still in the crease of the chair ( must`ve slipped out of her pocket during the tattoo ) and bingo!!!! INSTANT BARGINING TOOL she came back in 10mins later and i got my money with an appology for her being a d**k and she got her keys back. win win situtation................if i didn`t have the car keys i think things would`ve been different

sickradsean · #5 04-18-2009, 07:59 AM

ok can we turn this into a "ridiculous customer" thread??

a few weeks back a woman and her husband (who i later found out was 62 and she was 31) came in. she wanted a coverup of some s&!tty hand poked cross on her arm. she picks out some flash for it and proceeds to tell me about the s&!tty tattoo that she has on the back of her neck. it was a tribal butterfly that was too small and shakey and all that crap. plus it healed like ass. her husband (4ft 7??) starts getting all loud about how that guy "f@#ked it up" and "tattoos are f@#king stupid" "waste of money" "you better not f@#ker her up" yada yadda. so she apologizes for him and literally drags him out of the shop kicking and screaming like a 3 yr old. i had taken a deposit and given her a card (standard procedure), she comes back in to get a reciept for the deposit for her tattoo in 3 hours. i tell her that if she wants to get tattooed she cant bring her husband.

so, the tattoo goes well. covers right up, no problems. until her husband shows up and starts muttering around "he better not f@#k it up" "ill kick his f@#kin ass". ok now im 6'3" like 220 and this guy is threatening me from across the counter while im tattooing his wife?! i yell back at him that "im sitting right here" and tell him to leave so i can finish the tattoo. were done, she pays cash. game over.

a few hours later he calls screaming in my ear about how "what kind of business are you running" "you didnt giver her a f@#kin receipt" "im coming down there right f@#kin now". great.

i had photocopied the paperwork to give to him as a receipt (whats the deal? is she going to return the tattoo?) he comes in yelling about how hes going to call the cops and shut us down. i hand him the paperwork and tell him to have a nice day. this man loses his mind. he goes off about "where does it say she paid money for services rendered?" i point it out on the paperwork. "im gonna sue you when i t gets infected" i point out the relese of liability that his wife signed. "you cant hide behind this s&!t!! ill have your liscense, the board of health will shut this place down, ill sue you all" we tell him to have a nice day as he leaves to which is replied "DROP DEAD!"

i watch him get into the car, but it doesnt pull away. a few mins go by then the wife (who apparently was in the car for all this) comes running in screaming about she needs to borrow a phone, to call 911. hes having a heart attack and his pacemaker isnt working. i giver my cell and she screams at the operator for a few mins. then asks the other guy in the shop to go check on him!!!!

eventually the ambulance comes and takes him away. after sitting parked in front of the shop with the lights on for 30 mins. great.

and that was the craziest customer experience ive ever had.

travelingtom · #6 04-18-2009, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronnyv

cash up front.

and communicate. tell them "hey, if i do this, i think it would be my best." it's their skin, not yours. if they say no, whatever. its less time they spend in your chair. who's next?

but yeah, clients by and large are retarded. still gotta give some measure of respect. they pay your bills.

you can get your creative rocks off on the not retarded ones.

word of mouth is powerful. now that dummy is off telling her friends your SHOP f'd up your tattoo.

but then again, her friends are probably bottom feeders too...

she was probably molested by her dad or some sneaky uncle.

holy s&!t it's ronny, hav'nt heared from you in a while.
but yah money up front, there is no way in hell i would bust my ass on a nice tattoo, and take the risk of getting boned.

DrayBono · #7 04-18-2009, 10:55 AM

wow awesome story, talk about instant karma, hahaha.

crazy b1tc4 never came in to talk to the owner, funny thing is she works in the mexican place across the way and i saw her there all day. someone must've complimented her tattoo and she changed her mind. still hasn't paid yet...guess the cops will have to handle that one.

i second the crazy customer thread. let the games begin

travelingtom · #8 04-18-2009, 11:05 AM

i would have the biggest chick you can find beat the f@#king s&!t out of that b1tc4. f@#k that man. not cool.

BRANDON BOND · #9 04-20-2009, 12:49 PM

cash upfront!

I forgot to say that too hahahahaa

kollin · #10 04-20-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrayBono

wow awesome story, talk about instant karma, hahaha.

crazy b1tc4 never came in to talk to the owner, funny thing is she works in the mexican place across the way and i saw her there all day. someone must've complimented her tattoo and she changed her mind. still hasn't paid yet...guess the cops will have to handle that one.

i second the crazy customer thread. let the games begin

Collections will haunt her like a mafioso hitman for you if you take that route. They usually take five to ten percent of the fee but you'd swear they should charge almost fifty for how mean those bastards are! I've had people get tattooed and make a hard sprint towards the front door. stupid thing is , is there's paper work with an i.d. photocopied on it I don't get when they forget this part of the process. I would say money up front for some but I charge by the hour and don't really know exactly how much to charge up front, but always a minimum fifty dollar deposit up front. If nothing else you could always get a closed room shop and lock em in like the monkeys they are