Oh the joy of dealing with people!

[Norm_Cabana]

In an attempt to inject some life into this forum, I think it might be fun to talk about our "customers" and some of their more "interesting" comments and questions. If you're one of those lone wolves who don't really interact with the folks who provide the means for us to pay the bills, these people can be downright weird. They certainly aren't stupid, but they can make some of the most mindless comments you can imagine!

A short while ago I had the opportunity to cover the San Jose Grand Prix. It's a very big deal for our community. 160,000 people attended and I think I had a chance to see pretty much every variant of a human being there is to see on that weekend. Most of the event guys know that I operate from a 20 foot enclosed trailer and the way my rig is done up, you really can't miss the fact that we sell photos. This year for the SJGP I was able to have my trailer placed inside the San Jose Convention Center, right in the middle of the Historic NASCAR Stock Cars and between the Champ Car Paddock and the Drift Cars. We had thousands of people go by our trailer each day.

The first hint that people weren't ready for us was when several people came into the trailer and wanted to see the "telemetry" on our screens. Telemetry? In a photo trailer? What the heck did they think we were...NASA? New product line coming right up! The next was the lady that walked into the trailer and in a loud voice demanded of my assistant..."What are you?" and in a perfect dead pan he replied "A human being" I never knew that a woman in high heels could stamp her feet so hard! Next comes the two Middle Eastern guys who want to know what kind of video we are taking. Video? As we are explaining to them that we don't take video, one of them is using his cell phone to take pictures of the inside of the trailer. So I then said, in the calmest voice I could manage, "Actually, were not photographers. We're from the NSA and we're watching your cell phone calls on our computers." It's amazing how easily you can crack the case on a cell phone by snapping it closed!

Then there was the lady who was wearing shorts made from an army uniform, a tie-dyed t-shirt and was wearing a Vietnam Era combat helmet with a small US and Canadian flags taped to the sides. I actually saw someone wearing one of those hats with the beer cans on each side and the drinking tube stuck in the guys mouth.

Here's a question I get an awful lot and I wonder what YOU'D answer. "Do you have any good photos of my car?"

When a customer says "Can I buy a CD (of photos) of my car?" would you say "No" just to see their reaction?

[Paul_Payne]

Norm,

Somtimes I wonder just how are customers get thru their day. I photograph several Dance Schools in are area and I'm amazed at the questions I get.

Every year we try to use a different canvas background at our schools to pre-empt the obvious "Oh - That background again" And at the schools where we have two lighting setups we have two identical backgrounds, but, we always have the customer that walks into the shooting room and whether we have a single setup or a double,always ask..."Is this the only background you have?"
They dont have a clue that the backgrounds that we use can cost from several hundreds to thousands of dollars. I've always wanted to come back with "No...We have several more out in our trailer...Would you like to come out and personally pick the one you would like and wait an hour while we take this background down and put up the one you like?? And Oh' by the way you will have to go get permission from the Dance School owner because your childs photo when inserted in the school composite will really mess it up!

Paul

[EricC]

O.K. I'll Play......

60+ year old grandmother who walks up to complain that our new protection software was preventing her from 'lifting' images of her grandson from our website. Something that she had been doing all season. Then gives us her e-mail address at a huge ivy league college so that we can forward the pictures to her.

Paramedic and part-time magician who asked how much my camera cost. Figured that seeing as he was stuck covering the sporting event he could shoot them too and double up on his $$.

[Ed_J_Szalajeski]

Oh the joys of customers.

I too was starting to see that this forum was a little slow.

Famous Customer quotes:

Harness Race, a customer (not a horseman) asked why we choose the Crazy Horse to go into the winners Circle, and not the more mellow horse. (the horse jumped around a little, and cause the group picture to need to be taken very fast).

I was looking at her, and trying to be nice, and told her if I had my way, I would be able to pick the winning horses myself, and I assured her I would always pick the more mellow horses to win in my fixed races.

Then the light bulb went off. It was a classic momement, and she smiled.

EJ

[ChrisPurves]

Norm:- I like your way of thinking. We can always depend on you to stimulate the thinking process.
At a horse show in July - Mom waits until the last moment to have pictures, kid wins big time (12 or 13 wins). She has four different poses taken. I comment that her photos will be on the viewing screens in a couple of minutes. Her answer was " Oh, we don't buy photos. We win so much that the organizers always want photos of us winning all the time. That's the only reason we have photos taken"
My wife keeps reminding me that I only have to deal with them for 30seconds. They will always be (insert appropriate word)

Thanks again Norm. You made my day.

Cheers
Chris

[Ed_J_Szalajeski]

I can add to that,

During a very rainy downpour, at a track I make pictures at. A family had a horse win, and they made their way out to the winner circle in a near hurican force rain.

I took the picture, they were very wet.

After we made it back toward the grand stands I asked how many winner prints they wanted, "NONE, we have a draw full."

I think for some equestrian people, being in the winner circle it the reward, even if they do not get a picture.

EJ

[Norm_Cabana]

If anyone is a fan of Jeff Foxworthy you probably know that he's gotten together with Ron 'tater salad' White, Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvale. I love watching these guys as they can be tremendously funny without having to resort to profanity to get a laugh. Bill Engvale has a hilarious routine called "Here's your sign!" and today I just happened to exercise a bit of Bill's wit.

An elderly lady walked into my trailer today and asked, with complete sincerity, "Do you sell photos?" I've heard this question so many times. I really couldn't stop myself. "Nope, I'm taking orders for antiques." The lady paused for a second, looked around the trailer and simply walked away. Her daughter, however, thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever seen. Other times I'll say something like "Darn, what gave us away? I was hoping no one would notice."

I love the customers that will stand in my trailer and be looking at our white board with the decals for Visa and Mastercard on it and ask if we take credit cards. When I am feeling nasty I'll tell them "Yes, but it must be a full one and I promise I will return it to you empty."

Then there is the customer that asks if we will accept cash. "Of course, but we have to charge extra to take money!" Without fail there is a pause and they then ask "How much!"

Then there are the folks who walk in and ask if we have any photos of their car. Every once in a while I will ask if they have said nice things about us because we only take photos of people who say nice things about us. Furrowed brows while they try to remember!

A long time ago I used to work in Tech Support for a major software company. Occasionally we would ask the customer to send in a copy of their data disk. This was back when 5 1/4 in floppies were still in use. I can't count the number of times we would get reply from the customer with a folded piece of paper in an envelope. Care to guess what was on the paper?

Finally, at least for today, there are the people who come up and ask if there are any good photos of their car. Depending upon how I feel the answer might be "No, we only take great photos. There's another photographer here that does the good photos. You can find him over there! (Norm pointing at the exit of the track)