Which professions or services do you think attract the most entitled jerks? If you look for answers on r/ChoosingBeggars, the subreddit for shaming people who make unreasonable demands, you might notice that devaluing art and childcare are both recurring themes. Well, this guy managed to be a complete jerk about both simultaneously when he asked his wife’s friend, who apparently had already helped the couple by watching their kids, to paint a free Christmas portrait (for “exposure”, naturally.) Let’s look over the conversation and see how he ticks every box of choosing beggar bingo by not only trying to take advantage of her for free art, but holding payment over her head for babysitting.
The artist posted this conversation on r/ChoosingBeggars
So, first of all, we have the classic attitude that the cost of art is nothing more than the cost of the materials (not that he understands how that works, either... if you already bought it and it’s in your house, that means it’s free, right?) Actually sitting down and making art, in these people’s view, takes nothing more than the goodness of one’s heart, which they expect the artist to have plenty of even after having to listen to their excuses. Artists have to develop their own ways of dealing with people who think they can get free art, like this guy who sent people who wanted free portraits hilariously sloppy scribbles.
Not to mention the cherry on the human trash cake, his oh-so-generous offer to maybe even pay her for babysitting four kids if she does the additional work of painting a full family portrait. Sorry, but taking care of kids that aren't yours is work, no matter how "easy" they are or whether the person taking care of them knows you. And we're not sure why these choosing beggars are always justifying why they can't pay for something by bragging about how much money they already blew on something totally frivolous... get your priorities straight, people.
Commenters agree that this guy is a serious A-hole
