Photo Booth Rental – The hard life of an Attendant

Being a GoBooth Photo Booth Rental attendant is an awesome job. You go to a party or wedding where everyone is in a great mood and wants to get wild. If you want your guests to get wild, you NEED the GoBooth.

Here’s my typical night.

The first thing I set up is the backdrop. People walk around and stare, ask me
-where’s the bathroom?
I don’t know Sir, I don’t work here.
-it looks like you work here?!
That lady with the name tag will help you find relief!

Then I start plugging the camera, and the printer. By that time, more people are stopping by.
-What is this?
-Some kind of picture-taking thingamajiggy?
It’s The GoBooth Ma’am! At 9 pm, you can come with your friends, I’ll have everything set up. There will be props and you can take crazy pictures with your friends!
-That sounds awesome…. do you know where the bathroom is?
No sorry.

Once everything is plugged and calibrated. I’ll bust out the props table. All our masks are cleaned before every event. So… the early germaphobe gets the worm. In fact, everything is cleaned. The hats, the handheld items. Cause let’s face it, there are a lot of people asking where the washroom is. I told you I don’t know!

I always show up early for fear of being late. Because of that I always finish setting up early. So I’m just standing there. Which means now I have people coming up.
-What is this?
It’s The GoBooth ma’am! You grab some friends, grab some props, it takes pictures. We give you a copy of the picture and you can see everything taken today in a day or two online.
-OMG, that sounds amazing!
It’s great you guys will have a blast.
-Cindy, Mel, come take some pictures!
Sorry, ma’am, we’re not starting for another 22 minutes.
-Oh?!

I’ve learned now, i just have to fiddle with the camera till it’s showtime, make it look like I’m fixing stuff.  That way I don’t have to disappoint people by telling them they have to wait before having the most fun they’ve had in months. I know you think… it’s only taking pictures. Trust me, give people stuff to wear or improvise with and they will always show you something about them you didn’t know. Just by what they pick up and what they do with it.

Depending on the event, sometimes there are people waiting to go when it’s showtime.
Sometimes it’s slow to get started.
But one thing is certain.
Once a couple of people get their copies of their pictures and go show their friends.
I don’t stop for the rest of the event.
I’m good with faces so I can remember who I’ve given the run down to.
When someone gets to the front of the line I tell them what I will tell the next 100-200 people.

” Hello! I’m just going to tell you how the GoBooth works.
You’re going to stand between that line on the ground and the backdrop.
The camera is going to take 4 pictures, 12 seconds apart to give you time to change props.
Then we will give you a printed copy of your picture with a business card.
In a day or two, all the pictures will be on the website for you to look at or print.
Just try not to stand on the backdrop.”
8/10 times I have to repeat that last part by the second picture.

After saying that pitch 100-200 times a night, I know what it feels like to work the drive through at Tim Hortons.
Except everyone isn’t sad around me.

After an hour or so most of the people have tried it at least once.
So my throat can have a little break.
Except for the constant, guys try not to stand on the backdrop, please.

After seeing hundreds probably thousands of people by now, take pictures in front of me.
I’ve come up with some stats.

8% of people are actually pretty boring.
They will put a hat on.
Look….it’s me….with a hat.
Which is fine, but they won’t change hats, or hold something while wearing a hat.
What I’m saying is they lack creativity.

67% of people are actually
Pretty damn cool and down for a good time.
They come back, they try different things.
There’s funny mayhem between pictures to change props.
Sometimes the funniest pictures are when you weren’t ready or someone wasn’t fully in the picture.
Then after laughing at the last picture they realize they only have 7 seconds left to change props and panic ensues.

4% of people have to be held up by friends for their last pictures of the night.
You can just tell by the stare that those people are giving.
This printed picture will be the only reminder they have of this night tomorrow.

2% of people only do sex related things.

Then there’s the 6% I do it for.
Sure, everyone is having fun!It’s a wedding, it’s a party.
Seeing people smile makes me smile.
But there’s only 6% of people that make me laugh by being original and funny.
Combining stuff I haven’t seen.
Making a story with their 4 pictures.
Those people make it worth me saying,
Don’t stand on the backdrop please again…and again!

Eventually, the evening starts to wind down.
The last people are coming to finish it up.
When there’s 5 mins left, depending on if it’s still busy.
I’ll close the velvet rope behind the last group.
I have 4 groups left.
The big group goes through, one of the Alpha males is standing and leaning on the backdrop.
Not knowing if he’s one of those (What did you say?!) drunks.
And being a Beta male, I refrained from reminding that guy.
Then we have a couple, the girlfriend clearly DD or only had a couple drinks.
The guy absolutely obliterated, gave 4 of the greatest drunken look pictures that could have been in Webster’s defining the word drunk.
Then there’s a group of 4 girlfriends who have been up three times and want a fourth so they can all have a print.
The had a plan and they executed it!
Then the last customer is one guy… alone?!
Hey man, your my last customer, what were you feeling?
You want to close out the night with the Chewbacca mask?
-What?! No!?
-I was just wondering, do you know where the washroom is?

All this to say.
I’m not just the GoBooth attendant I’m also a client.
I didn’t know about GoBooth until my wife hired them for our wedding.
It was hands down the thing people talked about the most at and after our wedding.
Now I work other people’s weddings and parties and I can tell you, it wasn’t just the highlight of my wedding.
Everywhere the GoBooth gets set up, a good time follows.
And you’ve got the pictures to prove it!

P.S. I’m aware my stats don’t add up too 100%
Thankfully math isn’t needed to run the GoBooth.

Your truly,
The GoBooth photo booth rental attendant

From the desk of Jesse Fleguel esq.