As an Edmonton Makeup Artist, I am lucky enough to get to work on some really cool jobs, some of which happen to be on television.
Another unique thing about my job as an Edmonton Makeup Artist is that if I’m sick, running late, or something unforeseen occurs, I don’t have a team or staff to cover for me. I am it.
If I don’t show up or I’m late, it not only looks terrible, it leaves my client, for lack of better words, screwed.
I mean sure, there are the odd times when I get lost or there’s an accident, but for the most part I try to account extra time for these things, and most clients understand if the situation is out of my control.
For me, especially in my line of work as an Edmonton Makeup Artist, reputation is everything. Have you ever asked yourself, “what is my reputation worth?”
Well not too long ago I found myself faced with that very question…
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If you read my last blog, you know that I have a dog. I always like to take her out to use the bathroom right before I head out anywhere. It’s an opportune moment, in these Edmonton winters, to start the car and bring half of my makeup kits down at the same time.
I live off Whyte ave and I know to lock my running car, especially with the amount of make up products and tools in there.
It was 11:30am and I had to be 20 minutes away for a taping by noon. As I sat in the drivers seat to start the car, my purse fell off of my shoulder…no big deal, in fact, I’m not sure that I even noticed.
It certainly didn’t register to me that ALL of my spare keys for this now-running vehicle were in that purse as I locked the doors and closed my drivers side.
As soon as that door closed my heart sank. I realized what I had just done and I couldn’t believe it. I moaned a dramatic NOOOOOOO! and wanted to face palm myself.
I still had Gnarley with me, as well as my house keys in my jacket pocket, and that was it. My cell phone? In my purse.
So my brain starts running through a list of my options…AMA, mom & dad, brother, brother in law, neighbour….the one thing all of these options needed was time, and I didn’t have any to spare. I had to be at a gig in 20 minutes.
I knew what I needed to do.
With an eerie calmness I walked back into my building, gave Gnarley her ‘mommy’s going to work’ snack, grabbed a hammer, shut the lights off, and left.
Once back at my car, I took my jacket off, covered the drivers side back window, and on the third whack the entire window came shattering down around me.
I tossed the hammer in the backseat, unlocked the car, and headed to work. On time.
The moral of the story? And the answer to my question… what is my reputation worth?
Windows aren’t cheap, but don’t let a situation that seems impossibly out of your control get you down, bust that fucking window and get your ass to work.
XO
~A