To do this at a child's party where I was the facepainter

[BrickTraybake]

I am trying to establish a small business as a facepainter just to earn a little extra money.

Yesterday I did a childs birthday party for one of the mums at my DSS's school. I did it at a discount price for her as she said she would recommend me to all the other mums and she is the PTA and said she can get me a slot at school fairs.

I have a system where I get the children interested in having their facepainted to write down their name on the list and then I call them when it's their turn so there's not loads of bored kids queueing. The parents sign next to the child's name to say they consent to me painting their face and then they tick a box if they consent to me using images for promotion. It's worked well so far.

So yesterday one mum puts a massive X in the photo consent box and writes next to it NO PHOTOS NO SOCIAL MEDIA!! fair enough.

When it came to that child's turn, I wrote next to her name "pink Tshirt" just to remind me of who she was in case I accidently got her in the background of a pic.

Mum paid up, everyone happy. Then later on Facebook I saw her post thanking everyone for coming to the party and the mum of pink t-shirt girl wrote underneath "thanks for inviting us! Shame facepainter wrote down details of what my child was wearing?? Bit odd 😂" and the mum shock-reacted it.

I'm so upset. I was so looking forward to hopefully getting more party bookings and a place at the school fairs. This was only my third party and now I'm worried this mum will gossip that I'm a wierdo and I won't get any more.

Was I in the wrong? Should I reply??

Oh give over. The OP has a right of reply on social media and a business reputation to defend, she hasn't broken GDPR and it's clearly been well received by the group.

OP, I work in a field which requires a lot of photographs and photo consent forms. The only thing I'd add to the advice you've already received is to back up the idea that it's a good idea to have a plain background to photograph against (you can set up a "selfie frame" in front of a wall or hedge for a bit of added value for the kids and a handy place to take their photos, or set up a fabric backdrop on a clothing rail that you can put together and dismantle to make it portable, for an inexpensive solution). Take a photo of each kid you have consent for as you finish them, and then you won't need to write anything down to remember who the non-consenting folk are - I think what you did was fine, but it would be even better practice to not need to record anything at all about the non-consenters, so I'd make it routine that you don't get others in the background of your pics, and only take group pics at parties where you're sure everybody has consented.

By the way Canva has a useful AI background removal tool if you need it. It might be the paid version - but just sign up for the 30 dsy free trial and set a reminder to cancel it.

I'm sure the mums have been royally entertained by the mother who kicked up a fuss. There's always one at least. Ours became chair of the PTA which collapsed under her roolz. It was carnage. The head was pulling his hair out.

I am just thinking, maybe next time you have a similar situation let the parent know why you're noting down identifying info as you do it, hopefully saves this from happening again.

Glad the other mums were supportive of your reply and hope you do get booked for that other party :)

FAR safer to not note down any identifying info about the child in the first place, and have a policy of not getting any people in the background/ only doing group shots when she is certain that all have signed consent.

You clearly have no understanding of gdpr, professional or otherwise. And the OP didn't shame this woman, she merely posted an explanation of her actions.

Op you’re overthinking this. Kindly reply with why and move on. Good luck with your new business!

There's absolutely no need for this level of hysteria. It's ridiculous.

a really bad move
you have broken GDPR
You’re on really dodgy ground
I’d be removing your post ASAP

And then you say
It’s not that big a deal

Hahahahaha. I love it when people who don’t know what they’re talking about give ridiculous advice. OP, ignore this, it’s total shite, quite embarrassing someone posted this.

This.

How else were you supposed to remember the child?

*Here's something I wish Id known at 21.

You know that feeling you get that you're still a kid, that everyone else is so grown up and has everything figured out while you're still trying to figure out adult life and friendships etc.

It never goes away. Everyone has it, the 31 year olds, the 41 year olds. Hell, my Dad says he still gets it and he's mid 60s

You still cringe when we say something stupid, we still worry when we upset someone. We still think "I did not understand what the fuck just happened there" on a regular basis.

The only thing that happens is that we get better at hiding it, and the embarrassments build up until can can't remember the individual ones, and you start giving less and less of a shit.

Don't feel like the "grown ups" know better than you. Because there aren't any grown ups, just people cocking up all day every day. The 30 and 40 year olds don't know any better than you do.*

As a woman who is about to turn 40 this is one of the most reassuring things I've ever read - and totally accurate. I'm still as awkward and scared shitless as I was when I was 21.

I think you’ve misread my post. What happened initially isn’t that big a deal. The response to it puts the OP in a potentially difficult situation.

Glad it's all worked out op. She was unpleasant to publicly insinuate you were doing something odd. She sounds like a drama queen.
You've given a good explanation and the other mums have supported you. Good luck with your business.

My interpretation of GDPR/confidentaility as a teacher is would be that I could get sacked for revealing confidential info like this on Facebook - what if the woman didn’t want anyone to know she doesn’t allow her kids photos on SM etc?

Apologies if it’s wrong OP et al and not a breach, didn’t mean to cause alarm.

I would say, even if it’s not a breach, I would see it as unprofessional of OP. The woman was a dick, absolutely, but OP risks a lot more by taking her on on her friends FB page.

That is absolute nonsense and not a breach of GDPR.

Nearly 64 yr old waves and agrees.

I'm so happy you did it OP, it's so hard in these situations and anxiety takes over. Well done on getting another gig out if it too 😀 hope this helps with your confidence

Let's get this out of the way – yes she sounds a bit crazy.

However, you might not have noticed if she didn't tick the box – you'd be surprised at the number of such cases (and sheer amount of fines for businesses!) yearly. As someone in GDPR, best practice is providing 2 boxes (I agree / I disagree) but very few businesses do that for obvious reasons (to encourage agreement).

A cross in any single box might also be taken by some as agreement, like in a ballot, hence the clarification.

Storing identifying physical descriptors next to a customer's name without consent is also against GDPR. A little note about a pink shirt to yourself would be within the boundaries of common sense IMO, but there have been similar cases (eg favourite outfit, distinctive hairstyle) – if she really dragged you to court it'd be a headache for you.

I think you handled this professionally and well in public, especially if you used the reason @TiptoeTess gave which was brilliant and didn't disclose the GDPR thing! But criticising her for filling out a form a certain way is not on – the form is there because it's her legal right!

That’s cos she realised she’d been ridiculous. And she has pics of her dd on her Facebook! Silly woman.

I did raise that earlier. I thought it was out of order to critisise her making her wishes clear

I’m really please it’s all worked out and you’ve received support and possibly even more work from her comment.

But I just wanted to say, that it’s really important to tick these boxes. Even if you post your own photos of your kids on social media. I never tick the boxes as I’m quite relaxed. Until I saw a huge picture of my DD on the side of a London bus stop advertising her prep school. I was just driving past and all of a sudden I saw a 5ft poster of my daughter’s face when she was about 10 years old. It has made me tick that non-consent box every time since.

@MHN101 that sounds like it would fall under teacher professional code of conduct rather than GDPR law.

In any forum like this you seriously need to be careful about posting your vague interpretations as advice and factual. What you’ve said is incredibly incorrect.

Not just you, by the way. I mean people in general talking with authority on things they don’t understand.

Absolutely well done! It’s hard dealing with the public and parents and setting up your own business. Remember though, you call the shots, who you want to take business from and who you don’t.

THIS!!!!!!

@PaulAnkaTheDoggo@NeverHadHaveHas@Ohlookwhoitis Couldn't just scroll past – GDPR is my legal bread and butter. Personal data must be given as wide an interpretation as possible, and a previous HC judge has noted obiter dicta that this could include data preferences itself.

Ofc the role of consent is widely overstated compared to eg legitimate interest, but just so you're aware.