My kids and I went to Dancing Brush last night so that they could paint a plate and bowl for their grandpa for Christmas. After being there for an hour and a half, we were told, politely enough, that we needed to finish up in 30 minutes. The kids got a bit stressed out about finishing on time and my youngest daughter (age 8) had a meltdown because she couldn't print the message she wanted on the center of the plate. I printed the words for her and touched up a couple of other areas where her fingers had wiped the paint off the ceramic. When I went up to pay for the pieces, the clerk smugly told me that she only charged me for one adult and one child's painting time in addition to the ceramic. I thanked her, because her tone of voice made it sound like she did me a huge favor, but then it hit me and I said, "Wait a minute. My kids painted these pieces, so why was I charged an adult studio fee?" She proceeded to tell me that she graciously only charged me for one of my children (my older daughter) but that since I helped my younger daughter with her plate, I was charged for that. Are you kidding me? You tell my kids they need to finish up (and never mention that they could come back another time to finish instead), my daughter has a meltdown because she can't write that fast so I help her with the printing (that is all!!) and then I get charged the adult studio time? Granted, it worked out to be only $2 extra (I was charged for one adult and one child as opposed to two children), but honestly, it was the principal of the whole thing. We were there for 1 1/2 hours and I helped my daughter for approx. five minutes . . . believe me, I couldn't have helped her any longer because I was trying to keep my two year old son from touching any of the ceramic pieces in the store . . . I was a bit preoccupied to say the least. At any rate, I doubt that we'll go back there anytime soon.
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