Tin Man: The Rubber Band Effect (Part III)

Welcome to Part III of my profile on the Tin Man. If you're interested in who he is or how he got to be where he is today, check out the previous post, a Game of Catch Up.

I was very very tempted to put up a picture of a ketchup bottle.
But, you know, that would be one of those jokes that just makes everyone groan collectively...
(Like that time when I had audience members tie me up with rope and, when my phone rang, I answered with a "Sorry, mom. I'll call you back. I'm a little tied up at the moment.")

So, again, this is where the Tin Man works:

Yes. I still use Paint. DEAL WITH IT.

So somehow, someway, the Tin Man just stands in costume on a street corner... and people decide to give him money for it? Is that how it works?

If you take a look at the signs that he has on display, he explains pretty clearly what exactly he "sells."

This is an older version of Tin Man's sign. He's got a new one up, but I failed to
take a picture of it..

What the Tin Man sells

Essentially, as he says:

1. Donations are for photos.

2. Donations make him move.

The first part seems relatively straightforward. You give him some money, and you can take a photo of/with him.

The second part is... a little confusing. When did movement itself become a commodity?

And what happened to his dance moves? Is it dancing that matters, or is it simply... movement?

Tin Man explained to me that, when he first started street performing, he would move as soon as a spectator dropped money in his bucket. As soon as he moved, though, he told me that his audiences used to leave pretty much immediately.

"It used to hurt my feelings when I was younger. I would do my best [dancing] moves, [and] they'd just keep moving. They don't want to see a show. They just want to see me move, is all."

"I wanna see him move!"

One man walking by the Tin Man turned to the woman with whom he was walking and asked, "Baby, do you have any cash? I wanna see him move!"

Another woman, upon seeing the Tin Man, commented, "They gonna move or what?" She followed that question by running up to drop some money in Tin Man's bucket. When the Tin Man did not immediately move in response, she was evidently frustrated: "I give you two bucks, you not moving!"

At another point, one woman turned to her two friends and explained, "He's done moving until he gets more money, I think."

And yet somehow when he's off his box and actually IS moving,
he doesn't attract as large of a crowd as when he's staying still.

The Rubber Band Effect

When I noted his audience members' frustrations when he does not respond immediately to a donation, the Tin Man told me that this happens all the time. He called it the rubber band effect: "When you tease somebody, you make them want it more..." He would wait, he said, until their patience runs out, then - with an illustrative snap of his finger - he would move right before they leave. While they wait, potential energy builds... and that energy finally gets released when he moves.

My observations have given me (very very roughly) this scenario:

I see a silver guy standing still! There's music, but he's not dancing!
Ok. Let's see what he does...
He's still not moving.
Oh! Donations make him move. I'll stop for a second and give some money.
I've donated! Let's watch him move, then we'll go!
Wait a second... why isn't he moving?
Dude! I just gave him money, and he's not moving!
I guess I have to stick around... 
Oh look! That guy paid! Is he gonna move now?
No... ok. Look! That person is paying too! And that person!
He's gotta move any second now...
Oh! He's moving! But... he's not dancing. Actually, he's pointing at that other person over there. And he's pointing at his bucket! Ha! That's funny...
Come on, dude. Pay him so that we can see the guy dance.
Yes! He's moving!
All right. Let's go.

And that's how the Tin Man still manages to make money in conditions like these:

Definitely don't want to be outside right now. Nope. Not at all.

He uses one person's initial curiosity, traps them there in an uncompleted transaction (which raises interesting questions on economic exchange and gifting), and builds his audience from there. While people may be curious, people generally don't want to hang around outside for long when the temperature is in the twenties or, even, the teens.

But it's kinda weird if you pay something and you don't get anything out of it.

So even though it's really really really really cold, you're kinda stuck watching until the Tin Man finally decides to move.

And that is, in a nutshell, how the Tin Man makes a living.

I kinda failed at taking direct photos of the Tin Man.
This is one of the closest ones I got... when I was trying to be artsy and
managed to capture his reflection...

Stay tuned for Part IV... whatever that will be!