Shoot the Freak

So on Saturday I headed out to Coney Island with a friend of mine on a whim. I've never been to Coney Island before. (Sorry I don't have pics to go along with this happening. I forget stuff when I'm whimming). Anyway, Coney Island was sort of what I expected. Sorta seedy. Fun, dated, funny rides. Nathan's Hot dogs. Rickety boardwalk. Cheaty carnival games. Timewarpinity. Impressively unique and human. And carnival barkers calling people into certain attractions, or tempting you to play the water pistol game to win a stuffed Nemo, or the scary ride haunted ride or whatever.

But one 'attraction' really stood out. It was a thing called, 'Shoot the Freak'.

A barker guy who sounded extremely bored would talk on a loop into a microphone...

'Step right up and shoot the freak... have a little fun today and shoot the freak... shoot at a real live human ovah here.... shoot the freak... have a little fun and shoot the freak.... try to shoot the freak ovah here... shoot the freak... shoot the freak in the freakin head... shoot the freak...c'mon who wants to shoot....'

Disturbing. Yeah... I found pictures online so you can see what it looks like...

Nice. Basically you can pay a couple of bucks and get to shoot paintballs at a "Real Live Human" (aka 'Freak'). I didn't participate in shooting the freak but I watched it. Some guy paid $2 and got ready with his paintball gun. Then the freak emerged. The 'freak' was just some very bored looking regular dude who was dressed like a baseball catcher. Before the shooting started he lifted his mask to his forehead and spit a huge loogie. Then he put his mask back down.

The shooter opened fire. The freak bobbed and weaved. The shooter kept shooting paintballs. The shooter hit the freak in the leg. Then he put down his gun and walked away. The freak walked off and waited out back until the next shooter stepped right up.  There's no prize if you shoot the freak. Nothing happens if you miss. You just get to take pop shots at the freak. That's it. Whenever there's no shooter, the barker goes back on his loop to try and get someone to shoot.

'Step right up and shoot the freak... have a little fun today and shoot the freak... shoot at a real live human ovah here.... shoot the freak... have a little fun and shoot the freak.... shoot the freak... shoot the freak... shoot the freak in the freakin head... shoot the freak....'

Not the best or coolest scene in the world, but a question came up while we were walking along. If you had to work at Shoot the Freak... would you rather be the barker or the freak? The barker gets to sit in a slightly more respectable position (not being the freak and all) but he also has to work harder by doing the microphone barking loop almost non-stop. I guess there's an opportunity to get creative with the barking. On the other side, the freak is obviously not living large (and it's not the type of job you put on your resume) but he gets to take a break whenever he's not getting shot at by stingy paintballs and doesn't have to do anything but move around when he's 'working'. (There seemed to be a shooter every five to ten minutes. It may have been a slow day.)

Anyway...

Here's the question. If you had to work at Shoot the Freak...

Just curious.

ok bye!

tOdd