Two German teenagers lovingly caressing Boris Johnson's hair.
To be honest, that's pretty much standard for my line of work. The entire point of this wax museum is to let people get "up close and personal with all their favourite stars and heroes" (I'm not being a dork quoting it word for word. It's written in my contract that I have to know that). And up close and personal they get!
It's amazing the liberties the guests take (again, company policy dictates that we call them 'guests'. I suppose if we called them customers, they might actually cotton on to the fact that we're robbing them blind while they snap happily away at waxworks) with the figures. I've been known to take some silly pictures myself at work parties, and I can only hope that most of them never make it onto the internet.... but these people will take their stupid (and often politically incorrect) photos in full view of everyone.
The worst is probably a toss up between Stephen Hawking and Hitler. Every day, a steady stream of tourists crowd up (I can't say line up, it's a foreign concept to anyone who visits this place) and take photos behind the author of A Brief History of Time looking like a cross between a rabid monkey and someone who has been involved in a serious car accident. There's taking the piss, and then there's posing behind Stephen Hawking with a spastic face. Bad taste to the extreme.
Speaking of bad taste, the Hitler figure certainly wins in this regard. (Did I just lose my argument? While Godwin's Law is certainly valid, you have to agree that there are certain situations in which it is unavoidable) While the presence of Adolf is enough to get some people quite literally frothing at the mouth with anger, a far larger number of people think it's perfectly natural to pose with him doing a Nazi salute. It isn't. It is so far from ok that I actually get a bit scared for the future of the world when I see that happening.
If that scares you, maybe don't read any further. The latest story from one of the other departments is about the man who asked one of the photographers (who have 'sets' in front of designated figures to take photos in front of and then sell you magnets and keyrings etc.) to take one of their cameras off the tripod and come take a photo of him with Hitler AND Saddam Hussein. After assuring the photographer that he'll definitely buy a copy of the photo, he proceeds to pose between the two (they're next to each other in some sort of progression of evil lineup I suppose) with his arms around their shoulders. Hey, I'm buddies with some dictators, bro! He then proceeds to tell the photographer 'I buy six keyrings, for my family.' I hope his family members pelted him with the keyrings instead of enjoying his horribly bad taste gift.
While there are plenty more stories about how bad our 'guests' can be, I'm depressed enough for one day.
*I wrote this while working at the wax museum, and forgot to post it before now. I've actually left there now.
