Imagine you'd gone to the effort of busking in a public place, only to have a random person tell you you're not very good - but in a much harsher way.
That happened to teen busker Mia Kirkland, who was busking in York city centre - she said the first few hours of her set went well, with some passers-by even giving her flowers as a token of their appreciation.
However, two hours into her performance in St Helen's Square, a white-haired man clutching a jigsaw puzzle approached her and proceeded to give unsolicited advice about her performance.
He claimed to have previously worked with the likes of Motown legend Diana Ross, and cruelly said: "Some people have it… you don't."
Gobsmacked Mia walked away but the elderly critic followed her, only leaving her alone when she responded "that's nice, thank you, have a lovely day."
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Footage, which was live-streamed to her 300,000 TikTok followers, shows Mia trying to compose herself while wiping away tears as someone tells her not to cry in the background.
Mia said: "He was trying to mumble so that other people couldn't hear it, but he said 'some people have it and you don't.'
"I started walking away and he was saying he knows what he's talking about because he's worked with Diana Ross and [started] naming other artists.
"He kept following me and then as soon as my mum stood up and came over he left. So the only reason he was doing it was because he thought I was on my own.
"Then as soon as he'd spoken to me I said to my mum, 'my day's just ruined now. I don't want to keep going.'
"It was only earlier that I'd had flowers and loads of kind words, but it's hard not to let people like that ruin your day."
Video footage shows Mia preparing to sing Lady Gaga's 'Million Reasons' before a man approaches her and appears to say 'there are some people who have it…you don't. You need to add variations, you're on the same plane all the time.'
It's not the first time Mia has been at the receiving end of strange behaviour - she once had to report a woman to the police for sending her hate mail.
She said: "When I started I didn't think busking would be like that at all. But now that I've been doing it quite a while, every time I go out I have to prepare myself for someone who doesn't enjoy it coming up to me.
"I'm quite a shy person, and I've had to learn to not be. If someone had said that to me before I'd have probably said, 'oh okay, I'll stop then', but people can't just walk over me.
"I was speaking to other buskers that are friends of mine and we were saying how we'd never think of walking up to someone in the street and saying something bad about them.
"Even if you do think something's bad, you just move on."
Despite being shaken by the encounter Mia said she's back out busking, and thinks it's highly unlikely her elderly critic actually worked with Diana Ross.
Would you comment if you didn't like what a busker was doing? Let us know in the comments.
