First of all, I’m sorry to hear how you were treated. Game stores are supposed to be open-armed to all who want to join our esoteric hobbies, hope you have better luck with them in the future.
As far as starting out goes, there are a couple things to do. First, ignore GW paints they are VERY expensive. I personally like them, but didn’t get them until almost a year after starting. I started with this kit: https://www.amazon.com/Reaper-Miniatures-Master-Starter-Figures/dp/B07664WJ3H/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=reaper+paint+set&qid=1564300027&s=gateway&sr=8-3 ($30 usd on amazon) which has just about everything you’ll need to start (except a good black white and gray/silver for metal, which you may have to buy separately) mini brushes at hobby stores (not game stores) work great and are usually sub-$10. After that, you’re obviously going to be looking at models. There are a couple ways you could approach this- as far as raw mini-to-dollar value the Start Collecting! boxes are best, but a $90 usd entry fee is a bit high. I’d say pick your favorite faction and grab one of their boxes of infantry- space marine tactical squad, ork boyz, termagaunts horde, etc. Should be at max $40, down to as low as $30. And if you want to paint either space marines or chaos, you’re in an even better place- the easy-to-build kits are ~$15 for three models, or at max $40 for a big dreadnought (heavily armed mech-suit). I don’t know what stuff you want to paint but hopefully this helps. It’s easy to save money on paints and brushes, but with the minis it’s harder. You could also consider getting miniatures from companies like Reaper to practice on as they’re much cheaper. Not 40k quality, but might help you decide if this hobby will help you with your needs. Sorry for the long response and I hope you get better and find everything you need in this awesome hobby! Good luck!
Try something like this instead.
Acrylics are thinner, dry better on plastic, and last way longer because of the eye dropper bottles. I’d avoid the bottles with bigger openings because the paint doesn’t tend to last as long in those, from what I’ve heard. Also, because you can dispense drop by drop, you can mix specialized colors in way smaller volumes than if you were getting it out of the Testors bottles.
I was using the exact same paints up until about a month ago. Switch to acrylics designed for stuff like Warhammer figurines. This is the pack I grabbed off Amazon. Acrylics are so much thinner, and because you can basically use them a drop at a time for details, the bottles last longer than enamels. The ones I linked are totally flat though, so if you want any gloss at all you’ll want to lightly dab it with some gloss finisher on a paper towel. That way you can achieve the balance between the high gloss ‘plastic’ look and the ‘dehydrated mummy’ look and use different levels of gloss for the skin, hair, and eyes.
#09970 is better for those on a budget, since it contains all the primary colors.
The Reaper Starter Set for Mini Figures looks pretty good, since it has all the primary colors, and some other useful colors.
I've just ordered some inexpensive Princeton brushes from Amazon. The seller Blick had them for $1.50-$3 vs $6. For $27 I got 9 brushes. The brushes are Summit 6850, Neptune, and Polytip. Unfortunately they won't get here until Saturday, so I can't tell you how they are.
If you want fancy brushes you can't go wrong with Winsor and Newton Series 7 round size 0/1/2 and maybe 3. They're $12+ each, though. Also recommend a wide, flat brush for base coating.
GW paints can get pretty pricey very quickly and for my money, their quality isn't worth it.
I've been using Reaper MSP HD for years now though they don't sell the HD line anymore but I would very much recommend the standard Reaper line: https://www.amazon.com/Reaper-Miniatures-Master-Starter-Figures/dp/B07664WJ3H/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=reaper+paints&qid=1597079136&sr=8-4
Vallejo is also quite good though I have no real experience with them outside of their surface primers: https://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Basic-Colors-Paint-17ml/dp/B009162PWU/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=reaper+paints&qid=1597079136&sr=8-8 (the shipping price on that is insane so shop around for that set elsewhere if you can)
Finally, Army Painter makes quality product and you can usually find their sets for pretty cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Miniatures-Highlighting-Miniature/dp/B01MTXRU2L/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=army+painter+starter+set&qid=1597079228&sr=8-1
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As for the painting itself, I can recommend a few YouTube channels that have some great total novice tutorials:
Miniac: https://www.youtube.com/user/SDubist
Dana Howl: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI7EmMVCD8A0sZBha1EFg2Q
ZorpaZorp: https://www.youtube.com/user/MortalisAurilius
ZorpaZorp in particular covers a lot of MESBG content including painting tutorials and terrain tutorials.
Start. Just do it. Watch some Goobertown videos, too, to get a handle on things.
Here is an overview of popular primer options.
A starter set like this Reaper set is a pretty good value.
I suggest the Reaper Learn to Paint kits. They come with paints, brushes, a guide and a mini all in a storage case for about 30$.
Someone was curious about this recently and another redditor recommended this kit:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07664WJ3H/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bQVmFbW83T0BE
It comes with minis and paint so if you mess them up then it won't hurt as much!