Thread: from my inbox this week

"we are a primary school so ofcourse we cannot pay you, but it would great if you could come"

"you have to be REALLY Turkish" (the capitals are theirs)

So what does it take to be . . . really . . . Turkish? As a dancer, that is. Or is that even what they meant? Of course maybe they didn't even really know . . . what they meant!
Rosette

oooookay. And these are people educating young children?

they meant from turkey, that was pretty clear from the rest of the mail

it's "week of taste" in belgium this week, and my home town was "city of taste" this year, and turkey is the host country or something for that event, and i cant complain, i've gotten a LOT of work out of the event, my students got to perform at some community events through this, etc, the last months.

but this week it's leading to a barrage of requests like the above. thinking it's for free; and aksing for "real turkish" people. and if i could throw in a band, for free, of real turkish people, that would be great too. aaargh.

i've been replying
"i'm sorry, this is my job and i cannot do free shows like this".

Ah, so, Dalia Carella or Artemis Mourat would be unacceptable for their Turkish dance program, for example. Presumably even if they danced for free...l;,..l;,..l;,

I have been paid by schools before.

yeah, so have i

well, the answer was something like

"well, if you read the news, you know they dont give us enough even for school materials"

while i understand i dont like
- being made to feel bad
- they really thought i'd say yes
and the whole
"it would make the kids so happy" blackmailing

i didnt reply, but i really felt like saying, well, that wont pay my bills either

That is as appealing as advertising for a dental checkup.

maybe tell them you'll split wages for the day with the superintendent... if they can't pay for school supplies, shouldn't s/he be volunteering too?

Wow, it amazes me that a school would use that tone of voice in responding to you... I hope it was more of a humorous response instead of a snarky one.

And if I'm correct, schools have allowances that they can use to pay for special guests. They're just trying to get out of spending that money on you. not cool.