Thread: Vent/Rant/Legitimate Question ...

Is it just me, or are there an unusual number of last-minute cancellations and incidents of "time abuse" lately?

Sure, a few snafus and some flakiness are part and parcel of the entertainment/nightclub/restaurant situation, that's a given. The arrogance and lack of respect for dancers by restaurant and club owners (in general, with some wonderful exceptions, for which we're all grateful) is well-known.

But does the stupidity seem extra thick of late? Just sayin' ...

It seems to me that stupidity of all varieties is extra thick lately. ;) But I've noticed it too that lateness is becoming habitual and I confess to abusing being an 'artist' for my own lateness (of course, with excuse prepared, I'm inevitably arriving 1st).

Do you mean just on the part of the owners/employers or for dancers as well?

ETA: I do think it is funny that my non dance friends when they come to see me dance will say, why do they say it starts at 8 when they always start late at 8:30? Why not just say they start at 8:30? I have no answer for this.

Originally Posted by Nabila-Nazem

But does the stupidity seem extra thick of late? Just sayin' ...

Yes. I was just wondering the same thing. I'm very strict about contracts, so I haven't gotten any last-minute cancellations. But I have dealt with the lion's share of annoying customers of the price-shopping variety. They'll call persistently, act interested, ask a ton of questions, and magically "overspend" their budget all in the span of a few short days. 9 times out of 10, they'll ask me if I know of anybody cheaper ,m::

Ummmm, thanks for completely wasting my time ,r:;

My newest rant has to do with clients who want a bellydancer but as usual have no clue and try to sway me to lower my price. wtf! Best of all they thought it would be ok for me to dance at carrabas of all places. its like "hello" This is not the place for that, there are other people who are trying to have a quiet meal, no..the manager is not going to allow that, and hell no i wont drop my price it represents amazing value! aaahhh!

I mean on the part of owners/employers.

Example: club/restaurant managers who keep changing their mind about whether or not to have a dancer, and can't/won't communicate clearly (or at all).

People who say "I'll call you right back, at xx time!" and then you never hear from them. A call to them to clarify a situation goes straight to voice mail.

Like I said, we all know of people who are rude and inconsiderate this way who are in charge of things, and that's just a fact of life. But lately it seems like almost EVERY situation is rife with this junior high school-level behavior. We now have cell phones, land-line phones, e-mail, texts, twitter, FaceBook, and a zillion ways to communicate, but people are getting less and less responsible about communication. Why is this?

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

They'll call persistently, act interested, ask a ton of questions, and magically "overspend" their budget all in the span of a few short days. 9 times out of 10, they'll ask me if I know of anybody cheaper

Oh, I love these winners. I always say "Sure!, call So-and-So, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you!" And then give them the number of one of my whiz-bang, been-there-done-that teachers who will very politely rip them a "new one." I rarely do this (it's not very nice to the teacher) but it's understood that once in awhile it's worth it for the educating-the-public factor. They'll think twice (maybe ...) about hiring live professional-level entertainment
and expecting to pay $50 for three hours.

Originally Posted by Linnyg

Do you mean just on the part of the owners/employers or for dancers as well?

ETA: I do think it is funny that my non dance friends when they come to see me dance will say, why do they say it starts at 8 when they always start late at 8:30? Why not just say they start at 8:30? I have no answer for this.

Because then it would start at 9 ,r:;

Originally Posted by Glindella

Because then it would start at 9 ,r:;

Unless it was a slow night. Then, you might start at 10. Or whenever it "gets busy!" .w.:

I'd really like to see more venues use contracts. You don't need 10 pages of legalese to say:
- here's what the dancer is committing to (doing)
- here's what the venue is committing to (doing and paying)
- here's the cancellation policy (for both parties)
- here's the tipping policy
- here's the waiting policy

Getting the simple stuff down in writing would save so many headaches, both from misunderstandings and "misunderstandings".

Originally Posted by jmdruadh

Getting the simple stuff down in writing would save so many headaches, both from misunderstandings and "misunderstandings".

That would be great for our intents and purposes. But I think they like making us wait! .w.:

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

That would be great for our intents and purposes. But I think they like making us wait! .w.:

It certainly puts them in a position to control...

Originally Posted by najla86

It certainly puts them in a position to control...

Yes. It seems to be a universal phenomenon, and Artie's 20 Club Cliches article comes to mind. I'm sure we've all fallen for at least ONE of these tired old tricks: Top 20 Club Cliches

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Yes. It seems to be a universal phenomenon, and Artie's 20 Club Cliches article comes to mind. I'm sure we've all fallen for at least ONE of these tired old tricks: Top 20 Club Cliches

..l;,..l;,..l;,

At least you get a call/notification for last minute cancellation. Try spending 2 hours getting ready (my hair takes over an hour to straighten - cursed curly hair) and I drive 40 minutes to get there just to hear "we don't need a dancer tonight" .....oh you know what? You're getting a dancer and you're payin me *$&@*# .......yeah, 2 weeks ago and I was livid.

I think its something in the water. Just got a call last night about a charity gig we are doing Saturday. Oh by the way, we need to move you all back 45 minutes to 10:30. ARGGGGG!!! So I'm left to either look like a bad guy backing out at the last minute or scramble to call all the gals see who's still game and completely re-vamp the entire show. If it wasn't such a good freaking cause........

One problem is that it's hard to "put your foot down" and ask for a contract, cancellation policy, and all that hard-ass stuff (which for most people, is just normal common courtesy!) when you don't (yet) have a relationship with the place, and they'd rather deal with someone who is more "easygoing" in the first place. Some folks, depending on their culture, are mightily offended and put off by the notion of having any kind of agreement formal or casual, verbal or in writing, but then think NOTHING of cancelling you at the last minute, not calling you back about whether a job exists or not, and basically jerking you around. But not deal with these people at all, and ... you probably don't work at all.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.