Thread: contract with club owners?

Has anyone ever made a performance contract with a club - not about exclusivity, but about prices for special troupe shows?
I recently had an expereince that I can't help but feel was my fault because I didn't set the details straight from the start. I was told there would be reimbursment for a 45 minute long troupe show that invloved 10 dancers. We majorly advertised it and had a lot of people come out and now the owners says that was a trial performance and basically that I should be lucky that we had that opportuntiy (give me a break!) and we should not be asking for money (he also said we only had 10-15 people that came out - not true!!! More like 30 or 40!) - he gave the ol' "I'll take care of you" speech - I should have known.
Should I give him a second chance and just have a contract in hand next time? If he doesn't want to deal with a contract, his loss? ? ?
What to do??? ..c::

Honestly here is what I think

Give him a second chance to reimburse you for this deal, that was the verbal and in my agreement and in the court system a verbal is binding.

next time have a contract in hand and make him sign it.

and if he refuses to own up to his stuff, then I would suggest that you contact a local newspaper and do an editorial. :) that would suck for his buisness. I might even mention it to him that your planning on doing that. shrugs. I dont like being cheated on things.

Mina

is this owner middle eastern?

yes, both owner and manager are middle eastern - I'm dealing with the manager, but they think alike.

I know that other restaurants in town offer something similar once in a while for dancers to showcase their troupes and make fundraiser. The way they have worked that, from my understanding, was that they would charge a "plate" price and at the end of the night, based on how many plates sold, they would receive their fee.

I think in your case, you need some kind of contract so it's in black and white and there's no confusion. It kills me how people seem to think that it's just something we throw together one day on a whim.

i'm really p!ssed about this (sorry for the language Sa'diyya)

be careful. i find that if someone doesn't pay you the first time you ask, it is not a good sign

I think I got it all worked out - I guess it was a misunderstanding...we'll see...

Originally Posted by SadiyyaBintSaid

I think I got it all worked out - I guess it was a misunderstanding...we'll see...

I hope it's worked out.
Sometimes Middle Easterners are more comfortable with a verbal agreement than with a contract. What I've done before in these situations is to have my calendar in front of me and write down the "numbers", then read them back when we're figured it all out. If even THAT makes him uncomfortable I explain "I've got so much going on I'll forget. I want to make sure we're understanding each other." If he really pushes the vague answers you can always reply "oh, I know you'll take good care of us...but I'll be missing other gigs and I have to make sure it makes business sense for me" or "we all have other things going on and a couple have to miss other work and/or pay a babysitter" etc. There are any number of diplomatic excuses to get a more firm answer.
Writing it down gives much less "wiggle room" for them if they try to give vague answers such as "I'll take care of you" or some such nonsense. AND they can't back out of (or easily lie about) the details when you were both present when you wrote it down AND read it back to them.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

I hope it's worked out.
Sometimes Middle Easterners are more comfortable with a verbal agreement than with a contract. What I've done before in these situations is to have my calendar in front of me and write down the "numbers", then read them back when we're figured it all out. If even THAT makes him uncomfortable I explain "I've got so much going on I'll forget. I want to make sure we're understanding each other." If he really pushes the vague answers you can always reply "oh, I know you'll take good care of us...but I'll be missing other gigs and I have to make sure it makes business sense for me" or "we all have other things going on and a couple have to miss other work and/or pay a babysitter" etc. There are any number of diplomatic excuses to get a more firm answer.
Writing it down gives much less "wiggle room" for them if they try to give vague answers such as "I'll take care of you" or some such nonsense. AND they can't back out of (or easily lie about) the details when you were both present when you wrote it down AND read it back to them.

Good point, and an excellent idea.

What does "I'll take care of you" mean? It sounds pretty vague to me.
Does that mean, "I'll pay you whatever I feel like paying you when the time comes?" .w.: .w.: With people like this, you really should get everything down in writing beforehand, if they ripped you off once it's likely that that's their modus operandi, and they'll probably try to do it again. And again.

Regards
Priscilla

Well...I hope you didn't lose too much on the advertising. What a crappy deal. I agree with the "write it down" suggestion. It definitely gives you something to refer to.

Samira

Could you ask the club owner to email you with confirmation details? Then everything's in writing, but it's not as formal as a contract. After initial phone contact I usually prefer to do things over email, because then at least there's some sort of paper trail.

Is it worthwhile to make a restaurant owner sign a contract? I have one, but have not been sure if its something I should use considering it's not (yet) common practice among every dancer in the area. It's possible I'll be taking on some performances at a restaurant, but the owner has a bit of a shady reputation in the ME community here and I'm not comfortable dancing without feeling like I have some protection and a commitment to getting paid.

I know many dancers don't use them and so I'm wondering if it's wiser to take the contract and make him sign it, or just make it very clear that I get paid when I show up for the gig and if I'm not paid, I don't dance.

What would you do?