Iam I being to harsh here

[funkymike]

What do you think of this,

I done a karaoke disco in a pub, the pub is known to me, as the landlord does his own karaoke, and the locals wanted me that night, cus iam good and they wanted a change from the landlord singing all night.

Anyway as I knew the pub/customers I didnt take much notice of when I get paid, i guess end the night stuff. Anyway I find out the pub is doing a charity day to raise money for MS, which is fair enough, so iam told anyone that sings costs them 50p, so the night goes really well and I do my thing winding them all up and getting people to pay silly money for customers not to sing and so forth, must have raised 100 quid easy, so it gets to the end of the night, iam tyied as been 3rd night in a row gigging and the assistant manager, grabs and I maen grabs the mic (bearing in mind he a complete **** and has been all night) and them starts to haggle me in front of the customers of how much I earned for the night and I should do it for free!!!! No warning nothing just started going on and on, he got right up my nose, so I turned all the gear off. Then he goes off big time, even getting the landlord involed to haggle with me, by this time I was seeing red (anger and just dead embarassed) so i started to pack my gear up very quickly, and they still went on, I said Iam not doing it for free, its my living, but I will put 20 quid in the kitty to shut them up, oh no, they went into overdrive at this point and went on and on, even the customer could see it was getting very out of hand, got the gear in the car, the landlord said at the top of his voice he was very upset that I said no iam not doing it for free. well to top it all he paid me 50 quid less than he should have done, saying that what karaoke pays, huh, so I took it and walked out. I have a few other bookings in this pub, but Iam going to write a letter and cancel them, I have never been so embarassed in my life, infront of people I know.

Now I dont mind doing the odd charity gig each year and helping people out, but in my veiw to throw this in at the end of the night, i think is way out of order, so now all bookings are going to be writing, iam not getting caught out again, or was i being selfish and should have done it for free?

I since found out, when the assisant manager got married he did it to the dj that night, and all his guests using a bucket.

[abyssdjhire]

i'd have told him/them to **** off, personally. we do our share of charity work too, and we're not obliged to do it at all, nevermind for free...

end of the day its up to you what you do and how much you charge... but a lesson to be learned - thats why you get paid BEFORE you start!

[Corabar Entertainment]

Not too harsh at all! I don't blame you being angry.... I'd be bloody furious!

- thats why you get paid BEFORE you start!

... and ALWAYS have a contract!

[Jiggles]

there would have been steam comming out of my ears if that was me

[CRAZY K]

Written signed contract every time---or else dont turn up--unless its someone you can trust--not many of those!

Publican should be ashamed of himself--does he work for nothing then?

CRAZY K

[funkymike]

Because I knew the lanlord I assumed he could be trusted. guess not, and that was last night, and Iam still bloody upset. In 8 yrs of dj ing its never happened, well to me anyway.

[mg ents]

He should not have put you in that position, if he was expecting a discount he should have spoken to you before the gig...not in front of everyone at the end of the night...well out of order. Don't blame you for cancelling all other gigs there, I would do the same, friend or no friend.

While were talking about charity events, we have stated on our website for all charity events to get in touch, what kinda discount or deals do you think are good for this kinda thing?? Do many of you get charities contacting you for discounts etc???

[Keri]

He should not have put you in that position, if he was expecting a discount he should have spoken to you before the gig...not in front of everyone at the end of the night...well out of order. Don't blame you for cancelling all other gigs there, I would do the same, friend or no friend.

While were talking about charity events, we have stated on our website for all charity events to get in touch, what kinda discount or deals do you think are good for this kinda thing?? Do many of you get charities contacting you for discounts etc???

I think it depends on the charity, i mean if its for something you fully support your more likely to give more of a discount. Where as if its just "a charity" then your less likely to. At least thats what i find anyway. But at the end of the day their the charity not you.

[DJ Spinko]

I really feel for you, the landlord and his assistant acted completely out of order putting you in a difficult and embarrassing position.

Agree fully with Crazy K Roadshow on the written contract response and it will be a good learning point for any new dj's to bear this in mind when reading this post.

In my experience, the written contract is particularly relevant to pubs.
Whilst I appreciate that some pubs are okay and that they treat their dj's very well, in my experience over the years I have generally found that:

Most of them always seem to want something for nothing.
Will haggle over the price when quoted using the phrase, I will only pay £xx for a disco
Generally expect you to work miracles during the evening.

Thankfully I do not have to rely on them for much work during the year, but always treat them with caution when they call

Cris
DJ Spinko

[Shaun]

Sorry to hear of your trouble mate. It's already been said...always use a contract. As an extra security measure I always insist on payment upfront in cash before I start. No Pay, No Play..NO EXCEPTIONS!.