Client behaviour.
Normally I'm a fairly placid kind of chap, but this weekend's gigs both nearly had me at breaking point!
First one had food involved, which soon became projectiles. Then the usual spillage of drinks which meant that the dancefloor resembled a paddling pool. A broken glass or two, for good measure, but the really worrying thing for me was when they started picking each other up bodily and administering The Bumps, or suchlike. At times it looked more like Dancing on Ice! Other punters and my kit were in danger at times, yet theses had no respect for other people's persons or property. Disgraceful.
Then, after appearing to have gone into a coma for half an hour or so, the floor is rammed for the last fifteen minutes, and at the finish the chant goes up " Play one more/Just one more" etc. The most annoying bit was one chap who said" Go on, you know you want to ". At that point, all I wanted to do was to leave, believe me.
When the lights went up, the room was not only a disgrace, but a health hazard. The bar staff were equally disgusted with the antics of the crowd.
Saturday night should have been a walk in the park by comparison, a 21st for a lovely girl in a local social club. I did her Dad's 50th birthday there ,and we all had a great time. This one started fine, but with little dancefloor action. No matter, I played a fair mixture, older stuff for family at the beginning, then a load of chart tunes, as the younger ones were coming in. At eleven, the birthday girl asked me to play as much cheese as possible, so away we went with the full cheeseboard.At this point, some drunk comes up and says ( not in a very polite manner ) " We need some modern stuff". I pointed out that I was following the guest of honour's instructions, but this carried little weight. I wouldn't have minded so much, except I'd just finished playing an hour and a half of it!
As at the previous night's gig, we then had lads behaving very "boisterously" on the dancefloor, while holding drinks, and my Custom Deckstand ( a Pool Table by day) was barged into more than once. I really think a normal stand would not have withstood the knocks without damage. One idiot actually jumped onto the front of the table to request a song!
With or without the taking of strong drink, politeness seems to have gone out of the window ( though on each night, I did have some lovely well behaved and courteous punters ), when will they learn that asking politely for a request increases their chances of having it played?
Final straw was at the end, this venue doesn't have a rigid finish time, they play it by ear, depending on the crowd, the bar takings, and the atmosphere. The only time we hit 1am is NYE. Not normally a problem, since they all decamp to the pub across the road, which stays open longer.
Since the birthday girl was bar staff, and things in general were fine, 1am was decreed as a finish time. And guess what? Yes, you're ahead of me:
" Just one more"
Neither were particularly bad gigs, but both left me in such a bad frame of mind.
Was it just me being Old and Crotchety, or have you had similar experiences? Am I simply doing the " It was never like that in my day" or is behaviour in general going down the tube?
Over to you.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Excalibur
