I mentioned this on a small fb group of local pro's a while back that it must be nice to be a sid, we're constantly fretting over the minute details of a couple's big day and can't unwind until after the formal dances have gone without a hitch whereas there's guys out there who will cancel or just not bother turning up and not let it bother them in the slightest!
It was a genuine sentiment and it really struck home last night.
I'm in Vegas on holiday, the wife has booked us to go to Bali in April - part as our honeymoon, part to visit a good friend who lives in Jakarta. We were talking about it over dinner last night and she mentioned the flights.
No dear, you must have that wrong, I've got a gig that Saturday, we must fly out on the Sunday...
Nope, somehow our wires crossed and we are indeed flying on the Saturday of the gig - she always double checks my dates and I've been racking my brains as to how it happened and come up blank.
Anyways long story short I literally felt sick to my stomach when the penny dropped and I spent the whole evening in the hotel touching base with guys from this particular group until I'd got someone I trust to do a great job and the client had responded (at 2am local time) to say she was understanding of the issue and happy to cancel with me and rebook with my suggested replacement.
In all the years I've done this it's the first time I've ever had to let someone down and it was only when I got that e-mail to say the client wasn't angry or upset and that she appreciated what I was trying to do to help her out that I relaxed.
Sorry for the rant just thought it was quite interesting to experience considering the amount of people out there who are happy to let clients down, I genuinely have no clue how they can do it and not feel horrible all the time.