New Equiry - Social distancing

[East Anglian Discos]

Odd enquiry received last night from a client who asked me to do a 15th birthday party in his back garden for four 15 year olds with social distancing next weekend.

Too many alarm bells for me to even consider doing it so I declined.

Anyone receiving these type of enquiries?

[ppentertainments]

Odd enquiry received last night from a client who asked me to do a 15th birthday party in his back garden for four 15 year olds with social distancing next weekend.

Too many alarm bells for me to even consider doing it so I declined.

Anyone receiving these type of enquiries?

Their are a few of these type of enquiries going about and strictly speaking nothing wrong in doing so.

HOWEVER, I am wary incase things get out of hand and you are stuck in the middle of it, with people taking pics to post on social media and sending to papers etc. Plus, I wouldn't advertise this sort of thing as my usual customers wouldn't agree I imagine.

There are a lot of DJs trying to find loopholes - especially for when pubs open up - for me though I think it is safer to just sit tight until we are told we can go back. One party that goes wrong could finish you off, so I think you made the correct choice.

[rth_discos]

I've never been one for back garden parties, unless it's a wedding or birthday in a proper marquee, on decent sized land.

Private parties in back gardens without any third party support worry me, and I wouldn't want to do them at the best of times.

[Pe7e]

Too many alarm bells for me to even consider doing it so I declined.
Anyone receiving these type of enquiries?

Yes, over the last few weeks I've quite a few enquirers for equipment hire, all of which I declined, and will continue to do so until the present lockdown is lifted, and the situation we find ourselves in at the moment has normalized. In fact then, I'm not sure if I'll restart it at all, I'll certainly reduce the equipment stocked and bookings I take on if I do decide to continue. I've been in 'practice' retirement mode for the last 4 months and apart from a few periods of boredom I have actually quite liked it.

[Imagine]

Yes, I've had a couple of enquiries. There are even a couple of local operators advertising such parties.

As has already been mentioned, the possibility of it getting out of hand, gatecrashers, trouble and even bad publicity is going to be a big problem even though the concept isn't actually illegal. I'm not even contemplating going there, as much as I'm now starting to REALLY miss being out.

I've still got three couples to suddenly cocoa that they aren't getting their wedding in the way they imagined this year (they'll realise at some point - probably a couple of weeks beforehand when their venues tell them that actually, they were wrong and should have let them postpone in the first place), and then that's me officially off the road until at least next March (if we're even allowed to go out then!).

Until then, I've passed all my driving tests with a large supermarket that helps me to eat well on less and am now happily providing "click and collect" groceries from the back of a chilled van whilst topping up my suntan in the carpark. Not the career path I envisaged 12 months ago, but hey....it's a job which is more than a LOT of people are going to have once things settle down ;)

[DJ Jules]

Odd enquiry received last night from a client who asked me to do a 15th birthday party in his back garden for four 15 year olds with social distancing next weekend.

Too many alarm bells for me to even consider doing it so I declined.


I've had a few requests like this, plus a bunch of hire inquiries, but I'm declining them.

I give the hire requests a few reasons for refusing. The big one for me at the moment is that if I hire kit out and it doesn't come back for some reason, then what do I do? I can't turn up on someone's doorstep to collect equipment without putting me and my family at risk. The other side of this is that if my neighbours decided to do this, it'd :Censored: me right off and there'd be very little I could do about it so I'd rather not put other people in the same position!

As for the garden parties.... I can't think of anything duller than playing to 4 people in someone's back garden. I've seen a few socially distanced street parties go live on FB around VE day that look like they were fun, but most of them were skirting around the edges of the restrictions and the ones that got into the press were spun in both a negative and positive light.

It's just too risky at the moment. People are starting to push the boundaries of the rules and, as part of that risk taking, they seem to be pushing the boundaries of other rules and social conventions (look at the reports of beach use over the weekend - the usual restrictions, like no dogs, no BBQ's, no :Censored: in gardens, etc - are being totally ignored). I hate to think what a drunken garden party could end up like - and you'd have no back up or support if it went wrong.

I technically have a party in the diary for the 4th of July (the day that restrictions may be lifted for the hospitality industry) and the customer isn't replying to emails/sms's at the moment. I talked to the venue yesterday and they currently have no plans to re-open as the venue doesn't lend itself to social distancing for either guests or staff (smallish venue with a single width, 5 flight staircase for going in/out and a separate single width staircase at the back to go to/from kitchens for staff) so it's not going to happen. I'm waiting for the school situation to settle down to see what happens with leavers discos (can't see them happening and, if I'm honest, I don't want them to) and then the next thing in my diary is August. Most of August and September have moved to next year and I can see the rest following.

Julian

[East Anglian Discos]

Agree with what's been said here.

I can imagine people shouting requests, ignoring social distancing. Wouldn't surprise me to see the back garden full of people well in excess of 6. Then what about access to the garden, supply of power etc. Fraught will issues and risk.

Not an illegal event in principle but unwise.

[DJ Jules]

Not the career path I envisaged 12 months ago, but hey....it's a job which is more than a LOT of people are going to have once things settle down ;)

I sent my wife a job ad for Royal Mail yesterday as they're hiring posties near us at the moment. It pays more than her mid-level position in the NHS that she's had to study for 3 years to get. I still find it staggering that, as a graduate with a 1st class degree (and 3 years experience prior to her studies) she's only getting just above what is considered a living wage (and there are four pay grades below her who are getting less).

Go clap for that on Thursday.

Julian

[ppentertainments]

Until then, I've passed all my driving tests with a large supermarket that helps me to eat well on less and am now happily providing "click and collect" groceries from the back of a chilled van whilst topping up my suntan in the carpark. Not the career path I envisaged 12 months ago, but hey....it's a job which is more than a LOT of people are going to have once things settle down ;)
Yeah, my career route has gone off course a little and now onto my 3rd job since all this started haha.

It is amazing how many 'Full Time DJs' realised they actually have a normal job and/or that they didn't really bring any income in - their wives/partners did lol.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

It is amazing how many 'Full Time DJs' realised they actually have a normal job and/or that they didn't really bring any income in - their wives/partners did lol.

I can't remember the amount of times people have asked me why I don't do it full time.

Answer 1 is - it's not a "job" and I've no intention of turning it into one.

Answer 2 is even though I do it part time and have a nice gross - "WHAT, JUST FROM DJING?" was the response when I was speaking to a mortgage advisor not too long ago, I'd need to do around 80 high end bookings a year to have a decent liveable net income off of it, probably closer and that's before considering what the tax would be like so probably more like 90-100.

[ppentertainments]

I can't remember the amount of times people have asked me why I don't do it full time.

Answer 1 is - it's not a "job" and I've no intention of turning it into one.

Answer 2 is even though I do it part time and have a nice gross - "WHAT, JUST FROM DJING?" was the response when I was speaking to a mortgage advisor not too long ago, I'd need to do around 80 high end bookings a year to have a decent liveable net income off of it, probably closer and that's before considering what the tax would be like so probably more like 90-100.
There was a phase around 10 years ago when everytime you spoke to another DJ the reply was "I am part time but looking to go full time", now it iis horses for causes.

I love it as a full time job as like the time off I get - could think of nothing worse than doing a day job then DJing on a weekend, others prefer it that way. In fact a lot of people who DJ for me love the fact they have a normal job, then work for me so no marketing etc. I will stick to having 4/5 days off a week - if I can after all this, never know how things might change and my 'getting desperate backup plan' may have to come into play.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

There was a phase around 10 years ago when everytime you spoke to another DJ the reply was "I am part time but looking to go full time", now it iis horses for causes.

I love it as a full time job as like the time off I get - could think of nothing worse than doing a day job then DJing on a weekend, others prefer it that way. In fact a lot of people who DJ for me love the fact they have a normal job, then work for me so no marketing etc. I will stick to having 4/5 days off a week - if I can after all this, never know how things might change and my 'getting desperate backup plan' may have to come into play.

I can literally pin point the moment I decided to quite the accountancy degree I was doing to be a teacher ( wetherspoons, seat by the window, Sunday night with a horrible girlfriend I had at the time - quit my BAcc the next morning and never looked back) :beer1:

It's a vocation and my current job is amazing, proper "yay it's another day - let's do this" fodder. I even have my morning coffee out in the yard before kick off because I like seeing the kids bouncing around doing their thing. There may come a time that changes but not for the foreseeable.

It gives me something to get up for in the morning and I wouldn't give it up for the world. The DJing gives me a musical outlet I enjoy on the side plus it pays for my hot tub wine and holidays. I played in bands for years, now I'm the only arsehole I need to worry about... ;)

[Imagine]

I can't wait to be back to full time self employed!

BUT....because I was made redundant from a now non-existent company last year (so no furlough), and only have 11 months of accounts (no self employed help either then)....I've fallen through every safety net ever invented. So....I'm now back in a full time job (along with a couple of airline pilots, a music teacher, several driving instructors, fitness coaches, a professional boxer, several wedding band members, a wedding photographer and several high end DJs...and yes, we're comparing notes!)

2019 was MY year. I got the kick up the backside I needed to go full time and it was working. 2020 was actually going to pay a very nice chunk of money in wages. I'd now have to work for over a month to earn what I was getting for an all-day wedding....and it's bloody hard work to boot!

The shifts are erratic to say the least (I can start as early as 6am one day and finish as late as midnight the next).

BUT - it's something, and I'm actually out meeting people and have work colleagues again (all of them harping back to just three months ago when life was so much easier).

Being employed again is horrible. I have to follow rules and policies. I have to be there for certain times of the day. I have to obey orders and report to people young enough to be my children! (literally, two of my bosses went to school with my daughter!)

However, even when things return to some sort of normal, I'm likely going to keep my finger in this particular pie. It's my safety net, it pays a steady wage, pension and staff discount, and it's something to fall back on if something like Covid ever happens again.

It's not ideal, but it's helping me to live well on less ;)

[Excalibur]

[B]Being employed again is horrible. I have to follow rules and policies. I have to be there for certain times of the day. I have to obey orders and report to people young enough to be my children! (literally, two of my bosses went to school with my daughter!)


Don't moan Son, don't moan. :Naughty:
You're guaranteed work to do, don't have to think what to do next, and don't have to buy things just to do your job.
Over here, in the wonderful world of the self employed, the work is famine or feast, the weather can put a stop to it in an instant, and you don't wake up on a morning with your day all planned out, and have your plans thrown into disarray with one phone call. Or have to decide which of the urgent, time sensitive jobs to go to first?

And you know what? I wouldn't want to go back to being a wage slave. Wayne, keep on with it mate, well done, and all the best. :approve:

[rth_discos]

Being employed again is horrible. I have to follow rules and policies. I have to be there for certain times of the day. I have to obey orders and report to people young enough to be my children!

Sounds like a typical wedding lol!

[Excalibur]

Being employed again is horrible. I have to follow rules and policies. I have to be there for certain times of the day. I have to obey orders and report to people young enough to be my children! (literally, two of my bosses went to school with my daughter!)



Sounds like a typical wedding lol!

Ain't that the truth! :Laugh:

[DJ Jules]

Answer 1 is - it's not a "job" and I've no intention of turning it into one.

Answer 2 is even though I do it part time and have a nice gross - "WHAT, JUST FROM DJING?" was the response when I was speaking to a mortgage advisor not too long ago, I'd need to do around 80 high end bookings a year to have a decent liveable net income off of it.

People have very different expectations around what is considered a decent livable income. See my previous comment about how bad NHS pay is...

Julian

[DJ Jules]

Don't moan Son, don't moan. :Naughty:

Second that. I was thinking the other day what all this is likely to mean for my 16 and 17yr old kids who will be entering the job market in anything from 1 to 5 years (depending on the choices they make), possibly in the middle of one of the deepest global depressions the world has ever seen. Not sure how best to prepare them for that (other than encouraging them to stay in education as long as possible!)

Julian

[Pe7e]

Ain't that the truth! :Laugh:

It most certainly is! It's the first post to make me laugh in a long time

[mattydj50]

Ain't that the truth! :Laugh:


Sounds like a typical wedding lol!



Being employed again is horrible. I have to follow rules and policies. I have to be there for certain times of the day. I have to obey orders and report to people young enough to be my children! (literally, two of my bosses went to school with my daughter!)




Sounds more like a typical marriage!


Can't say my 31 year old stepson has noticed any change in this self isolation business. He's been holed up in his bedroom 23 and a half hours a day for the past 8 years anyway. If he didn't surface for food, I'd never see him at all.

[East Anglian Discos]

Quite funny that I offered the gig on a local DJ forum, and no one was interested in it, apart from someone who was offering a dry hire service. That's just as risky as you would need to sanitise the gear on collection :)

[Imagine]

Don't moan Son, don't moan. :Naughty:
You're guaranteed work to do, don't have to think what to do next, and don't have to buy things just to do your job.
Over here, in the wonderful world of the self employed, the work is famine or feast, the weather can put a stop to it in an instant, and you don't wake up on a morning with your day all planned out, and have your plans thrown into disarray with one phone call. Or have to decide which of the urgent, time sensitive jobs to go to first?

And you know what? I wouldn't want to go back to being a wage slave. Wayne, keep on with it mate, well done, and all the best. :approve:

Trust me old timer, being a wage slave is the last place I want to be - but I have bills to pay, mouths to feed and actually need to feel like I have a purpose in life at the moment.

This isn't a pity post by the way. I'm actually eternally grateful for my "position" at the moment (we took on a high flying ex sales rep and yet another driving instructor today!). We're all in the same vessel without adequate means of propulsion at the moment and each and every one of us can't wait to go back to what we do best (and believe me...it's not shovelling crates of prosecco, Merlot, speciality Gin and single malt around for 9 hours at a time!)

The unbelievable part is - they stand and clap for the likes of us on their doorsteps on a Thursday evening, and then moan at us on a Friday morning!

The disco's not going anywhere anytime soon sadly (and I now HATE visiting my lockup to do a security check every couple of days because I know the kit's not going to be firing up for the foreseeable and it's what I LOVE doing). I have a job which is paying money (sort of), but it's really NOT what was on the business plan this time last year :(

It just feels like the rug's been pulled from under my feet at the moment.


Sounds like a typical wedding lol!

Yup - that made me smile :)


People have very different expectations around what is considered a decent livable income. See my previous comment about how bad NHS pay is...

Julian

Expectations vs reality come into play here.

I've ALWAYS had a very well paid job (mainly software engineer for the past 20 odd years and those jobs at the moment are like the product of the back-end of a rocking horse!). We had more money than we needed, life was good. The disco was going to nearly replace that money but with a better work-life balance (well worth the trade off).

I'm now on minimum wage for a LOT more very physical and mundane work (at the moment it would take me more than a month to earn the same money as an all day wedding with a lot more sweat and grief). Don't get me wrong, things are what they are and I'm grateful for the money coming into the bank account, no matter how meagre. It's also a chance to sort of socialise with people outside of my own house.

The REAL key-workers however (and I meet a lot of them during my working day with the local hospital just a couple of miles down the road) deserve so much more! Some of the stories they're telling me at the moment are heart wrenching :(


Second that. I was thinking the other day what all this is likely to mean for my 16 and 17yr old kids who will be entering the job market in anything from 1 to 5 years (depending on the choices they make), possibly in the middle of one of the deepest global depressions the world has ever seen. Not sure how best to prepare them for that (other than encouraging them to stay in education as long as possible!)

Julian

My 21 yr old son graduated from university this time last year as a games designer. No chance of a job in that field at the moment. He's also in retail but annoyingly earning more per hour than me! Retail at the moment seems to be one of the safest career paths to take.

Interesting tale here: I went into retail as an assistant manager when I left school aged 16 way back in 1987. You would have thought I'd brought shame onto my family at the time, so low down the pecking order was the job. I'm now working alongside my original branch manager as an equal (in fact - three weeks more senior colleague...I'm training HIM...30-odd years on!


Can't say my 31 year old stepson has noticed any change in this self isolation business. He's been holed up in his bedroom 23 and a half hours a day for the past 8 years anyway. If he didn't surface for food, I'd never see him at all.

Yaaaay - it's not just us then!

Our 21 year old speaks literally THREE words to us on a daily basis.

1. "Bye" as he disappears to work
2. "Alright" as he comes home after work
3. "Night" as he goes to bed.

Other than that, we don't actually SEE him! He shuts himself away in his room on his PC for hours on end. We "hear" him go from his room to the toilet every now and then, and he'll come down to the kitchen for food at very odd hours, but other than that, it's like he's not actually here! Social distancing is really NO problem for him - he's been practicing for several years!


Quite funny that I offered the gig on a local DJ forum, and no one was interested in it, apart from someone who was offering a dry hire service. That's just as risky as you would need to sanitise the gear on collection :)

I noticed the tumbleweed on that post Rob ;) Funny enough, all of those with big gentlemen vegetables during "normal" times have gone very quiet on anything to do with getting back to work for some reason.

Things WILL return to normal at some point next year, but until then, I'm going to be timed on my deliveries and judged electronically on my driving style for a while to come ;) Hey - it's money in the bank and the bills just about paid :)

[DJ Jules]

Our 21 year old speaks literally THREE words to us on a daily basis.

1. "Bye" as he disappears to work
2. "Alright" as he comes home after work
3. "Night" as he goes to bed.

Other than that, we don't actually SEE him! He shuts himself away in his room on his PC for hours on end. We "hear" him go from his room to the toilet every now and then, and he'll come down to the kitchen for food at very odd hours, but other than that, it's like he's not actually here! Social distancing is really NO problem for him - he's been practicing for several years!

Sounds very familiar... 17yr old turns up for 3 meals a day and does a combination of gaming, remotely set assignments for his A-Levels and zoom meetings from his room (he tells me that the proportions of those three are 10/80/10, I suspect it's more like 60/35/5 :daft:). 16yr old has started a business taking commissions for pet portraits and is now booked solid until she goes back in Sept. Website, business cards, the lot. She's quids in and loving it (especially as she could choose the commissions she wanted to take on), but she's drawing from 8am to 10pm every day :zip:

Julian

[Excalibur]

Trust me old timer, being a wage slave is the last place I want to be - but I have bills to pay, mouths to feed and actually need to feel like I have a purpose in life at the moment.


Hence why I came in the last two days exhausted, exasperated, thoroughly cheesed off with life, and drenched in either sweat or rain. As the song goes, " Some days are diamonds, some days are stones". :(

[Nakatomi]

Sounds like a typical wedding lol!

LOL yeah!

Add in having to listen to music you don't like for the duration & you're right on the money :lol: