Karaoke Forums

I would call his bartender and relay to the bartender that I would no longer be his boss' (@$%&#!). I wouldn't even wait until I had another gig to replace this bad one. I'd rather sit at home relaxing than work for an a$$hole like that. I'd e-mail my following to let them know that there was no longer karaoke at that place and let the bar owner lose some real money in your absence. When the owner calls to get you back; that is when get to renegotiate and get things in writing.....like no half shows with half pay. You show up, you get paid in full before you set up your equipment. If he's not making money, it's his fault.

BUT.....
If you shut the show down early, you lose any chance of ever being able to build the crowd.
People may show up later for karaoke only to find no show going on.
Do you think they will come back the next week?
Or ever?
Probably not.
If you advertise Karaoke (or any other form of ebtertainment), you better have it going or you shoot yourself in the foot as far as building any kind of a crowd goes.
Very quickly, you will be known as the bar that advertises entertainment but never has it.
In other words, UNRELIABLE.

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I felt I was on the right track in my thinking, but sometimes wonder if I'm not blind to what might be happening, so It's good to get other opinions.
The emails and texts are going out today to all my regulars to see if they know of another venue that would be suitable. If this owner finds out I'm looking OH WELL, sucks to be him.
I will not just quit this gig, when I find another I will give notice, and go from there, I try not to burn bridges with anyone. He can fire me if he wishes, but I will do my best to take the high road, and do the right thing.
I will be out of town for the next few days, so not online, but I will surely update the post as soon as I have something to add.
Again thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming, if you have something to add. I can take criticism if someone feels I am in the wrong here. If I couldn't take it I wouldn't ask.

I'd take it farther than that Scott. I don't think he understands the bar business. You don't kick 15 people out the door just because the place isn't making a profit at the time. Generally speaking you need to stay open through good and bad or you end up losing regulars.

I have seen seasoned owners close an hour early if absolutely no one is in there. But that's about it.

Part of this process may have been caused by agreeing to work by the hour. Unless it's overtime it's something I usually don't do because I had a problem like this with a place before. But I did do a three hour minimum recently with an hourly rate afterwards if needed.

edit: Oh yeah... Scotty Mo you are doing exactly what I would under the circumstances. Best of luck and keep us informed.

wow This owner is a very special guy.

You said you were busy one night than slow the next? Is your slow night the same each week with this guy?

I only ask because my Saturdays are usually low attendence and my Fridays are packed. I had a scary busy night this Friday. Saturday I had 6 singers to start and it stayed that way until about 11:00. I can't remember it ever being that bad. Now realize in my bar karaoke is the only draw, so there were only a few other people in the bar besides the singers. I asked the bartender if he thought I could close early (I'm talking an hour or hour and half). The owner wasn't there. He said sure. By 11:30 the bar was packed and I had 25 singers. Of course I stayed. I was there until 2am.

I don't think there is anything wrong with closing early, but that is the establishments decision not mine. Most bar owners understand that some nights are busy and some are slow. They make their money up on the busy nights. If I had only a few singers I would never close before 12 or 12:30 though.

If I had 15 singers he would never have me close early. This guy sounds like he expects a packed bar or nothing at all. It doesn't work that way.

I don't consider myself the same as a band in this establishment because I've been in this bar for many yrs, 3 times a week. Bands only come in once in a blue moon. If I had to close early once or twice a yr it wouldn't bother me. But to be expected to do it all the time kills business. People aren't going to make a trip to the bar for karaoke if they think you might not be there. They will go some where else. This guy is a moron ! (a penny foolish)

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I just started going to a new karaoke place due to a very bad rotation policy at a previous haunt. I saw an advertisement on the internet that this new place had karaoke EVERY FRIDAY night. I had been there 2 Friday nights in a row and was planning on going there last Friday. I was just surfing the web and decided to check out the web page of the KJs that do the shows at this particular bar and noticed that there was nothing listed on the December Calendar for last Friday night. I thought that it was possibly just a mistake by the web site but decided to send an e-mail to the KJ asking about the status of the Friday night show. I received a quick response to my e-mail telling me that every now and then the bar decides to have a hip hop night on Fridays and there would be no karaoke there last week. If I had not sent that e-mail and just went with the idea that the bar had karaoke EVERY FRIDAY like the ad said and showed up there; they would have lost a customer. I don't like the bait & switch policy. I don't need to drive a half hour away to find out that I have wasted my time. A bar owner who doesn't let a "karaoke customer" know that there will not be karaoke the following week is a bar owner that doesn't care about his customers. If he doesn't care about me, then why should I care about being a regular customer of his when there are other options out there? The same thing goes for cutting off a show early when there are only a few singers there. If I drive there and a handful of others drive there, the show should go on. If the bar owner tells the KJ to go home early, he is telling me that he doesn't want my business. He is essentially telling me to beat it and go home. On the ocassional slow night, a bar owner has to bite the bullet and do what is neccessary to keep his customers coming back. Why should a customer go back there without a guarantee that there will be a show once he arrives? I'm not going to plan my night out around a bar that cancels karaoke in the middle of the show. Slow nights happen and a bar owner just has to eat it every now and again. If one or two slow nights every now and again are gonna put him out of business, he shouldn't be in the business to begin with.

Babs I had a similar Saturday. When I came to work there were three people in the whole place. That was it! Plus the incredibly strong smell of marijuana smoke throughout the bar, kitchen, and restaurant. I mean it was so powerful that some of the help was getting a secondary high. But that's another story about last Saturday which is off the thread subject...


Anyway my first singers, a couple, didn't come in until around 9:30. But a couple of hours later the place was packed and rotation was out past an hour and a half.

Like I said my room had been like a yo-yo lately. None of us can tell what it's going to do anymore. You just never know and you sure don't want to close down too early.

Well, I'm back in town. I do have a new development to report, but first I need to clarify a point from Bill's post. I do charge a flat fee for a 4 hour show. I messed up the 50 per hour came into play during our first discussion about closing down early.
I stated in a previous post that this has happened before at the other bar I worked, and what happened was I was set up ready to go, and no one came in. I do play filler, so music was playing while I sat at the bar drinking beer with the bartender and owner. At around 11 when nothing was happening we all discussed closing early, so we would say if nothing is going on by a particular time we are going to close. If we closed under those conditions I would adjust my pay accordingly.

Now the update. Quick bit of history I have a KJ that works for me part time. He fills in for me at karaoke if I have anything else scheduled. I do weddings, parties etc. So he covers karaoke when I have a different gig. He uses my system, and just sets up and runs the show. I have 3 rigs, and don't worry I am legal, only one is for karaoke. One is strictly DJ only, and a back up.
Well this incredibly intellengent owner contacted him about working New Years Eve. And being that he works for me. my employee immediately called me. The owner seems to think this guy will go around me, and work straight for him. Well I'm happy to report my guy won't do that.
When he called to tell me this my first instict is to call this owner, and tell him to go ____ himself, but as I stated I'm trying my best to take the high road. But this owner is really pushing the limits.
After emailing and texting my regulars I'm happy to report they are on a mission to find, Us as a group a new venue. I'm a so proud to have folks like them and customers and friends.
I am supposed to work Thurs. and Sat. this week, but I'm still on the fence about telling him to ------ Off.

Well, after a night of rest. I discussed all of this with my wife, who is my partner in business and in life, I've decided that I'm going to give this owner notice tonight that my last night at his venue will be Dec. 20th. I don't know why I've let this go this far, and let it all get to me like it has. As I've stated in previous post, and in my intro, I've been a mobile DJ since 1986, working for other companies until 2004 when my wife and I chose to start our own company.
Back when working for others I would just go work the gig I was assigned. Now I get to make all the calls. I guess I was focusing more on my regulars than what might be best for me and my family, and my thinking got clouded. However another gig will come along for karaoke. In the mean time I do have a few private events on the books through Jan. So all should work out in the end.
Thanks again to everyone that posted replies and comments. I will say it again, that is why I finally joined this board after lurking around it for a couple of years. It's always good to bounce ideas and problems off people outside of the situation, and get another perspective.

Good luck to you Scotty!
Please keep us up to date on how it's going.

Scotty - I think only good things are coming your way. Enjoy your extra time off this holiday season.

Do let us know the owners reaction when he finds out his little NYE ploy didn't work.

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Well, I gave notice last night (Thurs.) , and the owner said "Get your Sh#t, and Get Out of My F@#&ing Bar.
So that's how it goes. You got to love it when a person just shoots themselves in the foot. Not only did he yell at me, but he did it in a bar full of customers, 10 of which were my regulars that follow me. Everyone had a look of shock on their face, and half the place emptied out as I left.
So a fairy tale ending to all the drama.

Ha Ha

Good on you !

ScottyMo1 @ Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:31 am wrote:

Well, I gave notice last night (Thurs.) , and the owner said "Get your Sh#t, and Get Out of My F@#&ing Bar.
So that's how it goes. You got to love it when a person just shoots themselves in the foot. Not only did he yell at me, but he did it in a bar full of customers, 10 of which were my regulars that follow me. Everyone had a look of shock on their face, and half the place emptied out as I left.
So a fairy tale ending to all the drama.

Gotta love an owner that lets his temper get the best of him. He'll forever regret having done that in front of customers. Word will spread quickly, too. Glad you have a following that will be conspicuous in their absence. Best of luck in procuring another gig - hopefully it'll hurt this owner's bottom line when you do.

Wow ! There's some class.

Did you mention you knew about the NYE ploy?

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

So the bar didn't advertise, did you do any advertising at all of your own? Besides the email list. Plenty of places to do free advertising just takes a little bit of your time.

Well sorry to hear it didn't work out.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Babs,
No I did not bring up the NYE ploy, I was finished arguing with him, so it really would not have helped. I don't think this guy would have understood that his trick was a problem, but you know karma is a female dog.

Lon,
Other than the mass email and texting to 100 people, who are my regular followers, a friend and I did print and distribute flyers, and free drink cards, that I covered the cost of (the drink cost came out of my pocket).
Other than that no I did no advertising on my own. As I stated earlier I am wanting to start a marketing blitz in 09. If you have any advice, please let me know. Although I have alot of time as a DJ, I only have 4 years as a company owner. So any and all advice is welcome.
I have gotten alot of phone calls from bar patrons who did not even participate in karaoke, calling to check on me. When I explained what happened they told me what a jackass this guy is, and I'm better off not being there. So while I'm sure I made some mistakes, and I'm trying to evaluate everything that has happened since August. This guy is just hard to work with.

This guy sounds like hes MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY.....................but when there's NO WAY TO BEGIN WITH.........................

_________________
"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

As you have left this gig, some of this might be moot...but perhaps some learning to take to your next gig. By the way, I would never have given notice to the owner with a bar full of people. I would have either waited until after closing, or come by to see him during the day.Either because the bartender needed the hours or one of the 6 people was a big tipper.No, no, never, never! My rate is a nightly rate whether I work my entire 4-1/2 hour shift or they decide to shut it down early. I have driven there, loaded in and set up my gear and am ready to work the night. If THEY want to shut it down early, that's on them.

Sounds like you made the right decision in leaving this gig, the bar owner sounds a little unhinged.

_________________
[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

Good point Dan, However I gave notice when I did because I half way expected this kind of reaction from him, and call me lazy, but I wasn't going to set up only to have to break down, and go. Also I didn't mention I actually talked to him on the phone. After he and I had our conversation, and he told me on the phone to leave, as my wife and I were grabbing our coats, and preparing to go, He called the bar, and had the bartender walk up to me in the middle of the bar, and while he was listening on the phone, had her repeat the lovely parting phrase that he gave me on the phone, so while I agree not giving notice, at the beginning of the night. I feel in this case it was the right way to handle this guy. So he was the one who made sure everyone heard him , via his bartender.
As we got to the car my wife commented that she could see the tension lift from my shoulders, so after much personal debate, I feel the right decision was made.