Karaoke Forums

Do the gay bars serve food?

I host a show at a lesbian club, and they only serve microwave stuff. Sorta disappointing, cuz it's such a nice place, just no kitchen.

99% of the responders did answer every item in question. Very accurately and honestly. FROM YEARS OF EXPERIENCE from dealing with every whiner, complainer obnoxious nonsingers, drunks and stupid bar owners that came down the pike.

Whether catering to the whiners too much effects your reputation will remain to be seen by how many other singers get fed up and leave for other shows.

It doesn't matter if you let them sing EVERY song in the rotation. (That's why nobody asked because we all know the answer doesn't matter.) They will find something to complain about. They always do.

You're welcome.

First, we've learned to ignore the haughty condescending "advice" of Angel910.As a karaoke host, you will occasionally butt heads with the owners or patrons. You have to pick your battles. KJs who steadfastly insist, "My way or the highway" quickly find themselves on the highway. There are just too many other hosts out there. As has been said, no one is indispensable. I can totally see where an owner might even be happy to miss some potential income as a new host ramps things back up again. No employee disses the boss and expects to keep a job.

That depends on what you mean by "run your rotation". If the boss has a friend he wants to put up a little sooner, it's not going to ruin your "reputation" or "integrity" to let the boss have his way once in awhile. Now on a regular basis? I would certainly have a conversation with the owner and let him know that continuously compromising the rotation for his friends puts off the other patrons.

Never forget you are there because the boss is paying you. You don't like the demands the boss is putting on you? You can either sit down and work it out, or quit.

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srnitynow

You stated above that I have caused an injustice to befall people who tried to offer suggestions. What follows are some posts from the first page of this thread made by some of the MOST experienced members. Your advice is also represented. These posts, furthermore, ARE indeed representative of the advice I was provided throughout the thread.

I did embrace a suggestion presented by the very first poster and would have considered any other advice on how to placate the whiners and keep the gig for the "long term".

Pray tell, srnitynow, what CONCRETE suggestions were offered that would have helped me that I either ignored or overlooked?

And I did alert management to the situation but got no response! BTW alerting management was done as a courtesy. I never believed for one moment that the manager, as a person who never had karaoke in his place before and had never frequented karaoke, would have any grasp of the true nature of the problem!

Finally, srnitynow, if you explain how I have misrepresented the essence and contribution of any of the posts I have repeated below, or ignored any proven strategy provided by all of the experienced posters, I WILL happily apologize for the injustice you save I am guilty of!










Oh, and before reading this last post please tell me what I said and where I said "it" that indicate I would respond to the problem by doing something that would ruin my reputation, or betray my principles, or my credibility, or cater to a specific group. Also, I NEVER made any comment regarding the rotation being messed with!

As a very experienced KJ i have worked for every kind of bar owner. I have seen every kind of KJ. Some successful and many not worth much.

Any KJ that doesn't know or can't tell when a job is "going down the toilet" isn't very good or smart business wise.

I have quit bars for various reasons . Most of them were because whatever was going on and not in my control were things that were not in my best interest or to help my reputation. This is also a good business decision based on my business knowledge and experience. I'm not kissing butt to keep jobs. I can get other jobs. One job has never broken me. I'm not a desperate KJ that has trouble filling nights.

An OCCASIONAL bar owner favor is one thing. I have seen many that think because they pay you, they own you. No bar owner owns me because they pay me. I am there makng the money THEY are paying me. That's why they hired me. To MAKE money for them.

I am EARNING the pay they are giving me. That doesn't give them the right to control any aspect of how i run my show. It never will. Maybe that comes from being very good at my craft. Lessor KJs might not agree. If you want me to work here, get out of my way and sit over there and count your money. I'll handle the karaoke. You handle the bar.

I think you should re-read your posts , starting on the first, and second pages up until YOU went on Thurs. and came up with YOUR solution. You said giving LIP service to these whiners would do NO GOOD, also said that evidently nobody else has had these problems, basically dismissing every bit of advice that was given to you. So, in closing, since your problem is already solved, I have nothing further to add, good luck.

Srnitynow

Srintynow:

While you have not shown me where I owe anyone an apology, if you follow Bab's analysis, you'd agree with me that I am in fact the one who is owed an apology.



I LAID OUT THE FACTS AND WHAT I NEEDED TO ACCOMPLISH:

I want to keep the gig

Participation has been growing of late and I'll soon reach the point where the show will be successful in the eyes of management

On the other hand, if I have a regular decline in revenue in any significant amoutn, I may not be able to persist for more than another 3-5 weeks

I have some original participants who are complaining and "threatening" stop coming, who spend A LOT of money and who have enabled my show to last up until now.

As to my remark about providing LIP SERVICE to the situation, it seems that I should clarify my comment. I had already spoken with these people and got a very good feel for where they are "coming from". And let's not forget there are eight of them! Now, I don't see the benefit of trying to educate someone about something they are already determined to complain about -- the rotation. And should I imply to them that they're being selfish? Should I imply to them that they're being unfair or unreasonable. Should I get into a spitting contest with them about the economics questions they have already raised? Should I imply that rules are more important than they are? Should I imply that I am more concerned about my reputation than I am concerned about their experience? And have you ever considered how you would talk to 8 "adversaries" simultaneously?

And in her PM to me on the matter, Babs did suggest that I BROWN NOSE the whiners and her suggestion definitely became part of my plan. And BROWN-NOSING your "customers" is ALWAYS a good idea IMHO, and I need to do more of that on a regular basis!

AND AGAIN, which post or group of postings did I miss that conceptualized a concrete plan for me to achieve my goal(s)?

I've found Babs to be an invaluable source of good, wise advice that so far, has never been wrong!

Making WHINERS happy will only go so far.

WHINERS have BIG mouths.

I will treat them as i do everyone else. If it comes down to it, i would rather see every WHINER walk out the door never to return. I'm not going to beg any WHINER to stay.

They have the power to break your show. They will never help it.

I'd rather send them to your show.

Typical isnt it.
You put someone on a pedestal
and they want to ruin your show.

Thanks Angel... Sweetheart.

Last night went as smooth as silk

"Whiners" are still coming

No one complained about anything before or after they were done for the evening.

A few new singers showed up. Maybe they'll stick?

Started 15 minutes early again, though it is NOT something I have announced or made official!

Getting better at brown-nosing

Really nice crowd. Really good show!

Great!
I find that oftentimes, the "whiners" will back off and they rarely make good on their threats to leave and never come back.
Glad to hear that it seems like that's the case with you.

Yes, good for you! Maybe all will go as planned and this show will be a success!! Rock on!

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It's called Karaoke Therapy...

I don't know specifically why the whiners are "quiet"

Is it the Brown-nosing that I am trying to perfect?

Is it the fact that the extra fifteen minutes I put into the show provides an opportunity for them to sing more (as much as they had complained that they wanted to)?

Is it simply that I didn't ignore them and tried to resolve their issue?

But they definitely appear to be happy now and they offered several times to buy me a drink

Thanks for all the support, Y'all

Tov

I think sometimes like little kids patrons will push you to see how far they can get with empty threats.

I find once regulars learn how I run my show and I'm not budging on the rules they stop whining.

They like your show Tov or they wouldn't have taken the time to whine. They would have just left and never come back.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Just like POKER....They bluffed. You called. They folded. Life happens. One for the good guys

The original post presents an interesting situation. There may be cheapskates (I wonder where "cheapskate" came from--someone who sneaks in the back door of the roller rink? ), and there may be someone who spends a bit more that is upset. But what about the guy the spends the most? I know one person that commonly buys everone in the bar a drink (sometimes two or three). If someone gets to sing more than the cheapskate, shouldn't the Big Spender get to sing three or four times a round? And what if they did? We all like singing, but would we all want to hear our own voice that much? My guess is that no one would want to sing that much but only hear everyone else sing just once per round. As for myself, I really don't pay much attention to what others are eating or drinking. I mean, how can you be enjoying the show, when you are quietly monitoring everybody else's actions in the establishment?

Of course you could run the karaoke on a pay per song basis. For every song you sing, you pay, and that puts you in the rotation once per round. It might not be a bad way to run things actually.

I don't know, but some people love the sound of their own voice better than anything in the world. I have some people in my show that wouldn't care if I let them sing the whole entire show. And, if you ask them, they can tell you how many drinks someone has drank, how many bathroom breaks they've taken, and how long they were in the bathroom. They also write down the rotation. It is beyond me how they have any fun, and in the end, I think it causes them more frustration than it's worth. I love karaoke. I love to sing, but I would never be so serious about my own performance that I drive myself crazy monitoring everyone else's actions. Of course, then again, I have more important things in my life. Some people may not.

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It's called Karaoke Therapy...

I am sometimes amazed how easily posts can be misinterpreted

Is it because of poor grammar or a poor choice of words on the part of the poster?

Is it because the reader has a mind-set that clouds their understanding of what is actual being said?

No one "folded" at my show. And I do believe that if I had not satisfied the "whiners" (as someone here dubbed them) they would no longer be coming. I never believed they were bluffing. If I had, I wouldn't have tried to come up with a plan. I would have JUST brown-nosed them.

I looked for a solution that would be a WIN-WIN mechanism for me and those in attendance. And in the end the primary element that my plan required was the willingness on my part, unannounced, to expand the length of the show by 15-20 minutes (extending the front end and, if necessary, the rear end)

NOW PLEASE NOTE: Once I attract 5 more regular singers, this response will no longer provide the desired results. So, in actuality, I may just stick to the shows posted hours.

I am hoping by the time that the attendance level is high enough and consistent the whiners will be more accepting of the circumstances. And by that time, if they become upset again and actually leave it will not spell the demise of the show.

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Some had recommended that in this type of situation the decision should be turned over to management. How many people still think that would be the most sensible way to go.

I am curious if Misbipbip has ever consulted management about her whiners?