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And now what did you do TODAY?


morphsci

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Ok, so after that awful conversation, she sends me an email:

"What about the 14th from 3-6pm?" meaning the next day, which is a Sunday, since she now seems to understand that she can't have the 13th from 3-6pm or any other time on that day.  But mind you, I talked her through my entire schedule for the month of December on the phone, including the 14th.  

Perhaps she wasn't listening since she was too busy yelling at me... so I reply:

"I'm booked from 3-5pm on the 14th, and tentatively booked from 11am-2pm as well although that hasn't been confirmed yet.  The evening hours are open on the 14th, although I know that probably won't work in Digicel's case."
 

Her response:

"Hi Wayne,
 
I don’t understand what you mean. Are you saying you are good to go on Dec 14th from 3pm to 6pm?"

I kid you not.  This is an event planner... who gets paid for... planning... events.
Edited by Wmcmanus
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I just got yelled at for about 15 minutes by a woman from Digicel (Jamaican-based phone company) for not being able to accommodate her 11th hour request for a 3-6pm Santa event on a freaking Saturday (December 13th).  This, after she cancelled a booking that they had previously made for the prior Saturday from 12-2pm with nothing more than a "Sorry, but we're not doing a Santa event this year" email.  (As in, fuck you, we're not really sorry, we're just canceling.)  

So now it's my fucking job to be able to read her mind 10 months in advance and reserve one of the most prime spots on my entire calendar, which was actually booked on February 12th for $400 per hour.  She actually wants me to call that company and cancel their event and rebook it for her company for $175 per hour because that's what is in her budget and what she considers to be "a fair price."  I was patient with her and offered every conceivable solution that I could in terms of my availability (mostly evening hours during the week at this point).  But no, she wants me for her event at her rate, and expects me to fuck myself with my other clients.  I'd actually have to cancel that event and shift around another event to do as she's demanded (not requested).  

All of this because, apparently (in her view), I should allow them to pick their date and time (and rate) because they rudely cancelled on me about 2 weeks ago with no indication whatsoever that they might be considering hosting another event at a different location, date, and time.  She kept saying, "But we already made a reservation!" as if it represents a coupon of some sort that then allows them to order me around any which way they choose to.  What an idiot.  Plus, they made me give away those shitty little miniature candy canes last year because they were too cheap to do anything better.  In the meantime, I've rebooked my time for their cancelled event on the 6th, so she's not getting that time either!

 

Stick to your guns Santa!

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At least this year I finally gave in to the temptation that I've had now for several years to premium price my Saturdays.  You really only have 3 Saturdays per season because it's hard to get companies to shift their parties back to the last Saturday in November.  So this year I've been able to book multiple hour Saturday events with the two biggest law firms on Island and a really big event hosted by the Ritz Carlton, all for USD 400 per hour.  Up until last year, I was still treating Saturdays like any other day and booking my time at KYD 150 (which is about USD 195), plus they were smaller events that didn't give me any particular exposure either.  

 

It's not so much about the money (although more is always good), but about "stepping up the game" and changing up the mix of events that I do such that it will be more to my liking.  My favorite events are still the big grade school assemblies (think 300-500 screaming kids) and also the home visits, especially the big happy extended family gatherings.  That's where my heart is at, not so much for the public events where long lines form for pictures, or the corporate events where there is a commercial aspect to it.  But if I'm going to do the corporate events (less interesting to me), I might as well charge them a premium price on weekends (my billing rate for Friday nights and all day on Sundays is also up this year, but not as high as Saturdays).

 

This then allows me to do more charitable events and deeply discounted family events (for people who don't have good jobs, but still love their kids), but I'm no longer willing to schedule any such events during the weekends.  Just tonight, I told a friend, "On a Tuesday night, it will cost you either $50 or a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black.  On a Saturday afternoon, it will cost you $400.  Professional Santas aren't cheap, and cheap Santas aren't professional."

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Busy day....

 

Got woken up by Andrew at 6am, managed to keep him in bed for another half hour but just.

Made some scones to make the morning more tolerable.

Converted the GTI to winter mode.

Made 2 dozen rolls for family thanksgiving tomorrow.

Put the snow blower on the tractor (partially complete, still need to do chains and weights).

 

158318591.jpg

 

Yay for old Audi rims and nearly new tires at half the price of the tires alone.  

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