So, you are all packed, dressed, props ready to go and you leave your house in plenty of time. Your gig is only 25-30 minutes away and so you leave 50 minutes early knowing that you should be fine.....and then it happens.
BAM..SMASH...car crash in the middle of a 3 lane highway and it is the ONLY way you can get to your gig.
That my friends, happened tonight as I was heading to my gig that was supposed to begin at 6:30 PM. There was an accident blocking all lanes of traffic for a good half hour. Needless to say I frantically called the Winery that I was working at and talked to the manager to let him know that I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and would not make my 6:30 start time. Yikes....I felt horrible, but literally there was nothing I could do. I arrived at 7:00, used the restroom and found out that I was needed right away at an upstairs table of unhappy guests whose food was taking too long and they were getting pissed off.
So...da da da......here comes Super Rick to try and save the day. I took 3 deep breaths before approaching the table and went over and smiled and introduced myself. I proceeded to entertain them for 20 minutes solid and received clapping, cheering, and a $7.00 tip from the main man at the table. He also asked for a business card and said he would be in contact soon for a Christmas gig. I felt bad that there food had yet to arrive but definitely went out of my way to brighten the mood the best I could.
For the next two hours I was destroying people and getting good tips and compliments. These were mainly upper scale people in their 40's and 50's who liked to spend money so that was a bonus. I actually met a man who was a retired magician. His wife was mad that as soon as I approached his table he mentions that he used to do magic. He then proceeds to take out a half dollar and do some very nice coin vanishes as his wife looks annoyingly at him and says, "I told you not to do that." Ha Ha. I kind of got a good laugh out of it.
Then came a mistake. After two hours I decided to try an effect that I hadn't done in awhile and was feeling cocky and screwed it up with no out what so ever. I basically had to humbly apologize for messing it up and set the effect aside. I was a bit embarrassed to say the least and it once again proved not to "get so high on ones horse" because you are going to mess up at some point and be brought back to reality. Lesson learned.
At the end of the night I was treated nicely to a sit down meal and received my check for the desired amount. Now I could have worked from 7:00-9:00 (original time was supposed to be 6:30-8:30)and ran out of there, but because I was late I took it upon myself to stay an extra half hour on top of the regular scheduled 2 hours shift to try and make up for it.
Over all it was a great night and it sounded like they were going to use me again at some point.
I guess I just wanted to share this experience with some of you guys so you can learn a little bit. Was there anything I could have done about the car accident? Nope...I was basically a victim of bad luck. I made sure to apologize on the phone before arriving and apologized at the end of the evening while also giving the extra half hour. I hope in management's eyes I went above and beyond what was expected.
Has anyone else ever been in a situation like this?
BAM..SMASH...car crash in the middle of a 3 lane highway and it is the ONLY way you can get to your gig.
That my friends, happened tonight as I was heading to my gig that was supposed to begin at 6:30 PM. There was an accident blocking all lanes of traffic for a good half hour. Needless to say I frantically called the Winery that I was working at and talked to the manager to let him know that I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and would not make my 6:30 start time. Yikes....I felt horrible, but literally there was nothing I could do. I arrived at 7:00, used the restroom and found out that I was needed right away at an upstairs table of unhappy guests whose food was taking too long and they were getting pissed off.
So...da da da......here comes Super Rick to try and save the day. I took 3 deep breaths before approaching the table and went over and smiled and introduced myself. I proceeded to entertain them for 20 minutes solid and received clapping, cheering, and a $7.00 tip from the main man at the table. He also asked for a business card and said he would be in contact soon for a Christmas gig. I felt bad that there food had yet to arrive but definitely went out of my way to brighten the mood the best I could.
For the next two hours I was destroying people and getting good tips and compliments. These were mainly upper scale people in their 40's and 50's who liked to spend money so that was a bonus. I actually met a man who was a retired magician. His wife was mad that as soon as I approached his table he mentions that he used to do magic. He then proceeds to take out a half dollar and do some very nice coin vanishes as his wife looks annoyingly at him and says, "I told you not to do that." Ha Ha. I kind of got a good laugh out of it.
Then came a mistake. After two hours I decided to try an effect that I hadn't done in awhile and was feeling cocky and screwed it up with no out what so ever. I basically had to humbly apologize for messing it up and set the effect aside. I was a bit embarrassed to say the least and it once again proved not to "get so high on ones horse" because you are going to mess up at some point and be brought back to reality. Lesson learned.
At the end of the night I was treated nicely to a sit down meal and received my check for the desired amount. Now I could have worked from 7:00-9:00 (original time was supposed to be 6:30-8:30)and ran out of there, but because I was late I took it upon myself to stay an extra half hour on top of the regular scheduled 2 hours shift to try and make up for it.
Over all it was a great night and it sounded like they were going to use me again at some point.
I guess I just wanted to share this experience with some of you guys so you can learn a little bit. Was there anything I could have done about the car accident? Nope...I was basically a victim of bad luck. I made sure to apologize on the phone before arriving and apologized at the end of the evening while also giving the extra half hour. I hope in management's eyes I went above and beyond what was expected.
Has anyone else ever been in a situation like this?