Dealing with complete A-holes?

[Anonymous067]

Wait, hold on a minute. Especially if the emphasis on "need" is yours and not his, I agree, that sounds pretty normal to me too.

I grow increasingly confused, and less convinced that this guy stepped as far over the line as it sounded at first. It doesn't help that many "church sound people" only know how to make a microphone for talking turn on, so he's used to nobody knowing the difference between an XLR and an NL8.

Putting the rubber band on the other claw, you didn't advance with them either?

Addition, echoing Footer's comment: standing in a circle talking? If you're taking up space and not doing anything productive, you're in the way of someone who is.

Again, I was talking to the main guy about the schedule for the night when the tech guy burst in from outside and demanded things. He was not in the building prior to my making contact with him.

I was called three days prior, and told they were to be there at 3:15 (only to have THEM show up late), and because I'm the main tech, I was told to show up to help.

For the record, I know more than most church techs, I run gigs regularly outside church.

 

[Van]

Again, I was talking to the main guy about the schedule for the night when the tech guy burst in from outside and demanded things. He was not in the building prior to my making contact with him.

I was called three days prior, and told they were to be there at 3:15 (only to have THEM show up late), and because I'm the main tech, I was told to show up to help.

For the record, I know more than most church techs, I run gigs regularly outside church.

Chill folks. I think there is a lot to be learned on both sides of this issue. Blah, the guy, or any of us has no way to know what you know and what you don't know. Having toured many a show through many a crappy venue I can tell you, at times you do feel like walking in telling the house crew to get the hell out of the way and just getting it done. Since this is a "What Went Wrong" post and not a "Punching Bag" post you are going to get folks who are going to tell you, from their perspective, what went wrong. Now I hate to play the Kowtowing house servant as much as the next guy, but hwen somebody pays you a butt ton of money to do a gig in your space, they are doing you a favor, not vice versa. It is your responsibility to do everything in your power to make them happy as a freakin' clam, then you get to ***** about it here, and make sure nobody you know ever books the SOB again. It may sound cliche' but when you are on the gig you are on the gig, If Life or Liberty is not in danger then your Pursuit of Happiness doesn't count either. Now if these guys were doing dangerous things, using your facility improperly, or making demands outside the norm, then you have a right to "check into things", but he could've said," Hey, A-hole, Plug this in your POS you call your FOH and give it to me hot!" and your response should hae been Yessir! He gets no points for being a Prick, but you don't get any either when your immediate response is to close your board and go home. His actions may have been unprofessional, the best way to counter that is to be as Professional as possible in response. It ain't easy, specially with a temper like mine, but it is what seperates the Pros from the Joes.

 

[ReiRei]

I have to agree with Van. No matter how big of a jerk and how disrespectful someone is to you, always treat them with respect. Especially if they're paying you money, if they're paying you with sparkly shells then have at them. Believe me though, I know how hard it is to do that. I'm one of the most hot-headed and short-tempered people at my theatre. But I've only ever snapped once at a show because an actor decided to call my crew some names and I pulled her to the side and gave her what for... Don't follow my example though because I wasn't being paid, I was tired, frustrated, and she had personally attacked my crew. And it's not cool to yell at actors...

But if you backtalk a paying client person, or anybody for that matter, it'll come back to get you. People talk about you and your venue. And then no one will want to book at your church. Or they'll find they're going to be working with you and they're like, "OH GOD! NOT THAT JERK-FACE!" (not that I'm saying your a jerk-face) Then everything will be unpleasant. It's just better to be respectful and don't take anything as a personal attack. The people booking your venues are just as stressed as you are most of the time and though some of them are just genuine idiots, some don't realize they're doing it.

 

[Eboy87]

ReiRei's post made me think of this.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I cannot accept,
and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had
to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on
today as they may be connected to the ass that I may have
to kiss tomorrow.

The SM on a particular show I did had it posted above her table.

 

[Anonymous067]

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on
today as they may be connected to the ass that I may have
to kiss tomorrow.

so true...i love it.

 

[TimOlson]

not knowing your position, it's hard to give any solid advice. go with what you believe to be right, and get help if you feel you're in over your head. there's usually a minister in charge of these events - take that person aside, share your story, and go from there.

Unfortunately we all run into real jerks sometimes. The one thing that is most important here is to be in control of yourself. if you are normally a smiling happy person, will you allow someone who's a complete jerk to change YOU? will you allow yourself to immediately begin playing in their dark and horrible world? Absolutely not. be polite, be firm, but always stand for what YOU are, and how things are going to be conducted in your venue / house of worship.

peace, Tim O

 

[Pie4Weebl]

As the house LD at a unloved outdoor venue with a not so amazing light rig that plays host to many c and d grade touring bands, (With a b or two tossed in there) I get to deal with my share of amature, demanding, and hungover LDs and the only thing you can do is grin it and bear. I've had LDs who have made me program a show for them to run on the rig, because they didn't know how to use the board or my favorite excuse "I partied too hard last night." I've had LD's get mad at me because a case of cross rented gear was bad when I got it and didn't work, or because I refused to fly in a truss (lets ignore that it was dead hung) and you just gotta be cool and do what they want. Better to be remembered as "that house guy who helped me out on that bad day" than
the difficult one".

 

[maccalder]

All I can say is welcome to the real world.

Whether in theatres, churches, cruise ships or corporate, you get these sorts of people.

Now you say as you walked him to the console, he told you that he NEEDED a channel - to me, that sounds reasonable - in fact he had probably mentioned that when he booked the venue (ie "Due to the short setup time, we would like to use your PA, so we will send you a channel and go through your desk" - a very standard request with guest acts, and a lot better than "Due to the short setup time, we would like to use your PA, so we will patch it across during the interval") - so all he was doing was briefing you.

As others have mentioned, the guy may have been stressed - judging by the fact that he came in late, and the first thing he did was approach you, I would say that there is a very good chance that he has had hours of stress before entering the venue. Sure, he should have aimed to be polite, but let's face it, he was under the hammer.

As for their tech being "Amateur" - who knows, he could have also been under the nail and frustrated, causing his concentration to slip. You cannot base your assessment of skill based on a single opportunity.

The royalty thing was explained - basically they make money selling their media - allowing you to record it would be shooting themselves in the foot, because you could easily put the material onto youtube or sell it to your congregation and they will not see a dime.

Under what circumstance did they ask you to leave the room? was it during the performance or during the setup? If it was during the setup, were you getting in their way at all, or in any way being obstructive? Because by the sounds of it, you were pretty annoyed, and when people get annoyed other people notice the attitude, and tend to not like being around it.

As to the tables... Did you ask if he could assist you? When I come in and manage a guest act (on the rare occasion), if I ask for tables, and the crew says "Sure" then go and get some, I am going to assume they can handle them. If the crew is in a bad mood, I am not going to approach and offer assistance, lest it be thrown back in my face. Especially as there were other people there with you.

I have only done 4 or 5 shows in churches, but I have done a fair few corporate events in odd places... anyway, most of the time when I walk into a venue, and am introduced to the "Guy who does all the AV for us" in a venue like a church, unless it is Hillsong - ie there is a clear technical presence, I assume they know the basics like "I push this up and the mic gets louder". It is a fair assumption. I also assume that only one of the people knows said basics, the others may be able to figure it out if he is sick. If I work off of those assumptions when I ask for crew and plan accordingly, then I will not be in the lurch when I get there. So here is how a quick setup is done. I enter the venue, walk up to the clump of people, ask who the head tech is. He steps forward, I introduce myself, I ask to see whatever piece of infrastructure I need to integrate with. On the way there, I brief the technician on what I will need from them and what we are supplying so that if there is anything that they cannot supply, I know from the offset and can order it. Once I am shown what I need to see, hopefully the guys have loaded everything into the venue and have started setting up on stage. I don't expect or want them to have talked to the in house crew, I want to see progress on stage. Now hopefully the House Crew are being briefed by the head tech, and will start to get together everything I need from them. After it is clear that my FOH tech and lighting tech (and video tech) have briefed my crew on stage setup I then grab those two/three , introduce them to the head tech and ask them to sort out all the patching etc - the head tech will either manage that himself, or introduce my guys to his guys, and so it keeps going. If I need anything at all, I will go up to the head tech and say "Do you have x of the xyz's available, if so can we have them?", the response is either "Yes", "No", "Yes but there will be an additional charge" or "Yes, can you please give me a hand in carrying them".

It is a pretty stock standard recipe, and I have been on both ends of it. When someones in a grind and time is an issue (when isn't it) then often the niceties are the first to go. It's a high pressure industry, so expect it, aim not to do it yourself and just go about your job.