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Am I unusual for expecting people to communicate efficiently?

#21
bassybill said:
Fro some time now - and particularly this last month or so - I've been getting more and more irritated by band members or subs who don't respond to messages promptly. I'm talking about basic messages concerning who's on gigs, when we're meeting up, who has to bring what. Not just idle chatter.

I've been trying email, texts, Facebook and still getting nowhere with some people, until the last possible minute. How can people be so damned hopeless at replying? They want the gigs, after all. It really pisses me off, as to me this is a simple matter of professionalism and courtesy. Maybe they just haven't had the education in the business that I have (thanks, Dad).

Am I alone in this, or do you guys get what I'm saying?
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It goes on quite a bit in just about any organization (band, business, volunteer…) that I know of. Some folks communicate very well, some too much and some too little.

With speech, written word, body language, radio, land phone, fax, email, cell phone, texting and a host of ways to network on the internet you might think communication would be easy.

It's almost as if some unseen force has mixed up our language to prevent us from coming together as one people.
 
#23
I'd suggest a few things. First, make sure band members have your email address in their contacts, to avoid getting caught in the spam filter. Second, clarify which email address they check most frequently. Third, make it clear to each member that emails need prompt replies. Finally, when an urgent reply is needed, pick up the phone.
 
#25
I think those of us here on TB a lot represent a small select group of intelligent and/or pro-communicative bassists. (of course there are some exceptions)

I think it's natural for people to be annoyed with others who can't or don't value the things we hold important or perform the things we find so basic and simple.

Frankly I wonder how society has survived as long as it has.
 
#28
My band would never be able to coordinate a gig in under a week. Being middle aged we all have day jobs, wives/girlfriends, kids/parents to look in on, etc. We might check our email/vm daily but sometimes finding out if I'm available requires me to check with several other resources. I'm not saying your guy isn't instead lazy, passive aggressive, not interested in gigging or just a lousy communicator, but his situation might be as I first described.
 
#29
+1 for hiring alternative musicians to cover for people who won't respond.

I've taken to doing this recently for my own band and, to be honest, it's been a bit of a wake-up call for me - things have been so easy to run because the musicians I've hired have been eager, communicative, hard-working and clearly want the gig. Several other great musicians have also put themselves forward to cover gigs as well...It helps that I've written up parts for everyone and that I do a lot of freelance gigs purely for the networking, but having said that, everyone can get things organised for deps and look out for networking opportunities.

I think that if people don't respond to messages about gigs, they probably don't care too much about the gigs. They might whinge a bit at first if they lose out, but ultimately, they've already made a choice about how important the gigs are to them, and they're showing that they don't really care by not communicating.
 
#30
This is the worst for me, Im youngest in the band (16) and my guitarist and singer live a decent car trip away from where we practice (drummers). On the Friday when we practice I send out a text to everybody asking if were still on, by the end of the day I'm still waiting on the texts back, and I don't really want to walk across town with my gear to rock up and find that it's not on.

I end up calling the singer, not being able to get to him for 20 minutes walking half way up to practice just to find out that it's not on today or whatever stupid reason. It's the easiest thing! None of them work, they always have their 'high tech smart phones" on them, but can't reply telling me that there is no practice within a 6-8 hour window of me being at school!

GRRRR!
 
#31
bassybill said:
I've been trying email, texts, Facebook and still getting nowhere with some people, until the last possible minute. How can people be so damned hopeless at replying?
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Don't you own a phone? People who try to communicate via email and Facebook and expect an instant reply simply because they sent the message instantly piss me off. My phone numbers are on my cards. I expect people to use them.
 
#34
bassybill said:
Clarification: On TB, we work on the prime time TV rule, and neither of those would really raise an eyebrow here in England. My apologies if this is not the case where you are. As the filter hasn't caught them, I think these words are PROBABLY considered very mild - but if you have a concern, please report my post and the other mods will discuss the content. :)
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That is like a cop pulling over another cop for speeding... I would love to see a cop get a ticket though... that would make my year.
 
#36
Easiest way to know how often they check their email is to have your email program request a "read receipt" for emails you send out. I have it at work... its amazingly helpful. "Hi, did you follow up on that email I sent you?" "I didn't get an email" "Oh really? Because I see you read it October 4th at 3:05pm". Next line is usually "Oh, um, I'll get that done right away."
 
#37
I get the frustration.

Some people are just completely hopeless when it comes to this stuff.

In a perfect world, with lots of options available for other players, these types of people would be - dumped from bands.

I have no time for people like that. Yet - they're everywhere.

Definitely relates to schooling and level of professionalism practiced at work.
 
#38
Joebarnes said:
Easiest way to know how often they check their email is to have your email program request a "read receipt" for emails you send out. I have it at work... its amazingly helpful.
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At work, sure. But the sending of receipt confirmations is disabled in all my private email accounts. My own email discipline dictates that I send a personal confirmation, even it's only "I'll look into this when I have the time".

Coming from a large global company, email and voice mail discipline and protocol was important to getting the job done. Their $$$, their rules. Now it's my $$$ and MY rules.
 

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