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Am I unusual for expecting people to communicate efficiently?
- Thread starter BassyBill
- Start date
I can remember something similar happening to me some time ago and yes, it kicked me up the backside to check my emails and texts a little more often. Yes, I was damn annoyed but I deserved to be dropped.
Been there, done that. Works almost every time.
RustyAxe also brought up a very good point. If you call somebody, there's a very good chance they will answer. I'm not always on facebook, check my e-mail or text message that often. I will, howver, answer a call almost every time. I spend a lot of my time in the middle of nowhere where I have no cell or mobile broadband service. I do, however, have a sat phone anf VHF radio. Call me on those, and you're almost garunteed an answer.
Not a big fan of the phone call. Many times I am unable to answer (didn't hear it, at work, at play, sleeping...). And one band I'm in has 7-9 people. Takes long time to call them all even if they all answer.
No, email is best. One message to the group. Everyone should hit "reply all" on their answer and everyone has all the info when it's available. It's soooooooooooooooooo easy. And it never works.
In my current band, part of the reason two former members are gone is exactly that. The leader and the three other guys are in constant communication by email and phone. I think your observation about business experience is spot on.
no way.
a quick text back with "won't know til Wed, might have to take wife to the airport" or whatever is a lot different than no reply at all.
i'm not all that young, but texting has been a godsend for wrangling band schedules for me. i don't have lots of time to talk at work, and often don't hear my cell ringing. i also don't see my personal emails til i get home at night.
texts show up on my iphone screen, and allow for quick, discreet and useful replies, like "yes", "load-in 7:30", "i can do 9th, 13th, can't do 20th","no, it's the wing shack near the college", etc.
they also create a convenient written record of venue addresses, gig dates, song keys, clubowner's names, etc.
texts show up on my iphone screen, and allow for quick, discreet and useful replies, like "yes", "load-in 7:30", "i can do 9th, 13th, can't do 20th","no, it's the wing shack near the college", etc.
they also create a convenient written record of venue addresses, gig dates, song keys, clubowner's names, etc.
Please define "promptly".
Minutes, hours? Maybe they're legitimately busy.
That day? Ok, I can work with that as a limit, but maybe some slack needs to be cut.
Beyond that, no, there's really no excuse.
Minutes, hours? Maybe they're legitimately busy.
That day? Ok, I can work with that as a limit, but maybe some slack needs to be cut.
Beyond that, no, there's really no excuse.
Exactly right.
I should maybe add that one of the bands I gig regularly with has twenty-two members. Having to call those of them who cannot be bothered to read or respond to emails is a royal pain.
For gigs that I'm doing where I get to choose the personnel, ease of communication is a major factor in who gets hired or rehired, just as Munji pointed out. I often find youngsters can be better at this than folks my own age, but the sample size is too small to infer anything definite from this.
To clarify what I meant by "promptly" - if a musician has a habit of responding to, say, 9 out of 10 messages any time within 24 hours, that would be fine. I think that's a fair and reasonable expectation. Leaving email unchecked or unanswered for a week is just unprofessional and such people don't deserve any gigs at all, in my opinion.
22 members.....are those subs or do all of those hit the stage at the same time?
I'll come at you with a counterpoint, despite the fact that you clearly aren't looking for one. If you are managing 22 members, then you are going to have to be better organized. Booking last minute gigs and expecting quick response from that number of members is a bit unrealistic, in my book.
This thread punched me right in my piss-off button. I run into this EVERYWHERE, and it seems to be a by-product of modern society. I truly cannot see how ANY business gets done, but musos IMO are among THE WORST at communicating about business. Ever.
I almost never write lyrics, but this sort of thing (among other acts of general flakiness) happened so many times when I was playing for a living that I wrote a song about it called "The Professionals". 'Twere a blues, of course...
I'll stop there before I get fully wound up, but in summary I think that in answer to Bill's question YES we are probably unusual for expecting this courtesy (apparently)... but we SHOULDN'T be.
I almost never write lyrics, but this sort of thing (among other acts of general flakiness) happened so many times when I was playing for a living that I wrote a song about it called "The Professionals". 'Twere a blues, of course...
I'll stop there before I get fully wound up, but in summary I think that in answer to Bill's question YES we are probably unusual for expecting this courtesy (apparently)... but we SHOULDN'T be.
+1
There are times when gig opportunities come up where it is critical to confirm back to the venue very quickly. I can't be picking up the phone at work for personal calls, but I can email or text back quickly and discretely.
I don't have time or patience any longer for the "if ya gotta get in touch with me, ya gotta call me. I don't do email and texting is for kids" crowd. Time for these people to wake up in live in this century.
We've been dealing with this too. The main culprit has a smartphone that seems glued to his hand. And yet, a response is often two days later....
All at once baby!
Yams NAC 06 - YouTube
This band gets booked well in advance. But even so, it's still unhelpful to wait for people to respond to messages.
