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Lost $50 in cables last year - just got em all back!

#21
Munjibunga said:
Strange. I consider keeping things that you borrow to be asstistic.
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It is.

However being passive-aggressive about things doesn't help either.

Asking for a borrowed cable back after the event where it was needed is resolving the issue. Some folks might have other things on their minds after a long night. Being polite and reminding them goes a long way to helping them out.

The other side of this is that if you truly believe your band members exist part and parcel to rip you off then please stay home and work on a nice road case to house all of your drama.
 
#22
I accidently left a wind-up power strip at a venue. We played the venue again over a year later and it was still there!

Then I lent the same power strip to a guitarist in a band we were sharing a bill with. He forgot to get it back to me. He eventually did, several weeks later.

Let your gear go. If it loves you, it will come back to you. If it doesn't it was never really yours.
 
#25
IF I have to borrow something, it will be because my main (fill in the blank) failed, was forgotten, or didnt light up, and then my backup (fill in the blank with the same word from above) failed right behind it.
 
#26
I've been in a similar situation of cables/tuners/and other small pieces of gear coming up missing after a gig or rehearsal. I do lend out stuff on occasion, but now every cable, tuner, and case have my name on it somewhere.
 
#27
Skarekrough said:
It is.

However being passive-aggressive about things doesn't help either.

Asking for a borrowed cable back after the event where it was needed is resolving the issue. Some folks might have other things on their minds after a long night. Being polite and reminding them goes a long way to helping them out.
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Very true, but then again that's another thing I have to keep track of for the night - and even I'll admit that I don't always remember those things. Plus I was raised to always immediately give something back when you're done using it in as good, if not better, condition as it was when you received it - you shouldn't have to be reminded to give gear back and take exceptional care of it, but again, that's just how I was raised. Let me tell ya though, those cables were far from clean and in perfect working order when I got them back. Of course they can be cleaned or fixed, but that's another thing I have to personally do. It's just annoying.

*edit* And I did ask for the cables back after that gig, but no one knew where they went. Obviously now, they went into the cable bag for the PA instead of back into my hands.
 
#28
jmattbassplaya said:
I don't think so because I'm taking this on as a personal rule that I'm going to follow. If another member wishes to lend or borrow gear then that's their prerogative, but I feel like I came out of this situation lucky. I might not be so lucky next time.

But either way, I'm just happy to of gotten my gear back :)
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OK, very simple and very straightforward question, requiring a "Yes" or a "No" answer...

Did you or did you not benefit from the borrow/loan of a PA, that was not yours?

IF, the answer is yes, you have a double standard. You are part of a band, the band borrowed equipment, so YOU borrowed equipment

IF you feel the need to answer this question with more than a one word answer it is because you feel you must justify your position. Which is really just a way to take the focus off your double standard





I am not going to presume to tell you how to handle your gear, but I can give you something to think about. I have seen literally hundreds of bands come and go. Some were pretty good. Every time I have seen someone get anal over something like cables, there were other problems... Usually that member did not last long. . . No one is irreplaceable...
 
#29
jmattbassplaya said:
Very true, but then again that's another thing I have to keep track of for the night - and even I'll admit that I don't always remember those things. Plus I was raised to always immediately give something back when you're done using it in as good, if not better, condition as it was when you received it - you shouldn't have to be reminded to give gear back and take exceptional care of it, but again, that's just how I was raised. Let me tell ya though, those cables were far from clean and in perfect working order when I got them back. Of course they can be cleaned or fixed, but that's another thing I have to personally do. It's just annoying.

*edit* And I did ask for the cables back after that gig, but no one knew where they went. Obviously now, they went into the cable bag for the PA instead of back into my hands.
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Settle down...it's a cable. It has a lifespan and despite the fact that it has been savaged by those borrowing miscreants it has been used for its intended purpose.

...unless they used it for a tie-down for the PA speakers to a roof rack.

If they were hell-bent on ripping you off then it would have been something of much more substantial value.

They're not there to do you harm; you lent them something and they forgot to give it back. If you asked them nicely to return or replace rather than just be dying to place yourself in this place where you enjoy being entitled to passive-aggressive behavior then it would have been in your hot hands within a week.

This whole thing only escalates with you submitting a written invoice for the items they borrowed or summoning them to small claims court.

No one is out to get you for $50 worth of cables. At least no one who's effective in actually being out to "get" someone.

It was a mistake. It happens. If it honestly riles you up that much either don't gig or don't loan out gear. Problem solved.

I had a drummer who was terrible at returning borrowed things. But every Christmas he'd make it a point to go through all his gear and find what wasn't his and wrap it up and give it back to us. It was a nice gesture and we appreciated that he could poke fun at his obviously diminished capacity to what you view as "doing the right thing."

Get over it. Life's too short to wind yourself up over things like this.
 
#31
Lee H said:
OK, very simple and very straightforward question, requiring a "Yes" or a "No" answer...

Did you or did you not benefit from the borrow/loan of a PA, that was not yours?

IF, the answer is yes, you have a double standard. You are part of a band, the band borrowed equipment, so YOU borrowed equipment

IF you feel the need to answer this question with more than a one word answer it is because you feel you must justify your position. Which is really just a way to take the focus off your double standard





I am not going to presume to tell you how to handle your gear, but I can give you something to think about. I have seen literally hundreds of bands come and go. Some were pretty good. Every time I have seen someone get anal over something like cables, there were other problems... Usually that member did not last long. . . No one is irreplaceable...
Click to expand...
What? What does that have to do with anything? I'm quite sure that 'borrowed P.A. was returned in good condition without the owner having to ask for it back! There's no double standard! The standard should be....if you borrow something, give it back when you're done with it! Simple!

I work hard for the things that I own! If I loan something, I expect it to be returned to me! Unless I told the loanee to keep it, I want it back! Secondly, if I have a band member that constantly needs to borrow things, I don't want him in my band! Or at the very least, he won't get much outta me. If I did feel like being generous, I'd buy him a case of cables and tell him to stop bugging me for spares!
 
#33
viper4000 said:
$50 isn't a lot of money when it isn't your money. This story to me is more in line with "burned once, shame on you. Burned twice, shame on me."
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The problem was that he wasn't really burned.

He didn't actively pursue them when they went missing.

He didn't make it known that he wanted the cables replaced if they went missing.

The cables weren't taken by folks that he didn't know. They were loaned to someone he was in a gigging situation with.

And we also know that they weren't returned for a malicious reason; they turned up with band gear and not on CL or eBay.
 
#35
Question:

Did you tell the guy who owns the PA about this? Or is he to realize it when he gets to another gig and finds out those cables that just appeared months ago have disappeared and now he doesn't have what he needs for his gig?
 
#37
My son lends out gear all the time, then after a year he is embarressed to ask for it back, I had to contact a binch of his friends via FB and ask for it back. I bought it all so technically it is mine. The thing that is hard for him to grasp people who are in your band
now , you might never hear from again as soon as the band breaks up. In a cover band at an older age it is easier, but when you are in an originals band, I think people want to feel like a family. I think he gets point now.
 
#38
The point is that keys dude (or whoever actually did the borrowing) should have made an effort to find the cables after the reminder. They are responsible for the return of the items.
"I don't know" just doesn't cut it.

The PA lender shouldn't miss the cables since they weren't his to begin with, he evidently needs to buy his own rather than wait for someone else to 'lose' them into his bag.

I use a metal marker, which is a fine point paint marker, available in yellow, white, or red.
It will permanently mark any type of material: metal, wood, plastic, rubber, even glass I believe.
 
#39
The key to happiness is learning to be happy. I am so appreciative of the fact that I live in a time and place where being a part time musician, playing in bands, and being able to have items like cables in the first place are options that are available to me. I have got it better than 99% of the humans that have existed on this planet. The most valuable things in my life are my relationships with other people. I am not going to let a little carelessness turn my good relationship with my bandmates into crap. I am not perfect, and I am sure I have faults they overlook as well.

That said, since I have a good day job, I realize that $50 doesn't mean as much to me as it does to someone who is struggling financially. If someone borrowed $500 of my equipment and then said "I don't know" when I asked where it was, I might not react so positively and philosophically about it. So I am not really taking sides here, I get both points of view.

That said:
Regardless of my POV, I would think it would be the decent thing to do to let the PA lender know you recovered those cables from his bag so he doesn't get burnt at a gig. Even from a purely selfish point of view, it's probably the right move if you ever want to borrow that PA again.
 
#40
Hmmm...........P.A. owner should know his gear and what belongs to him. If I found clearly marked cables in my possession that I knew were not mine, I'd be asking who they belonged to!

Call me anal, call me cheap! I make an ok living but I'm cheap as h&!! when it comes to my possessions! Like I said previously, I don't have a problem loaning things out but come end of the show, I immediately grab my stuff and pack it away!
 

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