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I put the original one turn per duet rule in place BECAUSE it wasn't rare. I get people that still try it today, but I'm a little more aware now.

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I see couples do it all of the time. The wife sings her solo and then the husband always puts in a slip and on his turn the wife comes up and invariably takes over the song while he barely sings at all. The husband never seems to put in a song where he sings alone. It's also common to see the wife asking other people in the bar to put in songs so she can sing once again. She typically recruits people who would never sing if they weren't pressured by her to sing a "duet" with her. The wife winds up on stage 3 or 4 times in each rotation while everyone else gets up to sing only once. This mic hog winds up ruining the experience for everyone else in the bar and they find another place to sing to avoid being in the same place as the mic hog. There will always be someone who tries to take advantage of the situation in every crowd. Someone always thinks that the rules apply to everyone else but them. They usually have no idea that everyone else in the bar despises their behavior and wishes that they would never come back again.

Lots of good feedback, thanks guys!

To elaborate on my duet policy: while I pride myself on consistency with my rules, I'm also not the karaoke gestapo. If the night is slow and the rotation is light, I'm willing to adjust accordingly because I know that nobody is catching hurt feelings over it. When my rotation is larger -- let's say 30-40, as on the night in question -- there is a perception that I as the host have to deal with. It's the perception of unfairness. If someone brings someone else on stage with them on their turn, is it unfair in practice? Probably not, as that turn would have been taken up anyway, and anybody waiting is still waiting the same amount of time for their song, as has been pointed out. But that perception is what keeps me enforcing my "one song per singer per rotation" rule, particularly on nights like this; a person waiting an hour for their name to be called that sees someone singing multiple times in the interim is not going to be happy about it.

Transform the setting: you're sitting at the bar. You came in behind the guy next to you. He orders a beer; the bartender pours it. He finishes it, and the bartender pours him another while you're sitting there completely dry. Eventually, you'll get mad. Maybe you don't go back to that bar anymore.

It boils down to fairness and being polite. If you try to beat the system; you are saying that you are more important than every other person in the bar.....and you're the ONLY person in the bar that feels that way. Everyone else thinks that you're an A$$h*le.

My rule is as long as the rotation is less than 10, I'll let people come up to sing in the same rotation on someone else's duet. Once it gets over 10, if you are on the stage singing into a mic, holy crap, you just sang a song for that rotation!

My only other real rule is that after the first roatation, brand new singers go in the middle. After you've sang once, EVERYBODY rotates.

And I never take $$ to bump people up (well, I have about 3-4 times in 12 years for $40-100...and each time I announced over the mic exactly why I was doing it). It amazing how about 80% of people that HAD to leave will stick around for their turn after I tell them I won't bump them up. My two famous lines are:

"If it's that important that you HAVE to sing, then it's worth waiting for."

And when they won't let it go:

"So you think it's fair to skip people that have been waiting longer than you? Cool. We'll just skip you then. Goodnight."

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C Mc
KJ, FL

That used to be my stance for pretty much (except it was for any amount of singers) but sometimes the duet doesn't have more than a couple lines for the partner. Take I'd do anything for Love (Meat Loaf) - the female part has 3 lines at the end - that shouldn't take away her regular turn. There are many more types of songs like this that only gives the partner a couple lines that i'm brain farting on right now. If they have equal singing time - or are just singing the entire song both together, then yes that could be considered a turn for each.

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