Karaoke Forums

Last night at karaoke the regulars were at each others throats.
My quitting time is midnight, but often the regulars pool there
money together and have me stay an extra hour. They approach
me with the money saying they are sick and tired of the same people
paying to have me stay and think only the people who donate towards it
should sing.

Now I have 30 singers and only about 8 of the 30 have donated. Not to mention they didn't even ask everyone in the bar to donate to the cause. My policy
has always been things stay the same regardless of who pays. It would be
the same if someone tipped me, they do not get to sing more or sooner. It
would be the same if one person paid to have me stay. They would not dictate who sang or in what order. If I agreed to this I make the other 22 people in the bar who are singing mad and that is just what started to happen. The regulars almost went to blows twice over it. I basically told the payers I am really sorry, but I have to turn down the money and not stay because it isn't fair to everyone. I'd love to make the
extra money, but if I start alienating people I'll loose customers.

The worst part is they tracked down the owner and the owner not knowing what  was going on told the payers it would be okay as long as no one minded. Yikes!
Now I had to explain to the owner how it is causing problems. Of course he then backed me up. To stop the fighting he agreed to pay to have me stay an extra half an hour.

Now the regulars are fighting over the last half an hour. By now I'm spent. I announce that I will stay until close on my own time that I do not want people
fighting. I adore all my regulars and just want everyone to be happy. Now lets
have fun! Everyone cheers.

I had 2 regulars who weren't involved in any of the dispute come up to me after
and hand me a tip. They couldn't believe what I just endured. Other than that can you believe my tip jar was completely empty. Whatever, I started packing up my gear to leave and a guy I had never seen before picks up my jar and announces over the mic it is empty. Hahahah - he made some pretty comical comments about it.
I tapped him on the shoulder and told him "it is okay, you don't have to do this". (I never ask for tips I think it is in bad taste.) He gathered about $10. The bar was nearly empty at this point, so it was actually people who didn't even sing who put money in.  WOW did this just all happen.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

That is just horrible.  Would it be possible for you to speak to the owner and have him go ahead and pay you to stay until closing for every show.  Then you won't have this happening anymore. Or is it that you close the show early because of your day job??

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

Isis - if my bar owner was that smart I wouldn't have this problem, you're
right! I have approached him on this. I think as long as the regulars continue
to pay me to stay he isn't going to take money from his own pocket. What he doesn't see is he may end up losing customers because of the fighting over it.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I work for the owner.  Not the customers.  He charges the customers for the food and drinks and I charge him for the karaoke.  I play from 8:30 to 1.  (The first 30 minutes is on me) If the night is good I go to 2 but NEVER later.   They close at 3.  My arrangement with the owner is that the bartender and I make the determination as to whether the night has been profitable enough to pay me for the extra hour.  He trusts my judgement because often he isn't there.

If you could get your owner to do the same, it would for sure eliminate your problem.

Good luck,

Kelly

Man, that is just too crazy. I'm sorry but if folks are so addicted Karaoke, that they're willing to fight over it, that's just insane and those folks need a reality check.
It's suppose to be about having fun, people like that would take all of the fun out of it, I don't care how diehard loyal they are to the shows. I know I'm coming off as being crass about your situation, but believe me, I'm not slamming your show in the least.
I mean if folks are still paying you money well of course you want to keep playing, but not at the point to where you're having it held over your head, at that point, you've lost control of your own show, and I'm of the opinion that the abuse will only escalate.
I admire your patience and dedication in the way you handled it. But if it is a case where midnight is the end of the show, then folks have to respect that, especially if it is the case that you have to work the next day.
As far as the bar owner goes, I think they should at least consult you first before responding to the customers. There's a professional and diplomatic way of handling this, but you can't just cave in to mob mentality.
Perhaps I'm missing certain point and possibly may have taken certain out of context your main point, if that's the case, then I do apologize. But most importantly, stand your ground, make your points clear, and see if there's not a way you can come to a compromise or middle ground. Just my opinion.

James
Maninblack

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I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

I think you handled it in the best way you could.

BUt here is another perspective that you might try, if you feel comfortable with it....

Midnite rolls around and there are people still wanting to sing, and you are requested to play over.  OK all GOOD, now fore the $$$$$ part.  Charge each singer per song they sing, rather than passing around the tip jar.  Singers put their requests in as normal, and the rotation runs as normal.  When they come up to sing
they have to put $1 or $2 in the tip jar to sing.  Make an announcment on how it is going to work, and that you have  to do it this way becasue you are only paid till midnight by the bar.  If people complain, ask them if when they puch the time clock to go home for the day from their job, do thay go back and work an extra hour or 2 for free?  I use that line a lot when asked to play over, and I don't want to, or people wont toss up the $$$$ to have me stay.

I have always stood my ground on the fact if the patrons pay me to
stay the rotation stays the same period. No one dictates who sings when
or who gets to sing and who doesn't.

It would be just like if someone tried to bribe me with $20 to sing sooner. I have always turned the money down. I stay true to my rotation as to not lose customers.

I explained that if they wanted a private party where only there group
sings that can be arranged, but on a regular karaoke night I can not accomodate
that.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Good for you Babs.

I can't even picture myself in that situation. I'm pretty certain that you handled it better then I would have in the past. I only hope if this happens to me I could do as well as you did. Now I have a path to follow if I can't think of my own way of handling it.

You rock girl.

Your story just reinforces my other comments about karaoke singers and dance music.  


These people are paying you to do karaoke.  

They want karaoke.  

They can't get enough karaoke.

It's not about dance music.

If the problem continues, I would just go home at the regular time.   End all of the frustration and alienation of the paying customers.   The little bit of extra money isn't worth the price you are paying.

I don't play dance music as I think you know. In my bar I am all karaoke and
therefore get the fanatics. I'm sorry I don't see how this proves a point because if I was a DJ/KJ mix in another bar I probably wouldn't get fanatics and wouldn't have this problem.
Your right about just quitting at midnight. That is what I told them I would have to do instead of alienating other singers. I'm hoping after I tried my best to keep everyone happy and sticking to my guns about letting everyone sing this issue will not happen again. I will not offer my time so freely again.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I just meant that real karaoke singers can never get enough karaoke.   It becomes an addiction.    It's why most of us got in to the karaoke business.   I didn't get in to hear or play dance music.

Love your little dog,  :hug: that looks very familiar.

My way of thinking is that the bar pays you to a certain time.  If the singers want you to continue then it is up to the bar if they'll pay you.  If they say no and the singers want to pay (and the bar oks it), then you have changed from working for the bar to working for the singers who pay.  Those who pay you, get to sing, those who don't, don't.  This is not taking "bribes" as you are no longer working for the bar but for those who are paying for you to stay later.  I see no conflict as it is two different circumstances and you are working for different parties at different times.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

it does pay (literally) to have owners who recognize a great thing.  fortunately, the folks at my new gig saw the response the very first night and asked if I would stay til close if they paid me!  of course i said yes!  the next week after another packed house they said they wanted me til close every time and asked if i'd work saturdays too, which i accepted of course!  sorry for what you had to go through, but at least some of the regulars seem to have a clue!

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All work and no play make Homer something something

The more I think about it this could be a great oppertunity for you.

1. Quit at the regular scheduled time, no ifs ands or buts about it.
2. When someone comes to ask you to play over direct them to the owner, and have them tell the owner you need to be there longer.
3.  When the owner approaches you, say you will add more hours to your show for X ammount of dollars, or add an additional night to satisfy the customers.

If the owner is getting a lot of people wanting you to stay longer, he should be willing to hire you for more hours/nights.  Unless, of course, he is an idiot, and from previous posts of yours he must me a giant idiot.

Babs, you handled it very well at the time and I think you have received a lot of good advice on the 'next time'.

Regarding tips.  I agree it is very tacky to ask for tips.  What I do, usually once or twice during the night, is throw out a 'reminder' to tip the staff who are working their b*&^s off for them and then call out the names of the bartender(s) and wait staff.  Usually results in a little overflow into my own jar

Yes the bar owner is a bit clueless. How this whole thing started is I do quit on time.
The bar owner would complain people left when I did, Dah! People would beg him to pay me to stay. He would just tell them to tip me to stay. He never would pay me to stay, so the patrons started asking what it would cost for me to stay. Only when he saw that he made more money by me staying did he occasionally pay me to stay and he would turn that into a game of sorts, waiting to see if the patrons would pay me first. He actually has created this mess.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

you should make a statement... say it over the mic, or have a handout.

At quitting time, if you are 'hired' by the tippers, then you will stay. However, the rules that you normally had, go out the window! As of when you "contract" to the tippers, you're running THEIR gig, not the bar owner (who's a clueless jerk!).

So yes, the tippers SHOULD get their turns before anyone else. If the people are staying, they're doing so at the pleasure of those that paid you, so the rules are different. THEY need to adapt.

Try this if the situation comes up again. Youll stay over-time but youll charge the people who want to sing overtime $5.00 a song. That ought to separate the wheat from the chaff. No favoritism that way. Open to all overtime and its 5$ a whack. That ouught to solve the problem pronto. It thier really serious about staying later they'll pay the "per piece" rate. If not then thier jsut blowing smoke and trying to to  manipulate you at the expense of the others in the room. Give it a try and see what happens--that way you dont have to run to the bar owner to pay you more. You jsut stay until the people who want to sing late get tired of paying you. If you have them sing another 20 songs over the course of 1.5 hours then thats 100 bucks. If they stop paying--close up and go home. End of argument. End of discussion. Just let the bar owner know what your planning to do ahead of time and maybe put up a sign explaining the new "POLICY". The "PAY AS YOU GO PLAN".

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

You know I actually thought of doing that exact thing.
$5s a song - could be interesting
What I like about this is no one is excluded

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

After hours karaoke kit:
1 Box - paperclips
Song Slips
Instructions:  To sing after karaoke last call complete song slip and connect to $5 bill with paperclip.  Take assembly to KJ for new spot in rotation.

To have picture taken with KJ write pic please on song slip and connect to $20 bill with paperclip.  Will let you know when camera is available.

No refunds!