The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #23990 Message #270494
Posted By: reggie miles
02-Aug-00 - 04:01 PM
Thread Name: Busking - What are you paid?
Subject: RE: Busking - What are you paid?
As another aside, have you ever been confronted by the passerby who, in a very rude way, trys to hurry you verbally into getting to your next number because their schedule won't allow them time or patience enough to conduct themselves in a courteous manner? I don't know if they believe I am being paid by the authorities to entertain them and therefore feel they have the right to demand I react to their wishes. I find this behavior really annoying. Most of the time I try to placate them with a quick number but secretly I'd like to ask them why they feel as if they have the right to dictate to me how to perform. If they don't have time to listen well then maybe we'll catch 'em later but to command that I bend to their desire in an impatient tone and then, like the last guy, walk away and not even leave a tip. That just rubs me the wrong way. Fortunately I've had few encounters with this sort but last weekend there were two in one day. That was enough to set me on edge. Then this happened, there was an incident where two young women felt compelled to take a twenty dollar bill out of my case. They smelled of alcohol and could not be stopped nor convinced to return the money. A friend followed them and unsuccessfully tried to get someone to call for the authorities. They finally took refuge in a fleabag hotel near by. The manager refused to call the police and chased my friend from the building. Unfortunately it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. There was another time when two very nicely dressed young women tried the same thing. One of them began a distraction technique of asking me questions and slowly moved to my left side as her partner bent low near my case which lay on the ground to my right. I saw the eyes of the one who was suppose to hold my attention dart toward her friend behind me and as I turned around there was her friend with her hand reaching into my case. Almost as if they had studied the technique in a handbook. Then came their patented look, as if to say, "What did I do? I didn't do anything! How dare you accuse me of doing that!" Can't sink much lower than trying to steal from a street musician or can you?