Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

When I reached the first place, they said that they weren't sure if they'd be hiring for a St. Pat's party after all (though initially they had said that they would hire me, it was just a question of picking the date). So good thing I went ahead and accepted the second offer.

M.Ted and others, I wasn't sure if you were against holding the tentative booking in this particular case (because it had been a few weeks) or in all cases. For example, another recent true story: someone asked if I could play on a certain afternoon. I said that I was already booked that afternoon but was free in the morning. She said she would consult the team to see if a morning party would be OK and get back to me the next day. I think this is a much more reasonable situation for me to hold the time open for her - what do you think?

Genie, I was surprised by this statement: EVEN IF I HAVE AN ORAL COMMITMENT to a previous engagement, I would not turn down the 'bird in the hand' unless I had something in writing or had a relationship with the first client such that I could trust them not to cancel on me at the last minute.

Am I misunderstanding you, or are you saying that you don't consider a gentlewoman's agreement made on the phone to be a commitment? When I make such an agreement, I know I might have an emergency and not be able to make it, and I know they might still cancel, but that's out of my control, and I treat the phone agreement as binding. And how can you accept the "bird in hand" offer without calling the oral-agreement place to cancel? Or perhaps by "not turn down" you didn't mean "accept" but rather that you tell them that you may or not be free and will let them know later.

Marion