A piper's rant

[beloitpiper]

I'm a bit peeved. Here's the story:

So I'm on Fall break right now. Unlike most schools, we get an entire week off (yay!). I decided to go back to Madison for the week and relax at home while enjoying the beautiful fall colors with my family. On Monday morning, I wake up and check my E-mail. There was one in there from a woman I had never met. "Hi Greg, I got your name through the grapevine from some connections I have at Beloit College. I hear that you play the Bagpipe! I am a party planner in the Beloit area...." yadda yadda yadda. She wants me to call her about playing at a party. I call her up, we talk, and she asks me to perform at a party this Sunday. I said I was on fall break, but should be able to drive down for the afternoon. Then she says she can only pay me $50. I said that my usual rate is $150, but she persuaded me to go cheaper because there was going to be lots of publicity. I agree to do the event, and she said she'd e-mail me all the details.

Tuesday, I drive to Milwaukee to visit a friend. I have a good time, crash at his place, and drive home late Wednesday night. I get home, and there is a message from the party planner on my phone. Basically it said that she hired a different piper because I didn't sound very enthusiastic to perform. She cited the fact that I didn't respond to her e-mails (she had sent two while I was in Milwaukee) and that I was performing for less than my usual amount. I call her back.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hello, this is Greg" I say.
"Oh, hi Greg, how are you?" she asks.
"Not too well, actually," I answer, "see, you asked me to perform, I agreed to do it, and now you back out and hire somebody else. This is completely unprofessional on your part, and I'm not too happy about you changing your mind like this. When I say I'm going to do a gig, I have every intention on doing it."
"Yes, but you didn't seem like you wanted too," she interjected, "You went for a lower price and didn't respond to any of my e-mails."
"You knew I was on fall break so I wasn't going to be able to check my e-mail every waking moment. And if I give my word I am going to perform, I will perform as professionally as any other hired event. It's pretty insulting that you'd assume that I didn't want to do this."

We argued, and I made it clear I was not happy. In the end, she decided to stick with the piper she has now. I've figured out who she hired, so I've talked to him about it. He said he had no idea of the situation, and agreed that it was wrong of her to do that.

Needless to say, this party planner's reputation among pipers in the area (from Milwaukee, to Madison, to Beloit, to Rockford) is pretty bad now. I hope she has better manners with the caterers...