i dunno

[Marlena]

I dunno how it is for you guys in the States or Overseas. In Canada though, we KJ's are under appreciated by most club owners, (Finding that Lebanese owner's to be the best to work for, they are wonderful).

Now i've hit a really big huge brick wall, and am frustrated and tired of beating my head against it. The bar I work at was sold 6 months ago to an existing partner. now he owns the whole thing. His staff walked out the day he took over and he was forced to hire everyone from cleaners to cooks to waitresses and managers.

He has made changes to everything. the menu prices have sky rocketed. He has hired 2 managers. And here is where the fun began.

1) Radio ads... I am there 3 nights a week. 2 for karaoke & 1 for name that tune. A radio spot was purchased and after hearing it I was mortified. it went something to the effect of this:

"The GB thinks every day of the week is important. Join them for Maragarita mondays, Grab bag tuesdays, Rib rages Wednesdays. Ladies come in on Thursdays for ladies night... Round out your week with Saturday's steak night where you can get a 20 ounce steak to fill your belly. See everyone there".

DAH!!!! are you kidding me??? your paying me $900.00 a week to come in and bring you a crowd and make you money, but you aren't advertising karaoke or name that tune??? I'm left to sink and swim on my own?

But he'll change the ad if he brings in a band, or comedian. How smart is this? In a town where there is a little over 15,000 people who are rig workers or farmers, how many margarita's are you going to sell?

2) cancelling at the last minute.... I went into work last night and i'm sitting at a table close to the bar before i start. A couple comes in and talks to the manager behind the bar and they are talking about booking a band for the 22nd... that's all i heard & i'm thinking December.. then at the end of the night... the manager tells me that she has confirmed 2 bands and the dates are the 22nd and 29th of november... I tell her great BUT in the future i need at least 30 days notice, she tells me that becaus i work there 3 nights a week that it doesn't matter if they cancel me without notice.

I could take other bookings? private parties? this is my livelihood, i have kids? Christmas coming? it's my business. and then the bar is DEAD on the night the band comes in and then he wonders why karaoke starts to go on saturdays when he does this.

3) Pull a knife or grab a woman by the crouch... Hey pull a knife = barred for a week. grab a woman = your out for the night. call the waitress a bitch = barred for life.

are you kidding me? how does this make sense at all? NO reason or sense to this at all. It s a power hungry staff who won't take abuse but allows the customers to fend for themselves.

and i could go on and on about how badly this is being ran, but my point is this... JUST BECAUSE you can sit in a bar and drink, doesn't mean you'll be any good at owning one.

I have come to this conclusion. I have a singer base of almost 600 singers. This is a very small community where we don't have anything to do, BUT drink. We don't even have a movie theatre. Except for 3 years spurradically, I have lived here for almost 27 years. My whole family lives here & I know what my singers want. I'm not new to the Karaoke business, I've been doing in for 6 years, I have built up many bars and I have watched them fail after i have left of my own perogative. It's -40 Celcius in the winter which normally starts in october and runs right through til the end of march or middle of april.

they want a bar where they can get a drink, without attitude from the staff, they want a bathroom that works and is clean. they want a place where their isn't a fight every hour and where woman aren't physically violated by men grabbing them inappropriately... they want good food and good times with the least amount of worry or tension.. and that's what i am going to give them. I'm going to ride this bar until the day i am ready to open my Bar and then walk out on them, Taking my singers and all the old customer's who won't go there anymore and leave the filth, trash, drug heads, theives and fighters right where they are.... at every other bar in town!

my singers followed me from one bar to the next, closing the bar doors behind them and they will follow me this last time. i'm going to start small open thursdays, fridays and saturdays at 8 pm til 3 am and add as i pay off the debts of opening. I already have girls who would love to work for me as hosts of karaoke and I know they would work for me in a pinch if i opened up... I am just so frustrated, here where I live, incompetence is the norm, bad service is the norm, and not the exception and no matter where you go, it's the truth... I wanna change that, i'm better than that and so are my clients.

So i've found a place to set up... now liqour license, SOCAN license and a little purchasing and i'm hoping to be open by February.

Wish me luck!

[xfactornos]

haha wow that was a lot to read. I wish you luck! You will do great if you listen to the people, which it sounds like you already do.

Good luck,

[DanG2006]

Good luck Marlena.

[Bigdog]

Your story sums up every bar I have ever worked in. Over the last 16 years with 3 systems I have probably played in about 50-100 different bars. Many have permanently closed, changed names or were sold.

Now get this.....EVERY BAR OWNER IS A COMPLETE IDIOT THAT DOESN"T KNOW HOW TO MAKE ALL THE MONEY THEY COULD. THEY DO REALLY STUPID STUFF, as in your story. It is completely believable to me. I have experienced much of the same and more and worse.

I would walk in a heartbeat. They care nothing about your reputation or business. They don't even care about their own.

I was just thinking about this today, in the economic situation in this area, I know if I quit several of the jobs I currently have the bars will probably fold up shop. It's that close between survival and failure.

[Bigdog]

They are using you as they see fit.

I would use them as a fill in job and book every party and event I could. If it's on their night too bad for them. I wouldn't give them any advanced notice either. They have no respect for you and I would return the favor.

Oh sorry,....but I had a party come up that needed done.

They are going to hurt your business by replacing you with a band on a regular karaoke night. Your customers (singers) need to know that it's them and not you. I wouldn't hesitate to tell them. Make it perfectly clear that you were cancelled. See the problem is, it will make you look unreliable. Bar owners that may want to hire you will see you not there on a regularly scheduled night. Being bar owners they would never think the bar owner was an idiot....