This should be a time of reminiscing and gentle sighing, turning to no one in particular and wistfully asking "Where has the time gone?"And while I may have briefly been afflicted with graduation goggles, they have since been ripped clean off.
Every day this past week I would open my e-mail to find some new crisis developing for the upcoming set of shows.
Contents of my inbox.
"We have no ushers! Please forward this to anyone you know who might be interested!"
"We have no one to work the ticket counter! Please forward this to anyone you know who might be interested!"
"We're selling one of our computers! Please forward this to anyone you know who might be interested!"
Notice a pattern? And that's the tame stuff.
Next we're being told that due to poor ticket sales, certain promotions have been extended to cover the first six shows! Only people can't contact the office directly. They don't want to look desperate. All sales need to go through the artists...
A few days later, three shows are cancelled outright. The whole point of extending the tour into the fall of 2012 is to make money to be able to pay for the next show. Because if they don't, there is no next show. That's why we're taking a 21% pay cut in Paris. That's why they're hanging a possible two and a half months of extensions over our heads with no clear answer as to when this contract will officially end, making it extremely difficult for the more than half of us who were not asked to be in the new show to find work.
And now, the most rage inducing of all...
A few days ago I got an e-mail from a colleague asking if I got a call from the tour director. She did, but he only left a message and she wanted to know if I actually spoke with him because, "Grrr"
Not gonna lie, cryptic e-mails that end in "Grrr" don't sit too well with me. When I replied asking what the heck she was talking about, she was absolutely shocked that no one had called me. She figured that since I was coming from another continent I would be one of the first people they called!
You're probably thinking the worst, and I'm here to tell you that you're not too far off.
Things are still looking bad ticket-wise so the company has decided to push back the start of the run in Paris to the end of October. L learned this on Thursday. When I called the office, no one answered. It took an additional two days before anyone bothered to call me about this. I even had someone e-mail me about a ticket, someone who is in no way involved with the company, mention that she noticed the dates had changed. She is a member of the public and she knew about the change before I did.
I can't even begin to explain my rage.
Did I mention that I was informed of this change two days before my flight? I'm sorry but I have zero desire to dick around France for the next month while the company decides whether or not we're actually going to do any shows. And now I also have to plan a last minute, month-long stay in France? Brilliant. Just brilliant.
I'm beyond fed up. I just want this contract to end already. No, what I really want to do is go there, pick up all my stuff, head home and to hell with them. It barely seems worth it to go back for 13 dates that are looking less and less likely to even occur as the days go by.
After everything that has happened, especially in the last year, I have reached my limit. As heartless as it may seem, at this point, I feel like they've brought all this upon themselves and that they are responsible for the disaster that seems to be heading their way.
Sinking ship indeed...
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