Susi Matthews (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rowangolightly) wrote2015-02-14 04:00 pm
rowangolightly) wrote2015-02-14 04:00 pm
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I WAS in a good mood today, against all odds.
I am SO pissed off right now! This is the second time I have had a major contract taken away from me and the time has come to have it out.
There's a new king at KCRF for this fall. The last guy, another friend, did a wonderful job but he's decided not to come back. I think perhaps that he wasn't quite the right fit. Frankly, he hadn't drunk the kool-aid that the Entertainment Director passes out. This is a mature adult who does his job and does it well but won't bow down to the PTB. Having observed how this has worked for the last decade or so, I really do think this is how it works. His costume was made by another friend; a complete professional who met the deadlines and did a fabulous job. It was gorgeous. Note, this will become a factor in my story later; that the last king's costume was made by a non-kool-aid-drinking, non-cast costumer of the current administration.
The guy who is now King is a really nice guy, he'll do a great job. I've worked with I made his costume last year and he told me, straight out, that he really wanted to be King and was disappointed that he hadn't it through the last casting call. The mayor's costume that I made him was to have a great coat added later to have the costume be "King-worthy", as he put it.
So I pretty much expected this guy to ping me and say, "hey, we need to get started as I'm King now." It would make things sorta tight, schedule-wise, but I could deal with it. And frankly, the money would really come in handy, not to mention the notch in my belt of of making another monarch's costume. But I didn't hear from him at all, which made me start to wonder.
As I'm a fan of direct communication, I decided to ping him on FB, which is how we often communicate. I said, "Hey, congrats! Wanted to tell you how happy I am for you. Do you know what you're doing costume-wise yet? Just trying to organize my Spring schedule. If you want to discuss designs, I'd love to work with you and my schedule is fairly free for the next month or so, if you're wanting to get started right away. If you've made other plans, that's perfectly ok."
I heard back from him fairly quickly:
"Jim already had it setup with Annie for my costume this year. However, Riah might need you. She's hoping to know more after next weekend.
She's going to be Romani, but she's looking to have a leader-type costume made."
Fuming, I sent back:
"I will be happy to talk with Riah about her costume. Counting to 10 here. I obviously need to talk seriously with Jim. I have a problem with him assigning major costuming to someone who can't meet her deadlines and who is allowed to do so and who does sub-standard work. However, this is not *your* problem, sorry to take it out on you. It is mine and I will deal with it. But this makes me very unhappy that he has made a decision like this. This is the second time he has interfered with my income in a major way."
So perhaps I spoke out of line here, as I am wont to do from time to time. And it's all probably going to hit the fan because he and his whole family have drunk the Kool-aid. But I am REALLY PISSED OFF!
This is the same costumer to whom Jim gave about 8 court costumes to do last year, and whose sewing machine broke and who was SO late on deadlines that her clients had to wear old costumes for the HARD DEADLINE of the July 4th parade, when everyone else HAD to have their costumes done, or else risk being fired. This is the same costumer who puts out shoddy looking, costume-rental quality costumes; who works a FULL TIME regular job and does costuming on the side. But she's drunk the Kool-aid and is the costumer that Jim goes to first.
I am LIVID! I said the last time that Jim determined that "only Annie could do Royalty costumes" that I would go toe-to-toe with Jim over this. He has NO CALL to just assign costumes to one person, who is *not* staff, who is not a professional and who does not have the chops to handle doing good royal costumes. She probably doesn't charge enough but it's not as though she depends on costuming for her income. OH, heads are going to roll over this. One of them could me mine, but that this point, I'm not sure I even care.
There's a new king at KCRF for this fall. The last guy, another friend, did a wonderful job but he's decided not to come back. I think perhaps that he wasn't quite the right fit. Frankly, he hadn't drunk the kool-aid that the Entertainment Director passes out. This is a mature adult who does his job and does it well but won't bow down to the PTB. Having observed how this has worked for the last decade or so, I really do think this is how it works. His costume was made by another friend; a complete professional who met the deadlines and did a fabulous job. It was gorgeous. Note, this will become a factor in my story later; that the last king's costume was made by a non-kool-aid-drinking, non-cast costumer of the current administration.
The guy who is now King is a really nice guy, he'll do a great job. I've worked with I made his costume last year and he told me, straight out, that he really wanted to be King and was disappointed that he hadn't it through the last casting call. The mayor's costume that I made him was to have a great coat added later to have the costume be "King-worthy", as he put it.
So I pretty much expected this guy to ping me and say, "hey, we need to get started as I'm King now." It would make things sorta tight, schedule-wise, but I could deal with it. And frankly, the money would really come in handy, not to mention the notch in my belt of of making another monarch's costume. But I didn't hear from him at all, which made me start to wonder.
As I'm a fan of direct communication, I decided to ping him on FB, which is how we often communicate. I said, "Hey, congrats! Wanted to tell you how happy I am for you. Do you know what you're doing costume-wise yet? Just trying to organize my Spring schedule. If you want to discuss designs, I'd love to work with you and my schedule is fairly free for the next month or so, if you're wanting to get started right away. If you've made other plans, that's perfectly ok."
I heard back from him fairly quickly:
"Jim already had it setup with Annie for my costume this year. However, Riah might need you. She's hoping to know more after next weekend.
She's going to be Romani, but she's looking to have a leader-type costume made."
Fuming, I sent back:
"I will be happy to talk with Riah about her costume. Counting to 10 here. I obviously need to talk seriously with Jim. I have a problem with him assigning major costuming to someone who can't meet her deadlines and who is allowed to do so and who does sub-standard work. However, this is not *your* problem, sorry to take it out on you. It is mine and I will deal with it. But this makes me very unhappy that he has made a decision like this. This is the second time he has interfered with my income in a major way."
So perhaps I spoke out of line here, as I am wont to do from time to time. And it's all probably going to hit the fan because he and his whole family have drunk the Kool-aid. But I am REALLY PISSED OFF!
This is the same costumer to whom Jim gave about 8 court costumes to do last year, and whose sewing machine broke and who was SO late on deadlines that her clients had to wear old costumes for the HARD DEADLINE of the July 4th parade, when everyone else HAD to have their costumes done, or else risk being fired. This is the same costumer who puts out shoddy looking, costume-rental quality costumes; who works a FULL TIME regular job and does costuming on the side. But she's drunk the Kool-aid and is the costumer that Jim goes to first.
I am LIVID! I said the last time that Jim determined that "only Annie could do Royalty costumes" that I would go toe-to-toe with Jim over this. He has NO CALL to just assign costumes to one person, who is *not* staff, who is not a professional and who does not have the chops to handle doing good royal costumes. She probably doesn't charge enough but it's not as though she depends on costuming for her income. OH, heads are going to roll over this. One of them could me mine, but that this point, I'm not sure I even care.
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I really hope that if Riah comes to you for her costume, that the end result is so over the top better than anything else worn out there this year, royalty included. There's not a small amount of satisfaction that'd personally get out of that, heh. ;)
RAWR!!!
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It was also good to get Chris' perspective on the whole matter.
I DO have 3 people who've contacted me to pre-book costumes for this year and that has NEVER happened before so I hope that is a good sign of things to come.
And another gal just pinged me on Facebook about making a gender-cross Captain America costume with a 40's flare for mid-March! I bid it high and told her that there was a last-minute fee and she agreed! She's a cutie so a costume like that will look great on her. I'm pretty excited about it.
So things are looking up. I just had to vent my anger and as usual, it worked.
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So she came to me and said, "Can you make me a pretty, pretty princess?" And damned right I did! I made it, believe it or not, out of automotive crushed velvet that had a cotton backing and was water proof, after the so-called costume mistress said that crushed velvet couldn't be used. I made sure on costume approval night, that I was THERE to see Jim's face the first time he saw Brandi as a beautiful princess. His jaw hit the ground and I was totally vindicated! After the season started, he kept telling her how beautiful she was, and said it again when she was standing there IN THE RAIN and still looked dry and stunning. All the others looked like drowned rats.
That's vindication!
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