![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I do so appreciate an employer who appreciates me.
I got booked for a gig out of town last fall, but I was being paid as a local - no travel, per diem, or hotel or anything. It's fine, it's an annoying drive but in Florida, one that lots of people are willing to make without pay. I wouldn't normally, but I took it merely because I like both the employer and the people I knew who were already booked on it. And, it's not like I was terribly busy what with my largest client still not having employed me since they fired me for wearing a hoodie, almost 2 years ago now.
Anyway, my client is not in FL and didn't know exactly how far it would be for me to drive. When he found out how far it was, he upped my rate by $50. Then he finally got word on what kind of gig it was. There was some massive security to go through and they wanted to start our call time 3 hours early (which we'd get paid for, thereby moving up the time we start overtime by 3 hours too, and since our out-time wasn't changing, I would more than likely go into OT with this new start time).
So he called me to offer me another $50 on top of my rate for my trouble (which then also increases my OT rate).
As the security implies, the gig was a Big Fucking Deal, and it should actually be a really good time. So on top of the extra pay, he also called to tell me to have a "good time" and "enjoy yourself" at the show. Which means that it was going to be a pretty big party and we'd get to enjoy some of it while we work. But my client was looking out for me and he appreciates me. And he's showing it both with extra money and with Words of Affirmation and some leniency.
One of the things I love about my job is that it sometimes doesn't feel like work. We may have responsibilities to do, but we're still working events like parties and concerts, and we're doing creative things, so working can be a lot of fun ... on the right gig. I mean, I bring my camera with me to social events, so I do a lot of my work stuff literally for fun too.
Getting paid for it, and being given authority to run around and do what I do, expressing my creativity and enjoying some entertainment can be a really good time.
This gig was one of those times. Man, I really miss working.
I got booked for a gig out of town last fall, but I was being paid as a local - no travel, per diem, or hotel or anything. It's fine, it's an annoying drive but in Florida, one that lots of people are willing to make without pay. I wouldn't normally, but I took it merely because I like both the employer and the people I knew who were already booked on it. And, it's not like I was terribly busy what with my largest client still not having employed me since they fired me for wearing a hoodie, almost 2 years ago now.
Anyway, my client is not in FL and didn't know exactly how far it would be for me to drive. When he found out how far it was, he upped my rate by $50. Then he finally got word on what kind of gig it was. There was some massive security to go through and they wanted to start our call time 3 hours early (which we'd get paid for, thereby moving up the time we start overtime by 3 hours too, and since our out-time wasn't changing, I would more than likely go into OT with this new start time).
So he called me to offer me another $50 on top of my rate for my trouble (which then also increases my OT rate).
As the security implies, the gig was a Big Fucking Deal, and it should actually be a really good time. So on top of the extra pay, he also called to tell me to have a "good time" and "enjoy yourself" at the show. Which means that it was going to be a pretty big party and we'd get to enjoy some of it while we work. But my client was looking out for me and he appreciates me. And he's showing it both with extra money and with Words of Affirmation and some leniency.
One of the things I love about my job is that it sometimes doesn't feel like work. We may have responsibilities to do, but we're still working events like parties and concerts, and we're doing creative things, so working can be a lot of fun ... on the right gig. I mean, I bring my camera with me to social events, so I do a lot of my work stuff literally for fun too.
Getting paid for it, and being given authority to run around and do what I do, expressing my creativity and enjoying some entertainment can be a really good time.
This gig was one of those times. Man, I really miss working.
