I don't ever want to be the business contact again.

I booked a wedding in 1991. It was a $3000 date. We took a $1500 deposit to hold the date open. I called her twice in the interim to get the requests for first dance and all that. I called her 2 weeks before just to check in and reassure her we would be there.

Thursday night before the wedding, the guys went out for the bachelor night. They hit a tree driving home. The Best man died and the groom was in critical condition. Friday, the day before the event, she called me and asked for her deposit back. I explained, as gently as I could, that the deposit was not refundable, that we held that date open for her based n that deposit, that it was already Friday and there was less than a 1% chance that I could get another job the next day, that we had in fact turned down a weekend engagement because we were booked for her wedding the next day, and that 5 people pay bills and feed kids based on that income, that we were not at fault for their decision, and that the deposit was also eternal, meaning that when they got a new date (implying, but not saying, "IF he lives") we'd still play the date for just the balance. She launched into a tirade about how heartless I was and everything you can imagine. I said I would make phone calls and try to get a job for the next night and if she chose to not keep us on contract for when/if the wedding happened I would refund to her the difference of her deposit and what that last minute date paid. I think I did everything I could to accommodate her. Of course I felt bad for her circumstance, but I didn't do it! Business is business and sentiment is sentiment. Sentiment is not acceptable currency when the electric bill is due. The music community here was split half and half on how they viewed me after that story made the rounds. I was either a good businessman or a [*****].

I would make the exact same decision today. A contract is a contract, and hire a bus rather than drink and drive.

He DID live, they DID marry, and we DID play their wedding. And she apologized for the way she yelled at me, that she understood the business aspect now, etc. And I hugged her and said she owed me no explanation, and handed her a card we all signed with a $100 wedding gift in it. They came out to see us play about once a month after that. I teased her the first time they came out saying "Shouldn't you be home making babies???" And she said "Hey, we came out to see you often before the wedding or we wouldn't have known you to ask you to play it!"

That veered into a wedding story, so I guess to tie it back to topic, I will add "I play sax"....