So this is definitely going to be a bit of a different post than what I usually see here, but I would not of been able to stand up for myself the way I did if it had not been for seeing the posts in this sub.
So I tour with bands for a living. I usually run their lights but I took this guitar tech gig because the money was okay and I didn’t have much else going on, plus I’ve teched guitars in the past and play a bit myself.
I was told I would be the guitar tech, keyboard tech, and drum tech. okay cool no problem since I’m told that everyone is super chill and they know I’m stretched between all 3 and no one will demand much out of me.
I get to our tour starting point, Italy, and start getting to work during rehearsals and I start to really notice the condition of all the guitars I’m in charge of. They’re all very very rare, 1950s/60s Gibsons that have very clearly not been taken care of at all.
I confirm with the guitar player how long it’s been since they got properly set up by a shop and it’s been years(pre pandemic). My “oh fuck” warning lights are starting to go off and I really try to watch the guitars for any warning signs of drastic failure.
Well about a week ago things really start going downhill with basically every guitar, brand new strings are breaking, losing tune half way through a song, tunings on strings will literally jump entire steps both up and down.
He also has one guitar that is his main guitar that he plays with a capo on his second fret, I’ve told him from day one that the indents on this fret are getting catastrophically bad and he basically tells me that I’m too young and inexperienced and that he’s played guitars with frets like this for years(lol fuckin alright your funeral bud).
So anyway about a week ago this fretted guitar becomes literally unplayable to the point that even without a capo the strings will jump into the groves on the fret. It’s completely fucked basically, and I’m given no apology for being told I didn’t know what I was talking about and somehow am now being scrutinized even harder for my tunings even after this.
Well it all came to head last night when another one of this dudes guitars start jumping tuning mid song and he hands it back to me and I hand him his spare guitar that’s all ready to go.
I write on a piece of paper in all caps saying “THIS GUITAR IS JUMPING ENTIRE STEPS AND IS NOT TUNEABLE CURRENTLY” he looks at it and calls me a “fucking liar, that guitar doesn’t do that” I’m a bit taken aback and hand him the guitar, and he goes to start his song. Shockingly it’s completely out of tune and he himself is completely unable to tune it on stage.
So you would think he would realize that he fucked up and say sorry somehow right? Well he instead chose to start screaming at me calling me an idiot and screams “do you even know what the fuck you’re doing?” To which I respond back with “it’s hard to tune a fucking guitar when you’re getting screamed at” also keep in mind there are literally hundreds of people seeing this happen at this show.
I’m already at my tipping point with this tour, and have been dealing with this dude belittling my abilities due to my age, even though I’ve predicted each and every issue we’ve had weeks in advance to them happening.
So I look at my boss, who is actually mad at me in this situation and tells me to not raise my voice to the guitar player, which I immediately respond with “get me an apology, or get me a fucking plane ticket home”
He tells me to calm down and that it’s just heat of the show and that the guitar player didn’t mean it. I respond with “yes I understand that, which is why I’m asking for an apology or a ticket home”.
End of show happens and I hear nothing, I go into the green room and no one says anything, except for the guitar player trying to make small talk with me, which I refuse to engage with. Cool looks like I have my answer. Wait until the next morning just in case they wanna text me. Still nothing.
Send my TM a list of things I need if they want to keep me including:
A 30% raise by plus an additional 600 a week for my unpaid promotion to stage manager in the middle of the tour.
An apology for every instance that could have been prevented if they listened to me
An apology for saying my “inexperience” is what was wrong with these guitars.
That every guitar get taken into a shop during our days off.
I was basically balked at and my favorite was “was this all really just about money? Wow man”
Oh and to top this entire dumpster fire of management their manager sent me a text asking what was going on. I told him and said to book me a flight out of London on the days that they were supposed to be there (which is the 16th of July) to which his response was to not respond to anything I said and to send me an email receipt of a flight out of London in 3 days.
When I said “hey man, why didn’t you confirm with me(or even respond at all) about the flight, I’m not going to be able to make that since I still need to meet up with the bus in Hamburg on the 4th”
He told me verbatim “it’s time to move on, if you want to change your flight you’re more than welcome to yourself.”
This all happened 2 days ago and now have to figure out how to not be stranded in Europe and to see if I’m able to change my flight.
I gotta say I wouldn’t usually have the backbone to stand up for myself like this, but after reading all of y’all standing up to your bosses I realize that absolutely no paycheck is worth getting treated like you’re an idiot, or too young while simultaneously putting out every fire and predicting every issue.