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Entry
Thirty-Eight.
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Due
to Saffron Coffee's inability to be open during a very clearly
prearranged time Friday evening for the setup of equipment for
Saturday night's "Saffron Retro Night" DJ event, as well
as the inability of the Saffron staff to inform me in advance that
they were closing down for the evening, I am hereby cancelling
the "Saffron Retro Night" event, and am not planning
on performing at Saffron at any point in the future
I want to apologize to those of you who were genuinely looking forward to it. I was, too. However, when I spend a lot of time, effort, money and pain to create an event and promote it for a location, I expect them to be open when I show up at a pre-arranged time to set up my equipment. Last night, since they didn't bother to stay open, and didn't bother to CONTACT me to let me know (that was what cheesed me off the most), I had to go through a lot of trouble that I shouldn't have. I'm sorry, but when someone does that to me, I'm not going to go out of my way to help promote them anymore. It's a crappy way for them to treat someone who's trying to bring them MORE business.
As much as I have enjoyed the food and atmosphere at Saffron, they have gotten into a rather irritating habit of closing earlier than their regularly posted hours. While usually, this would not be an issue (there are other coffee shops around - Gypsy, Shades of Brown, etc.), it DOES become a MAJOR issue when Saffron closes down on a night that I've already pre-arranged with the owner (whom I won't name here out of respect for her privacy) that I'm going to show up there.
A few weeks back, I arranged with DJ TMJ to meet at Saffron on a Saturday night. He'd never been there before, and I wanted him to see the overall layout of the place in preparation for Saffron Retro Night. Well, it turned out that he couldn't make it that night (and apologized), but over a cell phone call while I was still there, we arranged to meet there the following Tuesday evening. I made sure with the owner of Saffron, right there in person, that there wasn't anything "big" (like a live performance) happening at Saffron the following Tuesday night. I told her that TMJ and I would be coming by on Tuesday, and she said that would be fine.
That Tuesday, TMJ (who usually has a pretty restrictive schedule) and I got together around 5:30 PM and headed straight out to Saffron. The sign on the door stated that they were closed... so that the owner could go to a birthday party. That's right. A freakin' birthday party. As you can imagine, that got me pretty good and torqued off, but I decided to let it slide, and I finally got to show Saffron to TMJ a while later.
Although the owner of Saffron and I have usually gotten along extremely well, last night really made me understand how little I really meant as a performer and customer. After using my evening to take the equipment out of storage and showing up to find Saffron closed due to "technical difficulties," I came home, unloaded the equipment into my living room (I couldn't take it back to the storage facility, which had closed at 9:00), and wrote the following letter, which I then printed up, sealed in an envelope, and taped to Saffron's front door:
Dear [Saffron owner]:
This evening, at approximately 9:00 PM, I came by and found that Saffron had already closed for the night.
As you and I had very clearly discussed in person yesterday, and earlier this month as well, I had just gone by the storage facility to pick up thousands of dollars (and hundreds of pounds) of sound and light equipment to set up prior to tomorrow evening's “Saffron Retro Night” event.
However, when I arrived at Saffron tonight, I found it to be locked up, with a note on the door stating, “Sorry! Technical Difficulties... Thanx.” Although you had locked up and turned off the main lights, it was obvious from the few lights still shining inside (from the kitchen area, etc.) that the electricity was running, so I'm not sure what the “difficulties” were. (I will note that it's quite a coincidence that this is the first weekend of the Tulsa State Fair, but that's just an observation.)
What I am sure of, though, is that you had been clearly informed that I was going to be showing up this evening to set up part of the sound and light equipment for the event, and that I had given you my personal cell phone number in advance, so you very easily could have informed me in advance about any “technical difficulties.”
This is the third time in a month that I have come by Saffron to find that you have closed early, and the second time in that month that I've come by for purposes prearranged with you, specifically concerning Saffron Retro Night. (The first time, incidentally, was the night that I brought DJ TMJ out to see Saffron, after arranging it with you a few days before, and then found a note stating that you had decided to close to attend a birthday party.)
Since the storage facility that I use closes at 9:00, I could not immediately return the equipment there. I wasn't about to leave that much expensive equipment in my complex's parking lot all night, so I then needed to unload all of that equipment into my living room. Tomorrow morning, I will load it all back up and return it to the storage facility.
Since I was not able to set up part of the show this evening and I had to go to so much trouble as a result, I am cancelling Saffron Retro Night. If you had technical difficulties, you should have at least had the decency to call me and let me know so that I wouldn't have wasted so much time and effort this evening. I have already contacted DJ TMJ, as well as the videographer that I had arranged, to let them know that the event has been cancelled.
Please note that I had not only planned this event in order to have fun and promote myself, but also as a special promotion for Saffron. I had spent a decent chunk of money on promotional flyers for the event, and spent countless hours developing a website for it and spreading the word around. All of this, of course, was being offered for absolutely no charge. However, if you're not going to bother to be open during the prearranged time that I take the trouble to bring up my equipment, and you're not going to bother to call me and let me know what's going on, then I'm not going to bother performing at your establishment tonight, nor in the future.
So, please enjoy your Saturday evening. Perhaps you can shut down early and go do something fun.
Regards,
Badger
After taping the letter to Saffron's door, I headed out to Gypsy (still quite open for business and very interested in my presence and my money), and bought something there.
That's one thing about the Gypsy... Yeah, I might have had some bad experiences the last time I DJed there, but at least they were open for me to set up my equipment, and the one time that Bradley (the Gypsy owner) had concerns about something, I got a phone call so that we could talk about it. I seriously wouldn't have been all that upset if I'd just received a phone call from Saffron saying, "Hey, Badger, I'm sorry, but we're having such-and-such technical problem, and we're going to have to shut down for tonight, but you can bring all the stuff by early tomorrow." Instead, I got to haul around a couple of heavy amps and a metric buttload of lights for absolutely no reason. YAY for being treated like dog crap.
After wasting so much time trying to build this up and make it a really special event, it really sickens me that Saffron chose to treat me this way. So, as of this point, they've lost my business; for coffee, I'll head to Gypsy or one of the other local coffee houses, and if I want really good hummus (the main thing that I'll miss at Saffron by far), I know that I can still get great hummus at Desi Wok out near 41st Street.
It'll be a while before I try to set up another DJ event, but I'll post details here when they become available. Again, I'm terribly sorry to anyone else who was excited about this event. I was, too.
Thanks,
Badger