Bad Juju from Ballet Bellevue

I write this a few days after the actual bad business so as to write more clearly. I did not want my negative emotions to sway my writing at all. Here's the story:

I got contacted on Wednesday, November 21 to play for Ballet Bellevue's performance of "The Snowman". There were to be two rehearsals, Friday, November 23rd, with performances on the 24th, 25th and then again on Dec. 8th and 9th for a total of 8 services.

As a freelancer, you get used to filling out paperwork and as of the 25th, no contract had been presented. Those contracts finally showed up on the 8th during the first of two shows. That means that FAITH is what kept the orchestra there. Faith that the contracts (and by association paychecks) would eventually come.

** Sarcasm/humor break **
I almost went into a "Twas the night before"-like poem just now; 'Twas the night before the final show, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the Executive Director with the contracts.
** End of break **

The final show came and checks were handed out, some for lesser amounts due to "tardiness" on the part of some of the musicians. "Tardiness" is in quotes because a) the contracts did not discuss a penalty for that and b) The shows started 10 minutes late anyways every time. This was not a nice surprise to pop on to some musicians who had waited for even the contracts.

So, a week after the last performance, emails start going around from the orchestra; "My check bounced.", "So did mine!" I decided that I'd try my hand and sure enough, the check bounced. After an email to the Executive Director, Mary Ellen Hundley, I received this response.

Thank you, Ian, for contacting me by email. I will try to arrange with you as soon as possible to replace your check with cash or a chashier's [sic] check. As this has been a bank error, I hope the bank will do the right think [sic] by covering all of your incurred NSF charges. Today they are trying to replace the credit card terminal that was not properly batching our deposits for the past month. Then they have to locate, hopefully, all the funds that have disappeared. I am terribly sorry for this misfortune at the worst imaginable time of year. As our other sources of money come in, I have been able to pay musicians, and I will try to address your situation at the earliest possible date.

Mary Ellen Hundley
Ballet Bellevue"
425.455.1345
mehundley@aol.com   

Ok. First off, since this is the second year in a row that the Ballet has had issues with insufficient funds, I am not inclined to believe the 'bad-credit-card-terminal" excuse. But, in the interest of forgiveness (I do work for a church), I will suspend my disbelief. The part that is hardest to swallow for me is that they did not check their accounts during the whole 3 weeks that the show was going. There was a week after Thanksgiving in which people should have been in the office doing office type stuff including checking the books.

Secondly, "...I will try to address your situation at the earliest possible date" tells me that they still have no funds to repay these debts. There were at least 25 of us in the orchestra. From what it sounds like, one person will get paid when they have enough money to cover that one check. 24 other people will just have to wait. Unacceptable.

My courses of action have been these:
1) Call Ms. Hundley and let her know the situation.
2) Follow that up with an email
3) Reply to her response that it was unacceptable
4) Submit a complaint to the BBB
5) Blog about this very serious matter

I will be sending this posting to music stores, music organizations, the musicians' union, and maybe even to news outlets. I realize that courses of action that require legal means will not do any good other than to anger the Ballet group, and incur MORE fees than my check would have been worth. Therefore, Word-Of-Mouth is the action of choice. I am going to be loud and proud about letting this story be known.