Just to show that I like to understand what our readers go through on a day-to-day basis I have spent the last few weeks being an event organiser.
This was not entirely voluntary. In actual fact I have been arranging my wedding, which, if I’ve done it right, should be a fine and memorable event.
I have to admit that I was absolutely bowled over by the complexity of organising something as apparently simple as a wedding. It has confirmed by suspicion that the ops people at any event are the unsung heroes. It is they who have to make sure that every i has been dotted and every t crossed. It is they who have to field the absolutely ludicrous phone calls from people who ought to know better but who seem to lose their minds when someone else is planning something.
Coming from several years involvement in the events industry I thought I had a pretty good handle on what goes on when you try to put an event together. By and large my feelings about the industry and the people that work in it have been confirmed. It is a business that is, by and large, populated by people who are committed to what they do and to making sure that the customer is well served and goes away satisfied by what has gone on.
Inevitably however, and this is what really gets me, is that there are still people who just don’t get it, people who don’t seem to realise that a little more co-operation on their part would reap dividends, not only for the customer but also for their own business.
One of our contractors for the wedding has been singularly surly, aggressive and singularly unpleasant to deal with in the days leading up to the wedding. This has annoyed me for two reasons. Firstly, on a selfish note, I’m paying them good money to do the job and there is no reason at all for them to make me feel bad with only a few days to go before what should be one of the best days I’ve ever had. Secondly, they let down all the good work done by the other service providers. These people have, to a man and to a woman, all gone the extra mile to help make our day go smoothly. They have all given generously of their time and advice and have seemed genuinely keen to be involved.
The trouble is that I will probably only remember the ghastly treatment from one of their number. This lets the whole side down on the micro level. On the macro level we, as an industry, can’t hope to fully flourish until the baddies, villains and traitors such as these I’ve had the misfortune to deal with, have been eradicated forever.
