Communication Breakdown

Have you tried to book a gig lately? I mean even an audition for a little solo acoustic set in a bar or lounge somewhere? I just called twenty-one venues I found on the Internet (with the help of Yelp) and out of the twenty-one three were no longer in business, three claimed to not have live entertainment despite what their website said, only five had actual people answer the phone and the rest were all tape machines where you can leave a message.

What does this say about putting the customer first? I'm calling to ask for an audition and potentially for them to pay me money but I could just as easily have been a potential paying customer. Sure, I could listen to a tape recording and maybe hear the information I wanted to hear such as times open, directions to the location, etc., but being able to ask my questions directly to a human being would have made me feel a lot more comfortable about giving this establishment my patronage. Seriously, what kind of customer service can I expect from my visit if they won't even answer their telephone?

This is one of the great frustrations of trying to find any kind of job these days. Who can you talk to? Who can you call to follow up when the tape recorded HR director directs you to their website to apply for positions? How do you know if anyone ever gets your application? How does EDD check up to see if you're actually calling employers? I just don't know anymore.

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