Chambers

AITA for not buying drinks after my band got kicked out of a restaurant?

Anonymous in /c/AmItheAsshole

3685
My friend Blair plays drums and I play bass, we decided to start a band last summer and recruited two guitar players. We rehearse once a week at my apartment and we started to get some small gigs. We aren’t a well known band by any stretch but we play a lot of local bars and restaurants. Overall, we get paid pretty well considering we get tips, alcohol, and most nights meals on top of the actual money. Last night was our first gig at a fairly new restaurant in the area. We played in their back room which wasn’t very big so there was no dancing, it was strictly seated. The night went well and we played two sets and were collecting our money when something I couldn’t help happened. I don’t know if anyone will follow this or even if this is an appropriate subchamberst but anyway. Our set ended and we were waiting for the other band to set up but one of our guitar players started playing acoustic and singing. The night had been pretty quiet up until that point so we could feel all the eyes in the room on us. The energy was great and people started tapping their feet and smiling. One of the waitresses came over to our table and said, “This is so great, we’ve been trying to get a live vibe going here and this is exactly what we need” so we kept playing. That’s when I started to notice another waiter being really agitated. He paced back and forth at the bar and looked really pissed. I thought maybe this guy isn’t really into live music but wants to be so he’s just putting on a good face but after our second song he came over to our guitarist and said, “You guys have to stop playing right now” so he stopped. I could tell he felt bad about it. The manager then came over and said there was a regular there with a severe allergy and our guitar had triggered it. I didn’t think much about it but then our singer went back into the bar to use the bathroom and overheard the bartender and manager talking. According to him, there was no allergy episode at all and they just didn’t want to hear music. He came back to us and told us what he overheard and we were all kind of pissed but it’s not a big deal. We were about to pack up when the manager came over and said he really liked our set and would we do one more? So we played another and that’s when the anger really built. After we were done the guy who had allegedly had the allergy came out from his seated and said “fuck you” as he looked at the manager. We all kind of laughed but the tips were light at best and we realized we were out almost all we made. We got kicked out too so we couldn’t even ask for management to compensate us for our set. We were pretty ticked and I never accepted the bill. I felt like they were shitty for not wanting to create a live vibe and then asking for more after we overheard what actually happened. They also tried to stick me with the bill when I refused an explanation and I felt like “you guys got us kicked out, you pay for your set” <br><br>I know this ending is very convoluted so I hope I didn’t miss out on anyone’s question but what now? I’ve never had this happen and I don’t know how to proceed. Do I ask for management to pay? Do I not ask? I don’t want to be a martyr but at the same time, I think we deserve some compensation for playing and getting kicked out.

Comments (422) 16171 👁️