What is up with shoutouts and expectations of free service lately? Yesterday, events host Althea Leonen posted and shared a story about her encounter with a potential client and the outcome was not ideal—at all.
The potential client was a bride who refused to pay Althea’s talent fee and even insulted her in the process. As if assuming her services as an events host was free was not rude to begin with. So how did it all happen?
The bride reached out to Althea to ask her to host their upcoming wedding in September. The bride said Althea was recommended by a friend. Althea was accommodating given the lack of information. She asked a few more questions so she can have all the details prior to confirming.
The bride shared that her sunset wedding will happen on Sept. 15 and it will be in Batangas. She suggested for Althea to book a room in the same hotel so she won’t have a hard time traveling and to also have enough time to prepare and get ready.
Of course, Althea had to clarify further and as it turns out, the bride and groom was only willing to cover for Althea’s travel expenses and additional referrals to future brides—the rest will be shouldered by the host herself. Allow that to sink in for a little bit.
Althea defended herself and told her about the realities of being an events host. But the response of the bride was quite shocking. The bride said that she heard Althea accepts bookings for free and that they don’t have any budget to accommodate her or her lodging expenses.
It escalated and the bride sent a message that said, “Ayyy di ka talaga sisikat. For sure di ka naman magaling e. Magkano lang din naman and TF ng mga host e. Kala mo naman ang ganda mo sa IG mo.” (Oh, you really won’t get famous. For sure you’re not even a good host. The talent fees of hosts are not quite high. You think you’re so pretty in your Instagram account.) The bride not only belittled Althea’s work, but also berated her on a personal level going as far as attacking her looks. Now do you think that’s fair?
Sure, hosts like Althea can gift their services to close friends, but for a stranger to assume they’d get the same service for free is just downright terrible.
Brides, grooms, and any other event coordinator out there. Let’s respect each other, shall we? We’re all just doing our jobs.
Photo courtesy of Thomas William from Unsplash
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