Employment at Party Central

Once we have you on our roster, when a potential Client contacts us, we phone Entertainers (you?) in that geographical area. We tell you the date, the time, and whatever they have told us (what they are looking for). If you are available, we ask YOU for 2 prices:

your preferred price (what would make you happy), and
your minimum price (minimum worth leaving home for)

IMPORTANT: We want to know that - if we contact you for an event, and then later you receive an inquiry directly from the same event, that you will respect us first and not book them directly. WE respect other Agents in this way, and we want you to respect us likewise. Failure to conform will result in our removing you from our roster.

We then add our percentage on top of your preferred price (a meager amount - not like many/most Agencies, where they double or triple it), and submit that resulting amount to the Client. If they don't have the budget, we lower it gradually, and sometimes coming closer to the "minimum" is acceptable for the Client. We confirm this with you, and send a contract to the Client.

YOU ARE THEN CONFIRMED, the show is booked, and you receive your price, as agreed. You go as a Party Central Entertainer, handing out ONLY our cards. We never mention tipping, but if they ask us, we say "That's between you and the Entertainer, but don't feel compelled to tip." Most do tip, making your take even higher, whereas we still make our minimal. Here's what WE expect, and demand, in return:

WE EXPECT PROFESSIONALISM
We all have heard of the definition of "Professional": "One who is paid...". If this is the case, then every Street Entertainer and waitress on day 1 - is a Professional. As you well know - not true. This is how WE define "Professional", and since we are paying you "Professional" rates, we EXPECT this in return:

(Please note - the following is written - not with anger, but ALL CAPS and bold. The ALL CAPS isn't "yelling", nor the bold meant to be authoritative - simply to accentuate its' meaning. We're nice folks, but as you can tell, we've had some bad experiences, and we are fixing it before we have that experience with entertainers again :-)

You arrive at the event early/on-time. Early enough to ease the Customer's worry.
Your show is good.
You are friendly, and NEVER, EVER encourage a tip. If you want to make more, ask us to pay you more. If your price is too high that the show won't book, this is simply how economics works - we encourage you to lower your price to meet demand of the marketplace.
If you ever, EVER even show signs of having ingested alcohol before or during an event, YOU WILL NOT BE PAID FOR THE EVENT' and never contacted for our events again. (We have had people who have complained: "He was drinking us dry at the bar!" - although we are aware that they mean "he had 1 drink, but we thought it was disrespectable".
Again, you are not to provide your personal contact information to anyone (this includes business cards, fliers or other literature, or even a piece of paper with your number or e-mail scribbled on it). You are not to display any banners either. Not to mention it's tacky, so we don't allow it. IF YOU HAND OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, YOU WILL NOT BE PAID! If you see a cutie whom you want to pick-up, go to another Agent - we are paying you to WORK, not to flirt, or smoke or drink. Again, put yourself in the customers' shoes - if you were hiring an expensive Entertainer, would you want them to be hanging out smoking or at the bar or flirting with your guests??
This was stated above, but we really want to make you aware of - if we contact you for an event and you bid on it, and then later (even 2 minutes later) you receive that same inquiry directly, that you will respect us first and not book them directly (unless *our* booking falls through. WE respect other Agents in this way, and we want you to respect us likewise. Failure to conform will result in our removing you from our contact list.)

If this all seems "too much", we invite you to go to another Agent (We are not an Agent - we are a Reseller) - there's plenty of them out there (see gigmasters, gigsalad, skipthedishes, etc). If you agree to all of this, we'd be delighted to talk with you! Or, read why we charge what we do... And a big THANK YOU to all the write-ins of agreement, and other Resellers and Agents who want to post this, as well. Take (copy) what you want - the content on this page is public domain - spread the knowledge as you will! :-)

Charges & our fees: For some strange reason, entertainers never think of our expenses - only theirs. They phone us on our toll-free # (costing us money), but they don't want to phone us direct (costing them money) - they want us to phone them (costing us money), and then they get upset when we make a profit. Do you see where this is going??

When we book an event, we have to pay taxes (even when the entertainers don't). We (per Law) pay GST and taxes to Revenue Canada, 5% for Agency fees, and 5% [PLUS a $4 per charge] credit card fee - not to mention our monthly $800-$1,200 toll-free phone bill, and advertising [the biggest part!] as well. A $50 "profit" makes us an actual profit of $12.

Remember, most Agents & Resellers double or triple the prices. In some cases we've seen it marked up 450%. We personally know <un-named electronics store> spends .52 cents on a stereo needle, and sells it for $7.99. Most all gear in a typical retail store is DOUBLED in price; many things are tripled.

Employment Opportunities

How we operate: