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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that if you stand and watch buskers etc then you should pay up

23 replies

Nehru · 26/05/2013 14:00

OR, do you think its a risk they take performing out in the open?
S3 and i had a little chat about this today...

OP posts:

SPsCliffingAllOverMN · 26/05/2013 14:05

I pay up if I watch. Obviously if I'm watching I am enjoying it so I will pay.

There is one busker not far from me. Hes very nice to look at and has a great voice and guitar skills. I'm thinking about paying in kind but I'm unsure of his martial status as yet.

Sparklingbrook · 26/05/2013 14:06

I think it would be a nice thing to do if you had stopped to watch. I have paid for watching street entertainers before, they were brilliant though.

Original poster

Nehru · 26/05/2013 14:07

i think you should But am aware of loads of times I havent. Its goot if oyu have a small child to PUT the money in the pot, i hate that bit

OP posts:

Sparklingbrook · 26/05/2013 14:09

I was in Chester a couple of years ago. There were proper street entertainers, with microphones etc. They were superb, very funny and very skilled in circusy type stuff.

At the end the bloke said, if you want to pay that's great but if you can't afford to, to do something nice for someone.

SauvignonBlanche · 26/05/2013 14:18

That's nice Sparkling, we do get excellent buskers in Chester, having a music college always helps.
I think if they're good enough to make you stop and listen then you should pay up.

Sparklingbrook · 26/05/2013 14:20

They sort of comandeered the whole bit outside WHSmiths SB. They involved the children, it was brilliant.

Would love to be in Chester today, I would be sat by the river eating ice cream.

Tee2072 · 26/05/2013 14:22

I suppose so but then it's not like they aren't just out there. Perhaps you stopped to watch/listen because they are crap?

elQuintoConyo · 26/05/2013 14:24

I pay if I stand and watch/listen. We passed a young hippy guy with a rope on a bit of string and a bucket of washing up liquid making giant bubbles, DS was squealing in delight, DH wanted to wander off without paying - I gave out to him quietly, though.

SauvignonBlanche · 26/05/2013 14:28

We had a brilliant group from Malawi last week, people were getting up and joining in the dancing.

It's a bit cloudy here today, it won't be that idyllic by the river.

Sparklingbrook · 26/05/2013 14:29

Oh no. It's really warm and sunny in Worcestershire, I was imagining Chester to be all sunny and lovely. I would maybe go to the park and have a squirrel run up my trousers instead then SB.

SauvignonBlanche · 26/05/2013 14:37

dopeysheep · 26/05/2013 15:18

At the Edinburgh festival last year performers were practically ordering people to put money in, asking for notes! A couple started singling out people walking away as well.

CrapsWithBears · 26/05/2013 15:23

I always give money to people who are good. I get pissed off because there's an old bloke who sets up a keyboard and CD player and plays really awful, shit, generic, keyboard music extremely loudly and drowns out all the decent buskers.

CrapsWithBears · 26/05/2013 15:24

*there's an old bloke in the town where I live.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 26/05/2013 15:57

I think it's a risk you take.

It's nice if people pay up, but then, I don't get to remove money for noise pollution/having to walk around a massive crowd of gawping tourists, so ...

There used to be a man who played a child's xylophone outside what was then C&A (if I remember rightly) when I was growing up, and lots of people gave him something even though it was hardly brilliant entertainment ... but I've occasionally given very professional-type people a bit of small change and got really nasty looks as they seem to feel it isn't enough.

Trills · 26/05/2013 16:03

I think it's nice and polite and generous to give money, but I don't think there is any should about it.

Sparklingbrook · 26/05/2013 16:24

You do hear tales of some of these lone buskers who rake in £££££s, get in an expensive car and go back to their 4 bed detached every night.

CloudsAndTrees · 26/05/2013 16:27

I think it's a risk you take. It's easy enough to tell whether it's worth any money with musicians, but there are other forms of street entertainment that I have stopped to watch before realising they were actually crap. I wouldn't like to be expected to pay money just because I was curious.

MogTheForgetfulCat · 26/05/2013 17:35

There's a (quite dishy) guy where I am who does great juggling, diablos, unicycle etc with some good patter. He is ace and my DSs love to watch him - which I am v happy to do for the above-mentioned reason . He shames people who watch the whole act and then slope off - he's not nasty, he does it humorously, and I think it's fair enough: if they watch it (act is at least 20 minutes) they should pay something.

TigerSwallowTail · 26/05/2013 18:12

It's great when people do give them money but it's definitely a risk they take and nobody should be forced to. What dopeysheep described was pretty awful, singling people out etc.

Tinuviel · 26/05/2013 19:30

When I lived abroad I got chatting to an English guy busking and we went for a coffee when he'd finished. I helped him count up his takings as we chatted and he had made plenty. So no, I wouldn't feel that I should pay up but quite often do (not that we get many buskers where we live and the ones we get, I wouldn't stop to listen!

secretscwirrels · 26/05/2013 19:38

I love a good busker. If they are playing an instrument that isn't bagpipes and singing, they brighten my day and I always pay. They are working, not begging.
Sadly my DCs don't have a musical bone in their bodies but if they did I'd think it was a worthwhile skill to earn a bit of cash.

cees · 26/05/2013 19:40

No I don't think just because I may stop and listen that I have to pay for it, they are in a public space and while it's nice if people can afford to put some money in the cup, I would expect buskers to understand that not everyone will and they are under no obligation to do so either, if they want paying from everyone then book a venue and charge at the door.

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