At the start of my musical career, I accepted every gig that came my way. So when a colleague called and asked if I wanted to join him in playing live music at a shopping mall, I enthusiastically said, “Of course, sounds fun, let’s do it!”
“But,” he said, emphasizing, “you have to wear a costume! Do you mind?”
Now, you should know that I like to dress smartly. So no, I absolutely didn’t mind. In fact, I had just bought a brand-new suit that fit perfectly. I was happy for any excuse to wear it again!
So off I went, all dressed up, to the shopping mall. While we were having coffee, my colleague said, “You look sharp!” Yes, I felt great in my new suit. But after the coffee, he asked, “Shall we go change now?” Wait, change??
Slowly, it dawned on me. He really had meant a costume… 😳. It was October 4th… It was World Animal Day… I had to wear a cat costume! “Didn’t I ask you if you were okay with wearing a costume??”
Total miscommunication. There was no way out: a little while later, I was standing in a cat suit playing music in a shopping mall. I felt pretty hopeless.
Every October 4th, I think back on this. Now, 20 years later, I’ve almost recovered from this trauma. I can even laugh about it a little.
There are no photos of that day 😅. (And if there were, I wouldn’t share them here. 😁)