Well, seems you have rather overwhelming evidence of what happened (didn’t happen to record the session did you?).
Perhaps you can contact some of the regulars that were there that reacted on your facebook (if you are a resident there I’d say you know at least a few of the long term regulars. Go for the more moderate ones. Ask them for a short, to the point (no need to have all kinds of emotional statements) statement of what happened and what it means to them.
Then have a one on one with the owner. Tell him what happened and what it has done for attendance. Point out that not only does this cut directly into your own pocket, but that the entire club is taken a beating that could have been avoided. Swift action could lead to getting the lost customers back into the place, but if you wait too long, they might start feeling at home at the new places they go to and it will be MUCH harder to pry them loose and bring them back into the fold.
I understand that the money is good and that you don’t want to loose a gig. But as I see it there are two options:
1) the manager stays and somehow you manage to get attendance back up to the old numbers with predominantly new visitors. In the back of your mind you know that at some point you will have more dealings with this guy and it will not enhance the mood of the place.
2) the manager stays and you don’t manage to get attendance back up. In which case at some point in the most likely not to distant future there will not be enough money to pay you that nice salary (not to mention missing your door percentage til then).
I am no fan of “he goes or I go” kind of situations, because usually the person making that statement is the one that ends up going. After all, nobody likes to be pressured. By the same token, you don’t want to get stuck in a dead end street and mess up what sounds like a solid reputation. I’d provide the owner with the evidence, add your own view of the matters. Tell him that you don’t really care what the manager likes. You don’t tell him how to do his job, and he shouldn’t be telling you how to do yours. They pay you good money to do a professional job, which clearly you have been doing.
Ask the owner what his exact plan is to remedy the situation. Hopefully he has one. Depending on the plan you can start working on your own exit strategy.
It being a long standing working relationship with a good owner, I’d be very explicit in saying you are willing to work towards a solution, but that you don’t believe the current stalemate is gonna make any of you happy and something’s gotta give.
These things suck, especially if you have a good thing going for everyone. But misplaced loyalty, or failure to act upon changed circumstances usually don’t get you any closer to a better place.
Hope this all makes any sense and is of some help.
Greetinx.
.
