I work in the service industry. My job is to give the customers what they want. I feel I already offer a unique business; custom-written, personalized songs, and a wide range of costumes from which to choose. But sometimes, customers want something else. Perhaps a costumed character not on my extensive list, a delivery outside of my delivery zone, or maybe a specific song, instead of a personalized one.
As long as their request doesn't hurt or offend anybody, I usually comply; or make the attempt to comply. After all, as I said, it's a service business. I never say "No!" The next step, of course, is pricing the request to close the deal. The rental of a costume, the extra charge for transportation, or taking the time to download a song and then learning it. All of that costs money and has to be factored into my price for the specialized service. And most customers understand that and have no problem paying the additional fee.
Rakel contacted me from Sweden. She's working temporarily in the Stockholm office of B-Reel -- a production company that produces digital, film, and animation. It's her first Anniversary for her and Patrik; they've been dating a year. Her request was pretty unusual. She wanted a male singer to arrive at the New York office of B-Reel, dressed as a big red heart, and sing two specific songs.
The first song was "You and Me", by Penny and the Quarters, which became a hit when it was used in the Ryan Gosling film, "Blue Valentine". No problem. That was easy.
The second song was a little bit more unusual. Apparently, they have this private joke between them that has to do with a South Park episode, where a hand-puppet sings a song a la Jennifer Lopez, called "Taco-Flavored Kisses" .
And the request was to sing that second song, JUST LIKE the puppet sings it on the YouTube clip. Well, it took a couple of dozen times of listening to it over and over to get the rhythm and the pronunciations right ("Fulfill all your weeeeshizz with my taco-flavored keeeeesizz"), but in the end, I nailed it: picture perfect.
Now I can't get the damned song out of my head!
Kerry
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