Magic Castle, Cheap Bastards, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Tonight I went to the Magic Castle in Hollywood. In case your don't know, the Magic Castle is a famous magician's club in Hollywood, where members can have dinner and see magic shows. It's a very swanky place, and I highly recommend it to anyone who knows a member and can get in.

I am not a member of the Magic Castle. (But if I had lots of money, I would probably be - the place is SO nice!) I am, however, through my business, Hollywood Notary.Net, a member of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (since January), and we had a social function there tonight. This was the first event that I've ever attended with the Chamber, and I've got to say, it was really nice! I met a lot of nice, very interesting people. There were nice (free, alcoholic) drinks and hors d'ouvres. The $10 admission charge was worth the ticket!!!!

Anyway, I cut my evening short at the Magic Castle, because I had made previous plans with a previous prospective client to meet him at a coffee shop in Hollywood to notarize his document. I was only going to charge this person $10. Well, this person never showed up, and when I called him, this person refused to answer his phone. Earlier in the evening, after I left the Magic Castle, I listened to a message that this person had left on my phone, and he said that he was driving around the coffee shop and couldn't find a place to park, and that he was going to either have to drive to my house or find another Notary. It sounded from his voice that he was spazzing out (this should have been a clue to me). I called him back and tried to calm him down and reassure him that there was parking at the place, and I told him how to find it. He said that he would meet me there after all. I asked him if he could delay going there for 10 minutes, because I wanted to get a cookie at Hollywood and Highland, from the Nestle's Tollhouse Store. He said OK. Well, when I got to the coffee shop, I waited and waited. Then I called him and left a voicemail. Then I called again. Voicemail kept on picking up. After about 20 minutes of waiting and calling, I sent a text message. I texted, " Call me immediately". I got a reply: "It's not going to happen". I tried to call him again, and he wouldn't answer.

Being in business, I have encountered a few assholes and straight up bastards. This one was a cheap bastard. He had expressed that he was getting a $70 rebate from the phone company- that should have been a clue to me of his cheapness- but he didn't want to spend it all getting his document notarized, so I offered to meet him at a coffee shop in Hollywood, near where he lived. I like to save money, but I realize that this wasn't just a frugal person. From little things that he said, I could tell that he was kind of mean-spirited and cheap. I won't post his name, but he proved himself to be a really selfish "bitch". I'm not mad about it- that's the way some people are, and there are lots of them out there like that- people of little or no integrity. All businesses encounter people like this. So what did I learn?

I learned this: whenever you go to the Magic Castle, or anywhere special, and you have some cheap bastard call you up and try to get some business done on the cheap with you, don't go out of your way to accomodate the cheap bastard. Stay your ass at the Magic Castle or wherever you are. Let the cheap bastards come to your house, but only if you're gonna be home- don't stay home for the cheap bastards.

I learned this too: just keep on being the best. People will come to the best. I'm really good at what I do. I'm going to be successful in business. And I'm going to stay positive.

Tonight after getting my cookie from the Nestle Tollhouse place, I walked onto Hollywood Boulevard to retrieve my car, and I saw the Jimmy Kimmel Live banners across the street. I knew that they were taping the show at that hour. I really want to go to a taping of that show. As it turned out, Ellen Degeneres was his guest this night (I want to go to her show, too- bad!). I am planning to get tickets to Jimmy's show really soon. It's not all that difficult- you can get them online or call a phone number. What I really would like to do is to go to Jimmy's show that's on after the Oscars on Sunday. But, failing that, I will get tickets soon.