Precious?

Get out there I say, Britain needs you!
Don't pay them to lounge around
Most of us have done something similar in times of need.

Depends - if you are a concert pianist, or violinist or whatever, your fingertips might be very precious.
I have more sympathy for those in the theatre and creative arts, my DD has probably lost about £10k in the last 2 weeks (1/3 of 18 months work) including paying assistants, , weekly travelling expenses to and from Amsterdam and accommodation expenses - none of which she will see a penny of - and with no guarantee (sorry, likelihood) of any work until at least August if then.

I think that is probably different; a concert pianist may have enough cash to fall back on.
I knew a few aspiring actresses, musicians etc and most have supplemented their income with other jobs, at least in the early days.

When I became too ill to work and DH started to be my carer he swapped from being an area manager to part time cleaner. We needed the money and he did what he had to do.

I am with Maw some musicians do need to protect the sensitivity of their fingers. A bit self-destructive to take a low paid job as a fill in only to find the damage it does to your hands makes impossible to return to the career you trained for.

Having said that, I think everyone in the performing arts will have taken on all kinds of menial tasks to keep body and oul together. It is just that some musicians need to avoid some jobs for te reason stated

Not every concert pianist makes a fortune, there are those at the start of their careers and those who never rise beyond popular concertos with the top amateur orchestras in provincial loacations and they are as much working hand to mouth as anyone else.

With the government guarantee to all who are laid off from their regular employment due to the crisis that they will receive a regular taxpayer-funded grant of eight per cent of their wages or salary, then the government should also be empowered to send them to any alternative employment available.

In all the large supermarket distribution centres throughout the country, they are "crying out" for pickers and product handlers due to the huge demand placed upon them at this time. Therefore the government should be able to "second " persons on the above grants into that available employment and onto farms etc. Should they not wish to take up that seconded employment then their taxpayer-funded government grant should be withheld.

Simple as that, their nation needs their endeavours and if they are not willing to step up to the plate, so be it.

I don’t know of any “resting”actor/actress - and I’ve known a few - who hasn’t had to turn their hand to a more menial job when out of work. I doubt very much that, providing they are fit and well, they will suddenly become too precious to do so now.
(Naturally, no one expects to find the likes of Dame Judi manning a checkout under any circumstances)

I've worked in a supermarket and cant remember a single incident where my fingers were at risk!

Can anyone explain how musicians fingers are at risk from doing these jobs? Everyone else who does em keeps their fingers intact!

Stacking the tins of dog meat could be a bit dangerous notanan!

Grandad1943 Tue 24-Mar-20 21:41:52
With the government guarantee to all who are laid off from their regular employment due to the crisis that they will receive a regular taxpayer-funded grant of eight per cent of their wages or salary, then the government should also be empowered to send them to any alternative employment
Fine if you can get it!

Actors, musicians, singers, creative teams(director, musical directors , designers, lighting designers etc etc are self- employed, Grandad and frequently not paid until the opening night of a production - they are not paid during the months of set design and planning, or during the weeks of rehearsal. “Force majeure” cancellations of productions as has happened all over Europe and the US are not covered by theatre insurance.

Their hands are their livelihood if they play an instrument. Musicians will be insured but it could be the end of their career.

This is a time of unprecedented crisis not witnessed before in modern history. It is therefore for all to work in support of seeing this nation come through that crisis in as best order as possible.

As stated, all should work in effect of the above. Then we can consider the future for all who reside in this country.

Maw, the government has now stated that the self-employed will receive the same grants as those in regular employment. I would think that those self employed will probably have to furnish those administering the grant scheme with evidence of last years earnings and the grant will be paid on that.

I am not one who would normally support this government but in this I believe they have got it right.

At the other end of the scale, my hands are just important as arty people.

How would I be able to wipe peoples bottoms with no hands?

Your fingertips do not need to be highly sensitive to wipe people's bottoms.

No one is suggesting that musicians are not willing to take on all kinds of basic wage jobs, they probably do all ready. All that is being said is that they should not be required to undertake specific jobs that might incapacitate them from returning to their main profession after this crisis.

In the improbably event of a highly skilled brain surgeon being out of work, would you expect him to take work on a building site as a labourer, getting his hands calloussed and cut, which would mean that he could not again work as a surgeon until after many months of getting his hands back to the level of sensitivity he needed for the job, when he could do other work, behind a counter or a till or waiting on table.

This is no more than is being suggested for musicians, and probably other professions, where certain physical attributes need to be protected, for them to return to their professions after this crisis.

It's true a pianist's hands are as economically valuable as a racehorse's legs, or a professor's brains.

Would you put a racehorse in a brewer's dray, or stupify a professor?

After this is over there won't be industries there were before. The hopitality industry will never return to what it was; all those cruise ships and beach complexes will be no more.

One manual job that will be left is customer service in food distribution so there will be plenty of manual workers to fill shelves and serve customers. Another industry that will survive is entertainment and culture which can not be properly replicated by automation and will always be a basic human need. So we will badly need our artists and musicians.

phoenix, there's always one, wherever you go, who 'can't possibly' do things - until it suits them.

It's the 'Look at me, I'm different, I'm special, not like you ordinary folk!' thing - all to be pointedly ignored and yawned at.

I doubt anyone is refusing work, I really think this thread is a storm in a tea cup about something that I have nowhere seen stated as happening - and I have looked for it.

I think it is just another one of those Coronavirus myths that is circulating round based on something a friend of a friend said a friend did.

But it has enablds some people to let off some righteous indignation, which in the current situation, is probably quite useful.

Your fingertips do not need to be highly sensitive to wipe people's bottoms.

Yes they do
While people wipe bottoms they are also checking for early signs of pressure sores (boggy feeling etc) and noticing lack of blood flow when they press with the correct pressure etc. They probably also take pulses. Look after people with skin thats like tissue paper and can easily tear and do delicate mouth and ete care...

Maw, the government has now stated that the self-employed will receive the same grants as those in regular employment.

Really Grandad?
You must be psychic because at the time of writing (24 hours after your post) no official announcement has yet been made.
I know what people are asking, even hoping for, but as far as I can see - and has just been stated on Channel4 News - nothing has yet been confirmed.

Grandad I take it you will be making a generous contribution to the charities supporting the people in entertainment?

I know of one young woman, a hard worker who needs to travel up and down the UK just to do her job (no travelling allowance btw) who will get almost nothing.

actingforothers.co.uk/the-equity-charitable-trust

I am reminded of a girl my mother knew. She was being taught the piano by her father who had great ambitions for her. He insisted that she should sight read everything faultlessly and one day, when she made a mistake, he slammed the lid down on her hands. It broke her fingers and she never played again ecause she couldn't get back to the same standard.

I would imagine that supermarket work would be ideal for actors. Retail work tends to mean putting on a performance (or is that just me?) and there is so much scope for people watching.