When your paycheck is a huge wad of cash…

—Wendy Kerner, Wilton, Conn.

A few years ago I received a call inviting me to perform with a high school choral program. I was pleased to be playing with them, as the choral director is very talented. He performs interesting music, and he gets amazing results from his students. He talks about musicality and what music means with the kids. Although he is rather eccentric, he is very popular in the school. The choral program included 300 students, even though the school is not that large.

The concerts are very popular, usually selling out, and supported in large part by the ticket sales. The choral director asked me to play Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with a select choir, some other works with a larger ensemble, and a solo in the program.

There would be two concerts, as well as a snow date, and a couple rehearsals. We negotiated a fee, which was not insubstantial with all the services involved. The director promised me he would have the check for me on the night of the concert.

The rehearsals went well, and the first concert was a big success. In between the two concerts, the choral director came over and thanked me and asked if I had found the check on my stand. I congratulated him, but told him that I had not received a check. He apologized, and ran off to get the check for me. He returned and put an envelope on my stand. I opened the envelope, and inside found receipts for sodas!

When I saw him next, I thanked him again, and returned the envelope to him, explaining that it was not the correct one. He was distressed, and ran off again to find the right envelope. He came back a little while later looking even more distressed. “I don’t know what has happened,” he told me. “The financial manager is always so on top of things, but I can’t find your check anywhere!” I told him not to worry about it, and that he could mail me a check. “No, no no,” he insisted, “I told you I would pay you tonight, and I am going to do so!” And with that he handed me a huge stack of small bills—one, five, and ten dollar bills from the night’s ticket sales.

I told him how I appreciated it, but it was really not necessary to pay me that night, and reiterated that he could just mail me a check, but again, he insisted I take the cash.

I just barely managed to stuff all the bills into my purse. I drove very carefully that night, hoping that I would not be stopped for any reason, so that I would not have to open my purse and have a policeman wonder what I was doing carrying around a huge wad of cash late at night. It was definitely the strangest “paycheck” I ever received.