There are times when I am asked, ” Did you have any interesting or strange things happen to you when entertaining?” Several stories come to mind but there’s one in particular that tops the rest.

I was hired to do a birthday singing telegram for a doctor at his office. I arrived at the scheduled time to sing a personalized song, in a Jester costume, with a bouquet of balloons. When I got there the doctor was with a patient and his assistants didn’t want to disturb him. Not wanting to spoil the surprise they looked around to see where they could hide me – so they stuck me in a broom closet!

Let me paint a picture for you…the closet was small, already cluttered, very narrow and pitch black since they neglected to turn on the light for me. I barely fit with my costume and all the balloons. I figured that I could handle this for a couple of minutes, no problem. Oh yes, and I’m a little claustrophobic too.

Well, five or six minutes went by and I started to think that they forgot about me. Then I heard two people talking in the room. “Where’s the entertainer?” Second person, “In the closet.” ” You put her in the closet!” She was concerned so she cracked open the door and ask, “Are you ok in there?” I responded,”Yes.” She shut the door and they walked away!

I started thinking thoughts like; How long will I be in here? Should I just walk out? Will they give me a tip for going the extra mile? and Who does this to a person? I then heard more voices outside: “How long has she been in there?” Other person: “Over ten minutes.” The door opened slightly and the voice asked,”How are you doing in there?” and I responded, irritated, “Am I doing the singing telegram soon?” She said, “Soon.” – and they closed the door and walked away again!

I finally got to do the singing telegram after being in that closet for about 20 minutes. That was eighteen years ago and since then, when customers ask me if they can hide me I say, “Yes, in another ROOM”!!