Sound technician’s dream summer music festival gig goes off‑key when supervisor, Anna, waves hot tea over the mixer to boss him around: ‘Now our boss says we're "acting like children"’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 22, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

A European music festival summer audio engineering gig hits feedback the moment a supervisor treats a student tech like a human aux cord and waves a hot drink over the mixer like a thermal compressor. 

The setup reads simple on paper, yet the side tasks keep piling up until the job starts clipping. One smug line about quitting plays on loop like a bad sample, then the tea hovers over the faders and the threat spikes into the red. Management strolls in with both of you acting like children, the kind of flat response that lands with zero gain and all hiss. From the lawn the festival sounds clean. Backstage the mix is mud, the lanyard runs hot, and the youngest person in the chain becomes the default patch bay for everyone else's chaos.

This is how small power EQs the room. Turn up control, turn down boundaries, and drown the signal in requests until silence feels like insubordination. Tasks drift off the rider, roles detune, and attention gets sampled for parts. The crowd hears vibes. The crew hears phase issues. Threats become the compressor that slams everything into obedience with no regard for tone. Call it workflow and it passes as music. Call it what it is and someone accuses you of making noise.

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  • My supervisor threatened to pour hot tea on my soundboard to force me to do her work. Now our boss says we're "acting like children" and need to resolve it. What do I do?

    A sound technician shown from the back adjusting faders, Infront of him is a crows watching a daytime music show. Looks like a festival. next to him is a quote: "Anna walked up with a smile, holding a full cup of hot tea right over my sound mixer"
    via monkeybusinessimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The show keeps rolling on a prayer and gaffer tape. The gear stays dry, the patience gets scratchy, and the lesson burns in like a watermark. Protect the signal. Cut the noise. Treat every petty power move like RF interference and keep the antenna pointed at the work. When the season ends, fade them out, cash the check, and leave their drama in the monitor mix where it belongs.

  • I (18M) am working what I thought would be a cool summer job as a sound tech for a massive, city-wide summer festival in a huge park.
    via PetrNebukin
  • The park is the longest in Europe. A friend of mine who graduated a couple of years before me (let's call her Anna, 20F) got me the gig.
    via PetrNebukin
  • She's the site administrator, basically my direct supervisor. The pay was great for a student, and the job seemed simple: set up a basic mixer and two speakers, play background music, and just be there for small performances.
    via PetrNebukin
  • A sound technician shown from the back adjusting faders, Infront of him is a crows watching a daytime music show. Looks like a festival.
    via monkeybusinessimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The first sign of trouble was when Anna, in a really demeaning way, pulled me from my sound duties (I helped the senior sound engineer) during a larger concert and forced me to hand out free merch to a crowd of about 200 people.
    via PetrNebukin
  • Many of them were r de and angry that they couldn't hear the artists well. It wasn't my job, and I was really uncomfortable being forced to smile at everyone.
    via PetrNebukin
  • Afterward, I confronted her. Me: "Hey, why the h I did I have to hand out merch? That's not my job." Anna: "Got a problem with it?" Me: "Yeah, I do.
    via PetrNebukin
  • I was hired as a sound tech, not an errand boy." Anna: "Then quit." She said it with this sarcastic smirk. It was unsettling
    via PetrNebukin
  • A sound technician shown from the back adjusting faders
    via Amistad Cristiana

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • She's repeated that "then quit" line several times since then. But things escalated massively a few days ago. I was on stage, setting up the equipment for the next act.
    via PetrNebukin
  • Anna walked up with a smile, holding a full cup of hot tea right over my sound mixer. Then she said it: "If you don't go to the storage room right now and get the merch for the presenters, I will pour this tea all over the equipment."
    via PetrNebukin
  • I was absolutely floored. I know people can have bad days, but this was company equipment, and she was my supervisor.
    via PetrNebukin
  • I get very protective of gear, even if it's not mine, so I reacted pretty sharply. Me: "Anna, are you kidding me? Do you hear what you're saying? I'm busy." Her: "Just do it."
    via PetrNebukin
  • Me: "Need I remind you who the site administrator is and whose job that actually is?" Her: "Oh, so that's my job? Fine. From now on, I'll only do my senior administrator duties."
    via PetrNebukin
  • She then got the merch herself and gave me the silent treatment. It's been four days. Today, our main boss called me.
    via PetrNebukin
  • He said that he heard Anna and I are "acting like children" and that we need to "resolve our personal issues immediately" so it doesn't affect the work.
    via PetrNebukin
  • I feel like I'm going crazy. She threatened to destroy property, and I'm being told I'm part of the problem. I only have a few weeks left on this contract.
    via PetrNebukin
  • So, was I in the wrong here? Should I apologize to Anna just to keep the peace and get through the rest of the summer?
    via PetrNebukin
  • I'm sorry if I made mistakes in the text, my English is not ideal. TL;DR: My supervisor threatened to pour hot tea on my sound equipment unless I did her job for her.
    via PetrNebukin
  • I refused and called her out. Now our boss says we're both "acting like kids" and I need to help resolve the situation. Should I apologize?
    via PetrNebukin

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management boss workplace-stories hr manager summer bosses work gig music festival PTO sound engineer sound managers audio supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
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