the importance of proper business ethics

I'm seeing red right now. The company that I had allowed to do the majority of my bookings for about 7 years (& I severed ties with a year ago) has been lying to clients. I've known about it. I had hoped that they would stop when I called them on it last year. They have been telling clients for at least a year and a half that I got out of the business; that I'm "not really doing that anymore". For gosh sakes, I'm a children's entertainer not a stripper!

Today I got an email from a client asking if I am still working as a clown. She had called their office and got their run-around and wanted to know if it was true. I assured her it was not true.

Don't they realize how bad it looks when they are caught in these kind of lies? Don't they realize it hurts their reputation? Ok, yes they are the Big Kahuna and I'm the little guy. There is no way I could squash them (and I have no desire to do so). They on the other hand can hurt me to some degree with this kind of nonsense. Realistically they only made a few thousand dollars a year off of me when they were booking me. They are probably grossing at least a million a year at this point. The commissions they made booking me an entire year are not even enough to pay their rent for one month.

I have plenty of clients who would love a referral for a bounce house company. If they were ethical, even though I would never let them book me anymore, I could give them quite a few referrals. (Although, therein lies the problem; they are no longer ethical. That's why I broke ties with them in the first place.) I know for a fact they have lost some very lucrative accounts because they lied to clients about me. Why would a client want to book a bounce house or rides from a company they know is not honest?

Every single time a client relays one of these weird stories to me I end up in the awkward position of wondering what on earth I should say? Even if I'm not on good terms with a company I don't want to bad-mouth them. On the other hand I don't want to look like the bad guy or, for that matter, like a fool either. In the end I told this most recent client that I decided to part ways with the Big Kahuna because their company was going in a different direction than I was.

Dumbass schmucks! At least I can sleep at night knowing I am honest.