Hierarchy over practicality, why?

Last weekend (September 30th to be exact) I disc jockeyed the wedding reception forthe couple. Absolute cuties, by the way. They had a schedule all printed out and had hired Fig for video, still photography and DJ. So, James and Michele Gustin, Lauren Pollack and I met them for our final meeting at a coffee shop and we all went over the details. Later that week I went down to the Ritz-Carlton for my site visit and met Marc Kaufman, the Director of Catering. He was very quick and to the point, showed me all the way from the room to the loading dock and went over the schedule with me. A man who obviously knows how to get the job done. There was one small hiccup in his itinerary that, although had nothing to do with the clients themselves directly, affected all vendors instead (which does in turn affect the work they do for the clients). He had us scheduled to be served after all the guests were served. This is standard for 80% of all caterers and hotels when providing for outside vendors and personally, I think it's crazy. I understand the status thing and that I am not there to be a guest but I am there to work, I get that. The problem, however, is that after all the guests have been served THAT is the time when all the vendors have to work because the first thing the clients will have on the schedule is an organized dance. In this particular situation we were running behind schedule (due to some party members wondering off) and the way Marc had it worked out we probably would have had time to sit and actually taste the incredible meals we were served. Unfortunately, the night didn't work out that way and the banquet captain came up to me saying all the guests had been served and that I had five minutes to eat before the cake cutting.

Here's my issue with this situation (and I'm not talking about these particular circumstances but more about this method of scheduling that a majority of caterers and hotels insist upon)- I am a DJ and I address my work as a performance artist. Disc jockeying can be a service but it is still a creative one and creativity is affected by human emotion. If a painter is depressed, the painting will reflect that. If a DJ is in a bad mood, it's reflected on the dancefloor. The whole point of the meal is sustenance. It raises the blood sugar and gives a break to the worker while on a six to eight hour gig. I'm not saying it's the caterers job to keep the vendors happy, that's the vendors own responsibility, but we do all have to work together to make the event the best we can. Now, if it's the caterers job to feed everyone, then shouldn't scheduling the workers meals be a factor so that the work they do is at its best? I'm not talking about feeding them the same thing the guests are eating here, what I'm talking about is feeding them at the same time as the guests during which no activity of photographic or musical importance is occurring (i.e. toasts, cake cutting, special dances). My question here is: In what way does maintaining this method make for a better event?

And please, don't get me wrong, I am so thankful to get a free meal on gigs. Even if it's a simple sandwich, I'm a happy camper, 'cause I truly love me some sammiches!

-Lucy Wieczorek, aka DJ Wak