A lot of this blog is about how to best represent yourself. One part of that is remembering that you never know who might have influence on your casting. Because of that, you want to be polite to everyone you meet, not just the people behind the table.
Here's an example of what I mean...
Several years ago, I was teaching the dance audition for a theme park show. Everyone who did well was asked to stay for a singing callback in the afternoon. Due to the way the day was scheduled, I took my lunch break at a different time than the rest of the production and casting team. While I was eating my lunch, one of the auditioning performers came over and started talking to me. In an annoyed tone, he complained about the day's schedule and told me that the singing auditions should have been done before dance, because that's the way all of his other auditions have been. I let him know that we preferred dance first for this show, and I went back to eating my pizza.
At the end of the day, the Complainer had made it through the singing callback. I sat down with the production team to help with the actual casting. When asked what I thought of the Complainer, I said he could definitely dance the part but I also mentioned his complaints. The producer moved the resume to the bottom of the pile. The Complainer was not hired.
Perhaps this performer didn't realize I was part of the production team, and so thought that his comments wouldn't matter. Part of this issue is that he was complaining about something that wasn't a big deal. But the bigger issue is that he had a complete lack of judgment. He was so oblivious to professional etiquette that he complained to one of the people auditioning him.
Don't let the same thing happen to you. Be nice to the receptionist, be polite to the others auditioning and just be all-around professional the entire time you are at the audition.
