The Personal is...

...the professional.

At least it is in the music world. You give gigs to your friends as much as you can, and they reciprocate. Often, it can be more about who you know than how you blow.

Or how you bow, in the case of my dilemma du jour.

I know a string player who is working on getting her performing career back on track after an injury derailed it. She's starting to put herself out there for chamber and orchestral work, and I want to help her out by giving her name to all of the contractors I work with.

But I hesitate to do so, because, on a personal level, she can be an incredible flake. Little things like giving me the wrong street address for a party she's invited me to, or calling to cancel a get-together at the exact time she was supposed to be dropping by--and apologetically admitting that she should have called a couple days earlier, as soon as she realized that her schedule had changed.

Now, I realize that none of that is a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I'm a pretty laid back person in general, and I don't tend to sweat the small stuff. On a personal level, I can--and do--deal with a little flakiness from friends. It's just not a big deal to me.

But what if her off-duty flakiness also shows up in the workplace?

What if I give this musician's name to a contractor, she gets hired for a gig, and she gets the address wrong? Or gets the day and time mixed up? Or double-books herself?

What if she doesn't show up?

Then it's a very big deal to me, because I'll be in a world of shit.

What to do, what to do...