Yeah, It's what we call white glove mixing.
I use to do a bit of that back in my day. :-)
The thing is, I was happy and proud to set up his rig just as he had instructed me to. I was hoping to be a team player, and I wanted everything to be done "his" way. That was my goal and I was almost there.
Running the crew was awkward, as they lug the gear often... but I was the guy who had to direct the placement and patching of everything. I made every effort to not seem like the "new guy" and we were all getting along great while waiting for the owner/op to clear his schedule and get over to this gig.
What I found out is that team playing is something some people know about and other people don't.
Many years ago I was this guys mentor and he has frequently acknowledged all the help I offered him back then. Now I am happy to be his occasional helper and I happily acknowledge that live sound tech is a lot more hi-tech than back when I was in my prime. He knows that I think he's a guy that's up to speed these days... and he knows I feel a bit over my head stepping in to today's pre wired, drive racked rigs cold because I no longer do it every day.
This situation was more like a Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde episode... it wasn't like any pent up issues surfaced... it was an old and good friend turning into "that sound guy" right before my eyes.
He just showed up and decided to be uncommunicative and it was too public a venue to have a discussion about that... every time I asked him a question he was a "insert bad word here" and it was all about *control* and not about the content of the information. Bummer.
Anyways, It turns out the event was a success and that there was dancing and eating and a great time had by all. I had wanted to enjoy it so... but the mood was sort of set for me in a bad way so I think escaping with no drama was the best choice.
I'm real glad that the event was a success.
all the best,
mike