plus ça change! in my, and all my friends experience, bass players have always been a problem. Even 40 years ago it was hard to get one who was good and would turn up, especially to rehearsals. The main problem was their comparative scarcity - I mean who would rather play bass than a trumpet or saxophone or piano? In return for their sense of being taken for granted, put down rather than praised, no one really wanting to listen their solos and having to cart around a big fragile thing that doesn't fit in most cars and cab drivers hate, they get their revenge by being pretty much unavailable and almost never going out the door unless bread is involved.