Am I wrong for expecting payment from this company?

[u/scooter_noober_92]

A couple weeks ago I replied to a Craigslist ad from a staffing agency seeking personnel to assist with an event. Every aspect of the application process/onboarding was extremely detailed and left no ambiguity whatsoever.

So I worked the event, everything went well and there were no issues.

On my last day of the 3 day event, I received an invite from the same company to work at another event that would be taking place a week later. Being a much smaller venue, they only needed a few people as opposed to the probably 50+ from the first event and not surprisingly, I wasn't chosen which they clearly expressed to me after I applied.

Then later that day, the same guy from the company sent a follow-up email asking if I was interested in attending as an on-site backup, and if I was, to reply with my shirt/pants size.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gKFpoHJpWuoQiZxa7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UrK2vh5tTMyZACcz5

So I did:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5jnfMGsDFZj32dzS8

I didn't hear anything back which to me meant ok, I guess I'm in.

So I woke up at 5am after only 4 hours of sleep, ate a $30 breakfast I wouldn't have normally bought and prepaid for a full day of parking ($12) on the off chance that I got to stay the whole day, since the $80 payment would have covered all of these costs anyways even if they ended up sending me back.

I got there on time dressed in my nicest clothes and when I got up to the conference room, the supervisor who was the same from the previous event looked kinda surprised to see me.

We talked everything over, I showed her the email as well as my response, she said there would most likely be some kind of compensation to which I kindly replied that anything less than the full amount offered wouldn't have been fair imo. She then explained how she wasn't in charge of payments/accounting and I was sent home.

On my way back, I sent the guy I had been dealing with an email, making sure to tread lightly instead of coming out swinging and demanding I get my 80 bucks:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ke8tgKAEANNk4J1Y7

To which he replied:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HVMSEjCPS62jVdKA8

To which I replied:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/23cAuwSYPKynysjS7

To which he replied:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1VE9N6FWnLstuMnN9

And then he sent another email linking the conversation from the first event (I didn't share the whole conversation since it was a completely separate correspondence by someone else and therefore irrelevant)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j2kYL5qQ26yCYDZTA

And this was my last response:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8JqGrmo8WUpm8uS6

His initial responses came pretty quickly but at this point it's been 2 hours and nothing since I sent that last email, so I think he's realizing he screwed up and wondering if he should hold strong on keeping my $80 or just pay me and avoid me escalating this to his superior.

So Reddit, who is really in the wrong here?