I am SO SICK of Rude Box Office People...- Page 2

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:33pm

mightydog, you should have sold the tickets on eBay, then went to the BO one day and waved the cash you made in the manager's face. And thank her for using her discretion.

I don't get the argument of "Well, how would YOU feel if that were your job?!" I worked in a daycare. I was vomited on, drooled on, sneezed on on a daily basis. If I were rude to my "customers", I would cause them to burst into tears and have yet another mess to deal with. It IS possible to be patient and polite the entire time you're at work, no matter what you have to deal with. The majority of people in the service industry just choose not to. There's a difference. And until you find a box office worker that's been vomited on by a customer, they have no excuse for their behavior.

[Autumn2]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 7:59pm

Why don't they get rid of the horrible staff at the Belasco? I am seeing the show next week. I guess it will be an adventure!

[Testing1232]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:46am

Had a very interesting moment and The Broadway Theatre tonight--- went to see "TCP", and before the show, decided to pick up a ticket that I had previously purchased via telecharge.com for
Thurs night.

Gave woman at the box office my credit card, and she couldnt find the order--- a while later, went back again with the confirmation number. She said the confirmation number "meant nothing to her"- Finally, she locates the order, and with a nasty grin, asks me which ticketing agency I work for??? !!!

I was pretty shocked--- she told me that I had a number of orders for the show (as well as others) on that credit card (which is my debit card, btw.. the only one I use!)

I told her that was a pretty rude assumption, and I was just a fan of the show. (as I stand there with a signed "Coram Boy" hat on, and my "110" t-shirt on !!!)

Then she starts quizzing me about "TCP" !!! It was too weird !!

Eventually, she gave up !!!

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 4:12am

I've never been treated rudely at a box office. There are a few times when I've been treated nicely, but most of the time, they sound bored and indifferent.

I don't work in a box office and never have, but I worked at a concession stand at a fair once and it was hell. Some people order incredible amounts of food and when I'm really tired (who isn't when they're towards the end of their shift on a hot summer day surrounded by food they can't eat), I tend to forget parts of their orders. When I'm filling them I'd politely ask, "You also wanted ______ and ______, right?" Most people nicely repeat the parts I forgot, but some explode. It puts me in a worser mood, but I try not to release my frustration on other customers. You should always be nice to people, regardless of whether you're a worker or a customer.

[turquoisefish]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 6:09am

I have worked in customer service since I was 16 so know what customers can be like.
My box office experiences are all in England and almost all excellent. If it isn't too busy at the London theatres I will have a quick chat with the person there about the show or other shows (the same as I will chat to the bar staff if I am early)
the only negative thing I can think of is box office staff not bending the rules on student tickets when I couldn't follow the rules due to their mistake, but they were quite apologetic about it.

[misschung]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:11pm

"City Center are the same rude people I dealt with and frankly, I doubt I will ever go see anything there again."

oh great, I was just going to get tickets to one of their shows

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:38pm

Don't fret, misschung. They went out of their way to find me a nice seat at the last minute for Follies recently.

"the old women at the palace are completely rude."

"Old women"? How kind of you. With that attitude, I'd be rude, too.

I'm with dollypop and DG. I've never had a box office person be rude to me. Abrupt, perhaps, but never rude. It's all in the approach. Two days before Spamalot's first preview, I asked if they had tickets (with the caveat that I knew it was a stupid question), they laughed and laughed...but then found me a ticket, sixth row center.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:48pm

Soon after 'Spamalot' opened, I went to the box office asking when was the next date they had ONE ticket available in the first dozen rows of the orchestra. They promptly responded "Never. Is never soon enough?"

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:51pm

See, my basic rule of thumb is, if you don't like your job, get another one.

There is no reason to be rude when you are doing customer service. Yes, folks can be morons, but that is par for the course. But to yell and people and hang up on them is unacceptable. They really should find another job, maybe one where they DON'T have to deal with people.

I was in customer service for YEARS, until the day I said, 'I'm not enjoying this any more', then I stopped. Simple as that. I didn't think there was any need to subject folks to someone who didn't enjoy thier job.

*edited for typo*

Updated On: 6/3/07 at 12:51 PM

[gustof777]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:56pm

While I agree that sometimes yes it is all about how polite you are to them sometimes they can just have sticks up their asses for no apparent reason. I'll refer back to my experience at the Belasco. I went in with a couple of my friends to rush that afternoons performance of Journey's End. There was absolutley no one in the lobby the conversation went like this

Me: Hello, I was wondering if you had any rush tickets left for this afternoon's performance-?

Her: WHERE'S YOUR ID?!?!

Me: Oh I'm sorry (whip out ID)

Her: Alright fine it's twenty dollars.

Me: ok (taking literally 3 seconds to turn and ask my buddies if they have an extra twenty because I only had two fives and ten singles)

Her: HURRY UP!!!!!

Me: Sorry.

She literally shoved the ticket out so fast that it fell on the ground so I lean down to pick it up.

Her: EXCUSE ME, NEXT PERSON!!

and once my friend also asked for rush she proceeded to be a huge bitch to him too. Now I know that may not seem like much (and it's certainly not as bad as what some of you have gone through...good lord!) but I've never been barked at had my eyes rolled or had someone make it seem like they had no time at all to bother with me. The thing that didn't it for me was her really angry grunting as she processed my order and the way she just shoved the ticket at me. It was so nasty and she gave me the dirtiest look afterwards. She had the most annoyed and condescending tone and I was just so taken a back at how one could be so nasty when there wasn't anyone else buying tickets and I had not shown any sign of disrespect. Someone honestly needs to write a letter to the management. I wanted to tell the women that her and her fellow staff are KNOWN for being terrible and nasty.

[misschung]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 1:10pm

thanks, ghostlight. I was considering getting tickets to Gypsy.

Everyone is wound a little too tight once in awhile, but I agree that you really shouldn't be in the customer service profession if you have an attitude problem. I worked in that field for five years and there were days when I wanted to strangle customers, but you have to bite your tongue. You are the employee, bottom line. That's not to say if someone makes an offensive comment you dont have the right to defend yourself, but just being short tempered as a box office clerk/manager can ultimately hurt the show

[morosco]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 1:43pm

I know it's no excuse for rude behavior but I would imagine that working in a box office on Broadway might put the folks behind the window under a lot of stress. They are in a tiny space that must feel like a cell in a prison. They have a thick window of security glass that makes it hard to talk through. They probably have phones that are jangling off the hook. They might have 5 people in line and 3 calls on hold. They have the producers breathing down their necks. They have to coordinate allocations of tickets to TKTS. They have to prepare house orders. They have no margin for error. They have to prepare a statement for each performance. They have constant unflexible deadlines (two deadlines on matinee days). They sometimes have to solve the impossible. The majority of the questions they recieve from the customer are all the same "that's all you have??...don't you have anything closer??...granny is sick can I return her ticket?...can we come tomorrow instead?...is the show really good?...how much are tickets for that show across the street?...do I have to climb any stairs?...do you have anything on the center aisle?...how come she got better tickets than I did?...can I write a check?...where can I eat?...when does it end?...do you have any backstage passes?...can I use your phone?...why was my credit card declined?...did anyone turn in a pair of gloves from last night?...will I be able to see from there?...where can I park?...when do the doors open?...what should I wear?...can I bring my camera?...what time does the 8 o'clock show start?".

I guess it takes a really special person to overcome those challenges and keep everyone happy. I know I couldn't do it.

[misschung]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 2:32pm

sort of like being the president

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 2:47pm

Once again, the box offices have not changed in sizes. The folks working there KNOW how small they are. That's no excuse.

The rude ones need to find another job.

[misschung]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 6:04pm

toll booth operators

[Testing1232]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 6:21pm

In Fla, the toll booth operators are SOOOO nice !!!

(just a useless tidbit, I thought I would throw in)

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 6:33pm

Like being president? Are you serious? Their job is so much easier than sympathizers are giving them credit for. Ticketmaster has the same job. In 10 years, they'll be replaced by Fandango machines or the computers for check-in at the airport and this won't be an issue anymore. I seriously doubt the elected head of state will be replaced by a computer program until, I dunno, aliens invade and we're colonizing Mars.

[retrogirl44]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 8:21pm

Wow ! Now THAT's funny !

[misschung]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:41am

it would probably be an improvement from our current state of affairs, but I digress

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:29am

I've only had good experiences with the folks at City Center, too. From what I've seen, they're only rude when the customer is rude to them (which I know is wrong, but I understand the mentality). And I've seen some very rude customers at City Center. The woman in front of me when I went to pick up my tickets for FOLLIES literally cursed the box office attendant out because the performance was sold out.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:32am

I recently returned from a weekend trip to NYC.

The box office at Studio 54 had a lovely friendly man who was just wonderful to chat with.

However, downtown at the TKTS booth (Seaport), they were so curt, you could barely hear how much you were paying for the tickets. Granted, there was a long line that wasn't getting any shorter, but don't put "non-people persons" in a "People person" job.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:51pm

I'm another person who works in customer service, and I am nice to some really rude people on a daily basis. It is possible, and you should be doing it if your job is customer service.

Here's a thought; if you've received really s****y service and you think it's unacceptable, how about writing to the management instead of/as well as complaining on here? If the management are made aware that the attitudes of their staff is causing distress to the point of some people not wanting to see their show because they're afraid they'll get bitched at, then they can do something about it. :3

[changinandhow]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:47pm

When getting rush tickets at the Hilton awhile ago, my friend accidentally handed the woman $21.25 instead of $31.25 (she thought she gave her a twenty when it was a ten) and the woman looked at the money and gave my friend an absolutely scathing look before she told her she had the wrong amount. Honestly, just tell her she's 10 short. And it's not as if she had been dealing with stupid people all day--we were the first ones in the box office that morning. Updated On: 6/4/07 at 02:47 PM

[unckristen]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:25pm

I've certainly dealt with some box office workers having bad days but in fairness I have to say that the lady at the Walter Kerr was so nice to me when I was there a couple of weeks ago. -- Because of weather and FAA delays, I got to NY eight hours late. The cab driver was able to get me from the airport to the theater just before 8:00 and the woman at the box office was very nice getting me my ticket and calling someone to check my suitcase (it wasn't huge - but it certainly couldn't have made it into the theater) and I was in my seat with a couple of minutes to spare. I was so very appreciative after what had been a really horrible day.

[BillFinn]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:06pm

I was going through the line into "Spring Awakening" and the lady was scanning tickets. This elderly man was to the side and he was proceeding to cut me, I let him by (but he was walking slowly). The lady shouts, while looking straight ahead, "MOVE ALONG NOW." Obviously, meaning him.

So I said to her, "Um, excuse me. Customer Service?"