Bad usher/ theatre employee stories?- Page 3

[smidge]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 2:53pm

I think someone is doing a site search for usher topics!!!

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 3:01pm

romanov said: "Years ago in the middle of the first act of Bent I became suddenly ill; and people, I mean ILL. As I was trying to leave as quietly and unobstrusively as possible, I got to the lobby door and a theatre employee literally lunged forward and tried to physically stop me from leaving. I shook him off and promptly threw up in Shubert Alley."

 

When was there a production of  BENT off of Shubert Alley? I saw it with Richard Gere over on 41st or 42nd. Looked it up and it says it played the new Apollo Theater on 42nd but all these years i thought I thought iI saw it at The Nederlander.

So if there was not a production over on the alley then wow, you were really sick! 

In all seriousness, hope it wasn't anything bad.

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 4:11pm

Was cell phone use in the theater really illegal in 2005?

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 5:38pm

It's been illegal since 2003.

http://www.playbill.com/article/cell-phones-banned-in-new-york-city-theatres-com-111547

Updated On: 7/20/18 at 05:38 PM

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 5:47pm

I just don't understand why anyone would take their cell phone to the theatre.  Sure you turn it off before the show, but that need to check email and scroll before, during intermission, and after is an addiction!  Too many people don't want to be in the moment - of just being......they want a distraction.  

I am very proud to say that I don't own a cell phone, and have absolutely no desire to ever get one.  :)

Updated On: 7/20/18 at 05:47 PM

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 5:54pm

That's awesome.  I agree, the addiction is real and it's very disturbing. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 5:58pm

I'm not sure that's anything to be proud of, but whatever.

I don't think that it's people officially taking their phone to the theater, it's just that you take it with you.   While I'm fine if I happen to leave my phone at the office or at home for the day, it is with me all the time.  Not an addiction, a habit.  And very often a useful one.   

[leftyloveshuskies]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 6:17pm

At the Kennedy Center I happened to see an usher take a bribe so a women could sit in the empty premium seat next to me.   I saw at least two $20 bills, and there were more bills, that changed hands.  So is this bad behavior or normal?

[VotePeron]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 6:51pm

For most theaters, at least in NYC, empty seats are not a big deal in the scheme of everything else going on. Especially after intermission, if a seat is empty, it’s fair game. That’s the blunt way of saying it, and I know most members on here HATE this discussion. But empty seats are not the huge deal to ushers that people think they are. I’ve never been denied a seat when asked to move at intermission. That usher was probably thrilled they made some money off of it when if the patron had asked, they may have been moved for free.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 7:48pm

EllieRose2 said: "It's been illegal since 2003."

Pretty weird law. But hey, New York also outlaws wearing slippers in public after 10 pm. Doesn't mean anyone's actually enforcing it. 

nealb1 said: "I just don't understand why anyone would take their cell phone to the theatre.  Sure you turn it off before the show, but that need to check email and scroll before, during intermission, and after is an addiction!  Too many people don't want to be in the moment - of just being......they want a distraction."

What can I say, I guess I'd rather spend that time on my Google Docs app writing in my journal or working on my story than sitting and waiting. Is it a distraction? Who knows; call it what you want. To each their own. 
 

Updated On: 7/20/18 at 07:48 PM

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 8:09pm

What?  Everyone working at the theater working as an usher enforces it by literally saying "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES".  There is also an announcement made.  Also people get yelled at for it by ushers and patrons.  Yeah, people enforce it.  

Work on your story, no one cares, just as long as it's put away before and during the show.  

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 8:22pm

nealb1 said: "I just don't understand why anyone would take their cell phone to the theatre. Sure you turn it off before the show, but that need to check email and scroll before, during intermission, and after is an addiction! Too many people don't want to be in the moment - of just being......they want a distraction.

I am very proud to saythat I don't own a cell phone, and have absolutely no desire to ever get one. :)"

Like it or not, it's the way business is done in 2018. I've had a smart phone for years but I don't text and I often feel like a dinosaur. It's a tool like anything else. When it's used well, it's invaluable. When it's overused or used improperly, it's bad. Though I do miss wasting a whole day sitting at home waiting for an important call or printing out 80 pages of information, maps etc. before going on a long trip.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 8:48pm

EllieRose2 said: "What? Everyone working at the theater working as an usher enforces it by literally saying "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES". There is also an announcement made. Also people get yelled at for it by ushers and patrons. Yeah, people enforce it.


Read the article that you linked to in an earlier post. The law bans all cell phone use in New York City "theatres, movie houses, concerts, museums, libraries, and galleries." Note, it said theatres, not plays and musicals. When productions and ushers say "turn off your cell phones," they are enforcing their policies that shows have had since way before 2003. They are not necessarily taking legal action. Considering the fact that: (a) the vast majority of ushers don't do a damn thing when someone is on their phone before a show or during intermission, and many shows--though not all--are okay with videos and pictures of the show curtain and the curtain call, (b) they don't call the police on people who do use their phones so as to properly charge them, (c) productions sometimes retweet pictures taken by audience members in their theatre, and (d) NYC museums and such explicitly allow non-flash cell phone photography in several of their exhibits, I'd say the law ISN'T being enforced.


Work on your story, no one cares, just as long as it's put away before and during the show."

Take a moment to read my post again, dear. I was quoting someone who said people shouldn't bring their phone to the theatre AT ALL. Your flippant comment that "no one cares" is therefore incorrect, obviously some people DO care whether people use their phones before a show or during intermission. 

Geez, kids these days. 

Updated On: 7/20/18 at 08:48 PM

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 7/20/18 at 11:20pm

leftyloveshuskies said: "At the Kennedy Center I happened to see an usher take a bribe so a women could sit in the empty premium seat next to me. I saw at least two $20 bills, and there were more bills, that changed hands. So is thisbad behavior or normal?"

On 4 flights, admittedly on discount airlines, for $100.[after take-off] I have been moved from economy to business. Doesn't work all the time but always travel prepared and well dressed.

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 12:33am

With all due respect Mr PThespian, from my visits to America, observations through movies and the TV, money in your country flies around like confetti.

It seems that $ bills are the only thing that will get a response to a question or something done, bought about by a sub standard minimal wage and a ridiculous tipping system.

I don't see it as insulting you to offer you dollars as I am sure that 99.9% of an audience would have no clue as to the reasonable response you gave here for empty seats. You know the reason, they don't--at least they asked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[astromiami]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 8:19am

JSousa said: "Why is that in Broadway theaters, even at intermision, your not aloud to use your cell phone? Not even in the lobby. I was politly asked to step outside the theater becouse I was in the lobby calling my mom to tell her how awsome act one was. lol. And they only told me that cellphone use is prohibited in all areas of the thearer."

Lobbies are crowded and it is rude to make other people listen to your phone conversation. It is weird to force people to be considerate, but if I was in the lobby, I would have been glad that you were asked to go outside. But it still is weird.

 

[atuomala]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 3:54pm

When I went to a performance of Hedwig, the usher kept emphasizing to me that no photography or video recording is allowed and to turn off my phone (I didn’t even have my phone out in any capacity). She repeated the policy to me several times, and even returned directly to me to remind me again just before the show started (again, I didn’t have my phone out at all). At first, I thought she was just being thorough, until I noticed that she didn’t badger anyone else except me (she said nothing to any of the ‘older’ patrons about cell phone use even though, in my experience, the ‘older’ patrons are the biggest offenders when it comes to cell phones going off in theaters). I can’t help but to wonder if she prejudged my theater etiquette based solely on my age, which made me uncomfortable.