Box Office Representatives

Ok, I hate to be one of those people, I don't even know how much they make, and they may be bitter about their salaries or something and I understand them if that's an issue for them or if they are having a bad day, I'm human too and I feel them. But I had a simple question and went to the theater where CATS is playing and the girl at the box office was counting some tickets and not even a "I'll be right with you", "Thanks for holding", nothing. I was first in line. People would come after me and stand in line and leave, and I ended up leaving myself eventually. Just want to say, that these workers should be a bit more attentive to customers, or even people asking questions, because there is a lot of competition. I'm sure CATS missed out on a few tickets that could have added to their ticket sales. Hopefully someone sees that and teaches them that they are the face of the show at that moment and yes, if I want to see a show, I will see it anyways, but if you're on the fence, it can really make a huge difference to get great customer service at the box office and that person that was on the fence between Groundhog Day and CATS, will see CATS for sure. Most people that work at box office are super nice, but a few could have a bit of an attitude check. That's all!

I mean, she saw me.

I don't understand why you didn't bother to say something. I worked in a box office for nearly three years, and often we would get customers who would just stand and look- perhaps they were looking at prices or ads or whatever. Sometimes I would say hello first, but box office employees often have other responsibilities so if I was working on something else (as this woman clearly was) I'd focus on that. You could have at least bothered to try to get her attention rather than walk away and assume she has an attitude problem.

I was at the box office for Hello, Dolly! this afternoon and the guy working the box office was one of the nicest most friendly people ever. It was a very pleasant experience...and I happily purchased two additional sets of tickets.

AC126748 said: "Does it matter what the OP did or said? She's a customer service representative. Even if she was in the middle of another task, a simple "I'll be right with you" or any acknowledgement of the presence of customers is called for. That is literally the job. There is no way to spin this as a failure on the part of the customer.

It's blatantly rude to be standing in front of someone whose job it is to wait on you and not even have them acknowledge your presence.

"

This is 100% correct. Muscle's posts may often drive me crazy, but he's right here. Although, if it was taking that long, and I really wanted to see the show, I would've just approached her.

Updated On: 3/20/17 at 05:51 PM

May I ask: were you AT the window? Or just in the lobby? Is it POSSSIBLE, she wasnt sure you were ready for her?

Kind of surprised people are defending the box office rep here.

Honestly, what does it take to at least acknowledge a potential customer's presence and say "Good Morning, can I help you" - or even if they're on the phone to smile and just make a hand gesture to please give them a minute and they will be right with you.

I get it, living in the NY area, people expect this type of behavior. But outside of the tri-state area its called being rude. And muscle is right - if I'm on the fence about what to see, that would be enough for me to say "not this one."

Although I generally purchase online now - I have always found box office staff to be very professional and helpful. Occasionally solving problems that I create myself with incorrect dates or other problems.

just my two cents...

I'm not defending the box office at all. Many times, regardless if you're going into a store, car repair place, etc.....many times the customer just needs to get the conversation going from the start - for whatever reason. It's really no big deal.

I had the same thing happen to me today at Macy's. I went up to the counter to pay my monthly bill, and the gal there was looking through some notebooks, saw me, and after a few moments, I said, "Hello, I'd like to pay on my account please."

Did you not even approach her? I'm really confused by this. I don't even understand the concept of not approaching a ticketing window. I will approach and initiate unless I'm explicitly told not to.

While I've dealt with ambivalent box office attendants, I've also dealt with very cordial ones, and always got the help I needed regardless. The only exception was the box office for American Psycho. That guy was a total unnecessary [expletive] to me when I came too late to pick up my lottery ticket before they changed the claim window to be twice as long (obviously I wasn't the only one with the commute issue). He decided to yell at me for being too late after refusing me the ticket already, to add insult to injury, when I asked if there were any rush tickets left. Now that guy was a jerk with no sense of empathy whatsoever. And I did not feel bad at all the show flopped.

Ok, it was a line, I was right next to the window, and she sold tickets the person before me and I just stood there, being respectful and waiting for her to say "next" or something, but she saw me and all the people waiting behind me and did nothing...she kept counting some tickets. Maybe I should have come over and said something but she was clearly REALLY busy, so I didn't want to be rude...if I had come closer and said "hello", I feel she would have said "don't you see I'm counting something"?--with that said, I wasn't really going to buy tickets and had very low interest in seeing CATS, I just had a silly question, so I left. And some people behind me also left. Only a few stayed. But I'm sure some people would have bought tix if it wasn't for her behavior.

Withouatrace, the guy at Hello Dolly is very nice and also very handsome...he's been working at that theater for awhile, I think we bought tix to Memphis from him too.

I am amused at the people asking him if he was standing in line. Yeah, obviously or this post probably wouldn't have been started.

I still don't understand what you mean when you say "her behavior." You did the right thing by waiting a few moments for her to finish what she was doing. If you felt she was taking too long to finish up, all you had to do was say, "Hi. I'll wait until your finished. I can see your busy." And, that would have solved it. But, you chose to leave. As far as the other people leaving because she didn't greet them - who knows? It's so easy to speculate what other people are thinking.

Sometimes you just have to start the conversation. It's really no big deal.

I'm sure we've all dealt with customer service reps over the years in stores that when you approach them to ask a question, they don't say hello or anything like that. I'll always start the conversation by saying, "Excuse me, I have a question." Just because they don't start the dialogue doesn't change what you need to get accomplished by speaking to them.

Updated On: 3/21/17 at 10:50 AM