Do Ushers on Broadway Get Tips — Page 3

"And ps, someone mentioned that courtesy should come with the ticket price. Not true."

If you were talking about my post, I said that I think "a lot of people" are probably under the impression that the ushers' courtesy should be included in the price of their tickets.

Mc1227, Roundabout ushers are volunteers, and many off-Broadway houses take volunteers, but Jujamcyn, Shubert, and Nederlander ushers are paid.

Yes, the bane of an usher's life is the latecomer, and there are plenty of them!

Technically, I believe that it states on the back of many tickets that if a patron is late, seating is at the discretion of the house. Which means-no, family of six, you will not be traipsing down the aisle to row C, center, causing about 10 people to stand, in the middle of this act. You will be seated wherever there are enough vacant seats in a section which will cause the least distraction. Nice, but it doesn't always happen. We do get lots of patrons who understand they are late, and graciously take a convenient seat.

But then we get people who are indignant that they came 20 minutes late for a show and will not be sitting in their assigned seats. They start arguing, at which point we must try to "usher" them out into the lobby because they are loud. Many times the house manager must be called, if we can't settle it alone.

Just a little anecdote for those who may not be aware of some of the things ushers deal with.

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I won't give the name of the theatre, the show or the performer. I am so happy that I can laugh about this now but remember being so embarassed at the time...

I was the chief at the time. The curtain had gone up and as per the company, we were allowed to seat patrons between the musical numbers. After the first song, some latecomers were taken in to be seated. The party was split between two different rows (the third and the fifth). Becasue they saw extra seats in the third row, the two sitting in the fifth row decided to sit with their friends in the third after the usher had gone up the aisle...which would have been okay had the next set of latecomers not come. It was a party of four. At this point, we did not know that fifth row patrons had jumped to the third. When the usher took the party down to the third row, there were only two seats instead of four and hadn't realized the other two patrons had moved.

Yes, it's all very complicated, isn't it...

Since I was the chief, the usher came up the aisle to get me to "fix it." The party of four refused to be split up, were getting loud and there were no other seats available.

I went down and was trying to get the seat jumpers attention when the performer on stage stopped and asked what was going on. He then asked for the house lights to be brought up while we had a conversation and I explained what was going on.

When all was fixed and everyone was happy, I got my own applause.....

I honestly cannot understand why people think it's okay to just sit wherever they want, completely heedless that the people whose seats they are occupying may be a few minutes late.

Shbrt, here's a good one.I tried to seat this particular middle aged couple, but after showing me their tickets, they bolted towards the seats, not even waiting for Playbills. I watched while they took whatever seats they wanted. I was free, so I went down to where they were sitting and asked them to take their own seats. "We'll be okay right here", says the man. "I'm sorry, but those seats belong to some other people", I say. "How many people are you expecting tonight?" he demanded. "We're getting a nice crowd", I say. "I DIDN'T ASK YOU THAT, I SAID HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE COMING!" He yelled at me. "We prefer if you took your own seats" I said.

Now, he stands up, turns around, and points to the nearly empty house. "Look how empty this place is", he said. "That's because the show doesn't start for another 25 minutes" I say, trying to remain patient, as I see I have other people waiting for me.

"Please take your seats, as we prefer not to have to ask you to move later on, during the show, because it is disruptive", I say.

Finally his wife grabbed him, pulled him to their "real" seats, and told him that this was enough already.

I was pleased to death when the very next patrons had the tickets to those seats the couple had taken!

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seriously.."we'll be okay right here." people can have no decency. i've worked in food service / customer service..and it got pretty bad too.

shubertalley44, that is gross. please tell me it was at least a child, and not some drunk idiot

VeryNY, no, it was a well-dressed lady who apparently didn't realize she wasn't feeling well, so she pulled a Linda Blair all over the stairs, and then remained in the corner of the stairwell to continue throwing up rather than heading for the nearby garbage can or the bathroom.

Updated On: 1/15/08 at 08:31 PM