The Bitch of Ushering

Who here has stories of ushering experiences ranging from freaky to god-awful to "God, I wanna kill that bitch"?

So, I'm ushering at The Company Theatre and this woman who I really don't think was right in the head shows us her ticket and says, "We're sitting together!" That's all she says. See, the seating system of the Company Theatre goes as follows. On one side, you have the even numbers. On the other, you have the odd numbers. Center is everything in between. If your ticket has an odd number, you're sitting on the side with the odd numbers. The only way those two wouldn't be sitting together is if the tickets said they were sitting on opposite sides, which they weren't. And this woman just practically thrust her ticket in my face.

Another time, at the same theatre, after a performance of Ain't Misbehavin', some woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me, I lost a glove." She was one of those middle aged pompous, rich bitches. So I go off to get a flashlight. I come back, open the door, and there's Veronica and Charlie...sorry, wrong story. I come back with a flashlight and she's found another usher. She's even describing the type of glove it is. She says the color, she says the designer. I'm thinking, "Lady, a glove is a glove is a glove is a glove is a glove."

Anyone else have stories like this.

And how about those windbags who don't say thank you when you give them back their ticket stub.

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Updated On: 11/25/06 at 08:41 AM

Kind of "annoying" story about an usher yesterday (though it was the usher being rude to the people, not the people being rude to him). At High Fidelity in the mezzanine, the guy was seating the people and he obviously didn't realize there was a rear mezz & front mezz until he directed 10 people wrong. There was a guy sitting something like A5 and another person came and had a ticket for A5 & they were saying "you're in my seat, blah". Then the usher said "Let me see the tickets" so he examined them & he's like "You guys have the same seats. I'm not getting involved, go downstairs and see the manager, his name is Joe" And the people looked at each other like "um..." then they realized one had rear mezz & one had front. The usher then directed 3 other people to the wrong mezzanine section.

Well mattbrain, if I lost I designer glove I would want to get it back too.

If you don't like your job, then get a new one.

You sound as if you just don't like working with people.

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Anyone else have any good ushering stories?

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Believe me, I've had many good ushering experiences at the Company Theatre. It's just the bad ones that stand out to me. And you should talk. You're bashing me.

I'll have you know, that woman with the ticket did not seem like a nice woman.

Here's another one:

I'm ushering at Aida. It was during intermission. I was with two of my friends, one of whom was Louisa in that production of The Sound of Music. I'll admit I was definitely talking way too loud. So this woman comes by and shushes me. At first I didn't know what she was shushing me about. But then she comes back, puts her hand on my shoulder, and says to me, "It would be funnier if you weren't so loud. You've got a lot of talent but you're just a bit too loud, sweetie." She's right to quiet me down but where does she get off touching my shoulder and calling me sweetie. I've never even met her.

And you guys need to chill too.

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Updated On: 11/25/06 at 12:07 PM

When I was at New World the past couple of times I've always had the same bitch usher. She's rude and obnoxious all the time and always yells at me, even if I'm doing nothing wrong. (I think she's a racist.) She's on this message board too...

Is this thread title a spoof on the song from Spring Awakening?

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Actually, it is a spoof of the song from Spring Awakening. I was gonna write a song parody. Sorry, Lizzie.

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Bump!

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I just *love* making threads on this board.

Sheesh.

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Most of the time, ushers are rude. I'm always polite, always smile and say "hi" when I hand them my ticket, and always say thank you, but I still get treated like a sheep they're herding.

Mattbrain, Your stories don't seem at all outrageous to me. They sound like typical customer service issues that come up every day. You're either in the wrong job, or need to tone down your expectations in order to work successfully as an usher. You're going to meet all types of people from all walks of life, and it's just as rude for you to pass judgment on them as it is for them to not say "thank you" to you. Speaking of which, people coming into a theatre are excited and hurried and sometimes their social skills go out the window temporarily in that situation, so just try and understand that.