ushers gone bad: les miz 3/28 broadhurst theatre- Page 4

[JPNP132]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:10am

Most of the ushers at Hairspray are A**holes. You have to be an angel not to be yelled at by them

[karenL2]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:13pm

I went to see Journey's End last week and while I was waiting to be seated, there was one person waiting in front of me, I noticed a pack of cigaretted and a lighter just sitting on the ground by the last row of seats. They were the ushers. When you pay around $100.00 a ticekt you wouldn't expect to see something like that on the floor? The two ushers were down front gawkinga at celebrity, the person in front of me sat herself, then we went to grab plabeills and seat out selves, when thid "big blond" rips them out of my hand. She actually scratched me! Unbelievable!!!!

[littlelotte64]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 3:09pm

I was at Jersey Boys for the Wednesday night performance this week, and the ushers were rude and cranky. My mother and I were the first patrons seated and I was nastily yelled at three times, and given a dirty look twice. First I got an attitude from the usher who was showing us where to go because I showed her my ticket upside down, then I got yelled at for taking the pillow boosters the wrong way, and then was yelled at while being seated for not sitting quick enough. I was the first person in, what kind of rush do I need to be in. And then while sitting in my seat I took my cellphone out to shut it off and the usher gave me a dirty look like I was doing something wrong meanwhile at least 7 other people around me had cellphones out. Sometimes I feel that because I look much younger than I am, that people think they can be beyond rude to me.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 03:09 PM

[Jennifer5]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 4:23pm

A friend of mine gave me some email address of people to complain to about RUDE Ushers in the Shubert Houses

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

These email addresses will get the complaint to the right department.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 5:06pm

They do have some odd ushers at Les Mis. I was in standing room and one woman kept pacing back and forth behind me doing aerobics- complete with rhythmic breathing.

Then during intermission, the girl next to me was screamed at for "sitting" (she was squatting to get something out of her bag)...by the same usher that spent the first act sitting on top of the trashcan by the bar. Yes, because that's so much more appropriate.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 05:06 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 5:44pm

Maybe they all just need to get a lay.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:38pm

What you all should remember (if you weren't aware) that many of the older ushers were/are wives and daughters of the now-defunct Westies. Consider youself lucky that they didn't shoot you.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:52pm

Experienced a mixed bag at Tarzan last night. (I was curious...and other than a gorilla crashing through the "fourth wall" (I know. it doesn't exist) and getting two inches from my face, I enjoyed it.) The lady who seated me was wonderful. But at intermission, the guy came down and told everyone on the aisle to get everything (um...nothing was there) out of the aisle and keep it out because actors would be using the aisle. Fair enough...if they had stuff out there, which none of them did.

The lady who seated me today at Spring Awakening was very friendly (long, red hair...bangs). Sadly that chatting while seating was the best part of my afternoon.

The guy Friday night at 110 was nice...he just sent me to the wrong place at first. But the usher where he sent me gently guided me to the correct seat.

[Blue J]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:03pm

A few summers ago, I took my little cousin to see Hairspray. About 10 minutes after we were seated, my cousin's seat broke. The seat part of the chair literally just collapsed onto the ground. I informed an usher, who blamed it on my cousin being too big for the chair. Too bad she was 7 at the time and about 40 pounds.

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:07pm

Bandit, first of all I love your avatar.

I have been pretty lucky with ushers so far. It doesnt suprise me that they go crazy if they see cameras, though. But then again, don't make such a fuss that it disrupts the show for everyone else! Thats just as bad!

[Shakespearean]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:30pm

In defense of the Tarzan ushers, I've seen them make the announcement and the, as the house lights come down, put water bottles, etc down on the floor next to their seats in the aisles. I know this because have had the front row aisle seat three times and once the ape parade was preceded by a water bottle flying up against the pit wall, kicked by one of them. The Rogers house staff has always been very friendly but I guess bad experiences can happen.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:40pm

^Yeah...good point. I hadn't thought of that. The people on the front row aisle were all repeat audience members, so they knew already. (I was on the outside aisle ~ CC6. So there was no room for anything to come by me. Didn't mean they didn't come off thr stage though. LOL.)

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 10:40 PM

[dreamz]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:56pm

As an usherette at "Curtains" I just want to clear up why ushers get mad when you take your own playbills. You grab them and if there are inserts they fall out of the playbills there all over the floor then people come and complain my playbill doesn't have any inserts. That can cause problems if someone from the cast was to grab a playbill and the inserts are not in there. I am glad to read there really hasn't been any problems in my theater besides the one mentioned. Unless people just are not speaking up. But you have to realize it is not easy putting up with some of the patrons. They are rude, they always seem to think they know where there seat is, or they seat themselves and then tell you, you didn't give me a playbill, they buy rear mezz. seats and can barely walk then have an attitude when we say there is no elevator. If you can't walk upstairs why the hell are you buying rear mezz seats? I can go on and on with this but I won't.

[ExpressThis]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 7:41am

ushers just drive me nuts in general...there are too many, and i'm pretty good with direction so i usually don't NEED one and they just bother me...idk Updated On: 5/7/07 at 07:41 AM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 5:02pm

When I saw Wicked, one of the usherettes struck me as a bitch.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 5:17pm

This wasn't an usher, but when I went to try standing room for Beauty and the Beast, the woman at the box office was just horrible! I just said, "Hello! I was just wondering if there was any standing-" and she cut me off to scream "NO!" Then I opened my mouth again and she said, "Only when we sell out." I asked if she thought they would sell out or if she could tell me how many more seats were left to sell (as a man at the same box office let me know that 63 seats were left last weekend). She just said, "Don't try to come back!" Don't yout know that the show sold out 45 minutes later. I just don'e understand why people would take a job where you only have to interact with people all day if you're going to act like that.

Updated On: 5/7/07 at 05:17 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 6:40pm

^I had a semi-similar experience. We were at that tkts booth by the docks and I wanted to get half-price tickets for Sly Fox. They didn't have tickets for Sly Fox. So I was torn between Little Shop and Caroline or Change. I was having trouble deciding (I can't imagine why) and this asshole at the box office starts banging on the window telling me to hurry up. I picked Caroline or Change in the end but I did not like being rushed like that. Sheesh.

[JasonGreen]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 4:05am

ushers just drive me nuts in general...there are too many, and i'm pretty good with direction so i usually don't NEED one and they just bother me...idk

Good for you!!! As someone in another thread said to a similar comment: what do you want, a cookie? I'm guessing you're one of those spoiled kids who think they can do whatever they please. I bet you get annoyed when you're told to not take pictures in the theatre, too! And I bet you come in and give ushers attitude before they even speak to you.
Oh, and HEAVEN FORBID you see more than one usher working! Oh my god, the horror. I can't wait to hear how you deal with college, when you have, like, OMG SO MANY TEACHERS AND ADVISERS. Because clearly you already know it all, so like OMG why do you need so many of them?
The hard fact is that about 90% of audiences have no sense of direction but sure love to tell ushers that they do. Quite often you'll overhear, "I'm sitting in J101-102" when a quick check of the tickets shows they really have R107-108. Yes, I've watched it happen. Some of this can be attributed to excitement, bad eyesight, sneakiness or just plain ignorance, but either way, that's what the ushers are THERE FOR. They are there to read tickets and assure all audience members that they are in the proper seat for their ticket (which is also a license agreement - ever read the back of yours?). Don't like that? BFD. Sometimes in life you have to do things you don't like.
I don't at all think ushers should automatically be mean to people, but I also think they put up with a ton of rudeness and attitudes such as yours: self-righteous know-it-alls with a sense of entitlement and no respect for workers. Whether it's an appropriate response or not, people like you are the ones who make some ushers snap and become mean. Not all of them automatically hate people, but sadly most I've talked to (who are genuinely decent people) have wound up feeling that way after years of dealing with attitudes like yours.

[WickedRentHead]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 8:28am

Speaking about snapping.

Im just saying...

[JasonGreen]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:52am

If you want to look at it that way, so be it. But the problem is that you kids just have no idea how to take some discipline these days. It's called having respect, and I'm tired of seeing bratty kids think they can have run of places when they're in public just because they're raised with their I'm-so-perfect attitudes and senses of entitlement. The post I replied to above was a perfect example of a self-entitled brat who thinks they know better and therefore have no use for anything that they don't see as directly benefitting them.
There's another thread about latecomers at LoveMusik, and an actual front-of-house member has a very good response on latecomers and patrons in general.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 2:38pm

"But at intermission, the guy came down and told everyone on the aisle to get everything (um...nothing was there) out of the aisle and keep it out because actors would be using the aisle. Fair enough...if they had stuff out there, which none of them did." As Shakespearean said, they didn't at the moment, but people do funny things once the houselights go down, jordangirl. He was probably just being sure that the audience was aware that the aisle is used by the actors during the show. Better safe than sorry.

And JasonGreen? I could not possibly agree with you more.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 2:47pm

When do actors use the aisles in Tarzan? I've seen it twice from the orchestra and don't ever recall that.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 3:46pm

The gorillas come down the aisle between center and the even numbered seats during "Trashing the Camp".

[bandit964]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:10pm

jasongreen, thank you for that, this thread was never meant as an usher bash party. most ushers are great, and im sure they deal with a lot of dumb@ss people. as long as you respect them there should be no problem. only when you are mis-treated does there become a problem. some people are ignorant and think they know it all and that is when ushers have the right to crack down, but not on people who are just innocent by-standers. i honestly would hate to be an usher, and they deserve a lot of respect. (most of them)

[kooky]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 9:45am

Wouldn't this be better on off-topic? Then everyone can really vent about
the ushers.