I'm a big enough man to admit that I would go to a basketball game an hour early, stand in line with a bunch of kids, just to get my doll. I got there early because they were only giving them to the first 2000 fans. Why I thought that there would be more than 2000 fans at the game, when there hasn't been that many fans at any of the games this year, I have no idea. Just didn't want to show up at home doll-less and cry myself to sleep. (see cabbage patch kid craze of the 80's) (Not me, but almost every kid at that time that didn't get one) Anyway, I get my doll and head for the seats. I've been to a lot of Energy games. I've been a season ticket holder for the 2 years they have been in existence and I'm planning on signing up for next year. One of the good things about the games not being crowded is, you can buy the cheapest tickets they have, but still sit at center court. In fact, you can sit anywhere you want, except for on the floor. My brother Brian and I rarely sit in our purchased seats. We've been told by ushers that we can move. I'm just laying the ground work here, so bare with my short sentences. Brian and his clan and I move over to the area that we normally sit in, which is wide open. You should also know, the seating area for an Energy game is set up so you can probably fit, lets say 9,000 people in the bottom bowl. That could be off a bit, either higher or lower, because I'm not sure of the exact number. I know that the arena has a possible seating area of over 16,000 people, but the 2 upper bowls of the arena aren't open, so lets go with the 9,000 number. Of those 9,000 seats, there were probably 500 people at the game last night. That might be low, but I'll tell you there was not 1,000, this was the smallest crowd of the year, excluding the -29 degree game I attended in Jan. After we had settled into our seats, someone at the end of our row from our group, decided that we needed to move lower. We moved down to the row just above the floor, so just before an usher. They have long given up on having ushers in the stands, they only have them on the floor to keep people like me back in the cheap seats. The usher that was guarding the floor comes up to me and says, "You can't sit there, those aren't your seats." We'll I know that, I'm not completely positive where my seats are. Now he appeared to get angry, but I'm not sure why. Before I could say anything, he said, a bit louder and a bit angry, "You can't sit there, let me see your ticket!" At this point, I'm starting to get pissed, so I said, "calm down, we'll move!" At this point, he made a face at me, got madder and demanded to see my ticket again. Did I mention that this is an arena with 9,000 seats, where maybe 500 are full and he wants me in my exact seat? Did I also mention that at no time did I attempt to argue or disagree with him? At this point, I'm laughing because I don't think I've ever seen anyone get this angry over a non-issue. The only problem we had was, apparently, the row we chose is supposed to be left empty, which might have been the route he should have taken instead of the interrogation and frothing from the mouth route he did take. He made his way down the line telling all 7 of us that we were in violation of some federal law or something(OK, maybe I made that part up) We got up, with tails between our legs, and made our way back up the stairs, 4 rows higher, and sat down again. I felt this was a safe enough distance as to not stir the hornets nest that was usher Grandpa. He didn't even have a radio, let alone a night stick or God forbid, a gun. A gun in this old mans hand just might make a night in Juarez seem tame. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince my brother go back and sit in the row and when the guy told him he couldn't sit there, move down a seat. If you continue this process, you could drive this guy right over the edge. I still feel that all he had to do was tell us that NOBODY can sit in that row, and we would have moved, conflict over. But customer service expert that he is, he chose to get puffed up and red over 3 or 4 rows. Now that I think of it, we should have just moved one row back, which technically, was what he asked us to do, but I figured he would take that as a sign of aggression, since sitting in the first row seemed to be. I think Gradpa might what to investigate a career that involves paper or garbage, he should stay away from people and by all means, stay away from animals. I feel better now that is off my chest.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Settle down Grandpa!
I haven't posted a Rant in awhile, but it isn't because I haven't had any experiences worthy of the rant. If you have read my rants, you know that bad customer service is a pet peeve of mine. My thought is, if you suck at dealing with people, perhaps a different career path should be in your future. I met a man last night who needs to take that advice. I went to the Iowa Energy game last night, in fact, got there early so I could get another doll. I mentioned last year in March (http://lostiniowa-markymark.blogspot.com/2008/03/sadest-thing-ive-seen-in-awhile.html), that I went early to get my Jeff Horner bobble head, which is essentially, a doll. Last night was Benny the Bull bobble head night, or "Mark now owns two dolls" night. Here is my new guy along with last years doll. I'm a big enough man to admit that I would go to a basketball game an hour early, stand in line with a bunch of kids, just to get my doll. I got there early because they were only giving them to the first 2000 fans. Why I thought that there would be more than 2000 fans at the game, when there hasn't been that many fans at any of the games this year, I have no idea. Just didn't want to show up at home doll-less and cry myself to sleep. (see cabbage patch kid craze of the 80's) (Not me, but almost every kid at that time that didn't get one) Anyway, I get my doll and head for the seats. I've been to a lot of Energy games. I've been a season ticket holder for the 2 years they have been in existence and I'm planning on signing up for next year. One of the good things about the games not being crowded is, you can buy the cheapest tickets they have, but still sit at center court. In fact, you can sit anywhere you want, except for on the floor. My brother Brian and I rarely sit in our purchased seats. We've been told by ushers that we can move. I'm just laying the ground work here, so bare with my short sentences. Brian and his clan and I move over to the area that we normally sit in, which is wide open. You should also know, the seating area for an Energy game is set up so you can probably fit, lets say 9,000 people in the bottom bowl. That could be off a bit, either higher or lower, because I'm not sure of the exact number. I know that the arena has a possible seating area of over 16,000 people, but the 2 upper bowls of the arena aren't open, so lets go with the 9,000 number. Of those 9,000 seats, there were probably 500 people at the game last night. That might be low, but I'll tell you there was not 1,000, this was the smallest crowd of the year, excluding the -29 degree game I attended in Jan. After we had settled into our seats, someone at the end of our row from our group, decided that we needed to move lower. We moved down to the row just above the floor, so just before an usher. They have long given up on having ushers in the stands, they only have them on the floor to keep people like me back in the cheap seats. The usher that was guarding the floor comes up to me and says, "You can't sit there, those aren't your seats." We'll I know that, I'm not completely positive where my seats are. Now he appeared to get angry, but I'm not sure why. Before I could say anything, he said, a bit louder and a bit angry, "You can't sit there, let me see your ticket!" At this point, I'm starting to get pissed, so I said, "calm down, we'll move!" At this point, he made a face at me, got madder and demanded to see my ticket again. Did I mention that this is an arena with 9,000 seats, where maybe 500 are full and he wants me in my exact seat? Did I also mention that at no time did I attempt to argue or disagree with him? At this point, I'm laughing because I don't think I've ever seen anyone get this angry over a non-issue. The only problem we had was, apparently, the row we chose is supposed to be left empty, which might have been the route he should have taken instead of the interrogation and frothing from the mouth route he did take. He made his way down the line telling all 7 of us that we were in violation of some federal law or something(OK, maybe I made that part up) We got up, with tails between our legs, and made our way back up the stairs, 4 rows higher, and sat down again. I felt this was a safe enough distance as to not stir the hornets nest that was usher Grandpa. He didn't even have a radio, let alone a night stick or God forbid, a gun. A gun in this old mans hand just might make a night in Juarez seem tame. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince my brother go back and sit in the row and when the guy told him he couldn't sit there, move down a seat. If you continue this process, you could drive this guy right over the edge. I still feel that all he had to do was tell us that NOBODY can sit in that row, and we would have moved, conflict over. But customer service expert that he is, he chose to get puffed up and red over 3 or 4 rows. Now that I think of it, we should have just moved one row back, which technically, was what he asked us to do, but I figured he would take that as a sign of aggression, since sitting in the first row seemed to be. I think Gradpa might what to investigate a career that involves paper or garbage, he should stay away from people and by all means, stay away from animals. I feel better now that is off my chest.
I'm a big enough man to admit that I would go to a basketball game an hour early, stand in line with a bunch of kids, just to get my doll. I got there early because they were only giving them to the first 2000 fans. Why I thought that there would be more than 2000 fans at the game, when there hasn't been that many fans at any of the games this year, I have no idea. Just didn't want to show up at home doll-less and cry myself to sleep. (see cabbage patch kid craze of the 80's) (Not me, but almost every kid at that time that didn't get one) Anyway, I get my doll and head for the seats. I've been to a lot of Energy games. I've been a season ticket holder for the 2 years they have been in existence and I'm planning on signing up for next year. One of the good things about the games not being crowded is, you can buy the cheapest tickets they have, but still sit at center court. In fact, you can sit anywhere you want, except for on the floor. My brother Brian and I rarely sit in our purchased seats. We've been told by ushers that we can move. I'm just laying the ground work here, so bare with my short sentences. Brian and his clan and I move over to the area that we normally sit in, which is wide open. You should also know, the seating area for an Energy game is set up so you can probably fit, lets say 9,000 people in the bottom bowl. That could be off a bit, either higher or lower, because I'm not sure of the exact number. I know that the arena has a possible seating area of over 16,000 people, but the 2 upper bowls of the arena aren't open, so lets go with the 9,000 number. Of those 9,000 seats, there were probably 500 people at the game last night. That might be low, but I'll tell you there was not 1,000, this was the smallest crowd of the year, excluding the -29 degree game I attended in Jan. After we had settled into our seats, someone at the end of our row from our group, decided that we needed to move lower. We moved down to the row just above the floor, so just before an usher. They have long given up on having ushers in the stands, they only have them on the floor to keep people like me back in the cheap seats. The usher that was guarding the floor comes up to me and says, "You can't sit there, those aren't your seats." We'll I know that, I'm not completely positive where my seats are. Now he appeared to get angry, but I'm not sure why. Before I could say anything, he said, a bit louder and a bit angry, "You can't sit there, let me see your ticket!" At this point, I'm starting to get pissed, so I said, "calm down, we'll move!" At this point, he made a face at me, got madder and demanded to see my ticket again. Did I mention that this is an arena with 9,000 seats, where maybe 500 are full and he wants me in my exact seat? Did I also mention that at no time did I attempt to argue or disagree with him? At this point, I'm laughing because I don't think I've ever seen anyone get this angry over a non-issue. The only problem we had was, apparently, the row we chose is supposed to be left empty, which might have been the route he should have taken instead of the interrogation and frothing from the mouth route he did take. He made his way down the line telling all 7 of us that we were in violation of some federal law or something(OK, maybe I made that part up) We got up, with tails between our legs, and made our way back up the stairs, 4 rows higher, and sat down again. I felt this was a safe enough distance as to not stir the hornets nest that was usher Grandpa. He didn't even have a radio, let alone a night stick or God forbid, a gun. A gun in this old mans hand just might make a night in Juarez seem tame. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince my brother go back and sit in the row and when the guy told him he couldn't sit there, move down a seat. If you continue this process, you could drive this guy right over the edge. I still feel that all he had to do was tell us that NOBODY can sit in that row, and we would have moved, conflict over. But customer service expert that he is, he chose to get puffed up and red over 3 or 4 rows. Now that I think of it, we should have just moved one row back, which technically, was what he asked us to do, but I figured he would take that as a sign of aggression, since sitting in the first row seemed to be. I think Gradpa might what to investigate a career that involves paper or garbage, he should stay away from people and by all means, stay away from animals. I feel better now that is off my chest.
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