Ticket Trouble

Last week we had an “incident” that involved misread tickets to a baseball game. It wasn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. We have a history of ticket situations and let me start by saying, my husband is consistently correct in reading tickets and finding the correct seats.
Would the same could be said for ushers at events.
I first noticed it at a football game – one at which I was not in attendance. My husband and his brother went and, as is his custom, my husband insured that they arrived in time to find their correct seats, sit down, and watch the pre-game activities.
All was fine until about 5 minutes before the game, when two guys came in and “challenged” their seats. They were wrong, and finally determined they were several rows off from their ticketed places. Meanwhile, two incredibly large men came in and sat beside my husband, who was already pretty wedged into his seat from his brother. There was no place for his arm, so he had to either extend it straight out in front of him (an uncomfortable position to maintain for several hours), or place it around the large gentleman to his right. Fortunately, that was fine with “Bubba” and they became friends.
The game started and action was unfolding when four latecomers came in. They didn’t wait for a break in the game, but started into the row in front of my family members, effectively blocking the view of the downs. Then one of the women began to say that my husband was in “their seats.” He shut down that conversation rather quickly and of course, looking at the four impressive male figures, they wisely sat down and were quiet. Quiet enough to hear my husband say, “People, get here on time!”
You don’t want to mess with him during a football game.
He’s much more easy going about attending the theater. We have season tickets in first row, loge. This is the first elevated level above the floor. They are great seats and we’ve had them for over a decade. So we pretty much know where we sit.
It never fails that at least once a season, folks who have first row balcony (the level above us) come in – or are ushered in – and challenge us for our seats. This disrupts everyone in the row as they traipse in, lose the argument with us, and then clamor back out.
The good news is that this is always before the play begins – because that’s the rule. No seat arguments after the show starts! The bad news is the ushers don’t seem to consistently know loge from balcony.
So last week, we went to our first minor league baseball game. Again, to the seats we’ve had for about 9 years now. We share season tickets with four or five other families, so we get 5 or 6 games a year. They are great seats and we’ve not had a problem. Until last week.
During the fifth inning – and not between innings, or during a time out – a couple came in and very loudly and belligerently informed us we were in their seats, because they had season tickets. The usher made my husband leave his seat – disrupting the view for all beside us – and show his tickets. Turns out the couple were in the wrong section (go figure). Again, why didn’t the usher know where sections 110 and 111 were located? Why interrupt our game-watching and inconvenience us? We’d been there an hour already!
So ticket woes are our theme this month, I guess. But we have another game and two plays to attend in May so we’ll see if it gets better. Maybe I should apply for an usher job…