The Belasco Box Office Staff Proves Yet Again What As%h*l#s They Are

[Wishing Only Wounds]

There's one guy at the Gershwin who has been so sly and bitter every time I have dealt with him.

However, I love the box office staff at the Palace...during Broadway discount week (or whatever that week in February, with all the discounts, was actually called), I went to give my two-for-one discount code to the woman in the box office, only to find out she already applied it to full view seats. SO pleasant.

[RUkiddingme]

If box office people started posting about bad customers, this server would explode!

[hermajesty]

The customer is always right, full stop. No excuse/reason for bad manners towards him/her in any given circumstance.

[themysteriousgrowl]

What's the problem with mustaches now?

[qolbinau]

I don't think the customer IS always right at all and I think some customers get what they deserve. From the way people describe their interactions with the box office staff here, it seems some of the staff are unnecessarily arrogant/uncaring/presumptuous. But hypothetically if there are customers shouting, swearing or just generally being impossibly difficult I don't think they should pretend to smile and move on. People and don't deserve to be treated like ****.

[theatreguy]

ETA: qolbinau got there first.

But yeah, there are may customers who are wrong. I've never understood people who seem to think that if they're rude or yell a lot they'll get better service.

[ClumsyDude15]

I had a pleasant experience with the Belasco box office staff a few weeks ago - the man in question not only was very nice, but after offering us one set of seats, checked again and found better rush seats available. He couldn't have been nicer, and I had a pretty nice time with the box office staff during Women on The Verge, as well.

But, if we're talking rude box office staff - the Broadway has some of the rudest box office staff I've ever dealt with. I've dealt with them during three different productions [Promises, Promises, Shrek, and Sister Act] and they are just rude and inconsiderate. On the flip side, the box office staff of the Neil Simon are wonderful - always pleasant, helpful, and never once not gone the extra mile in helping a customer.

I've worked in customer service for several years, and seeing such awful customer service annoys me to no end, because I am someone who goes the extra mile for a customer.

[April Saul]

What a difference a day makes...all I can say is that I went to the same window on Saturday around noon for the matinee rush and the box office guy I dealt with was a sweetheart. Asked me if I wanted a front row seat and I said, gee, is it way off to the side? because I wasn't feeling that lucky. He said, no, no, it's right in the center and we both grinned. He did warn me that the stage was a bit high as well but it was just fine...best seat in the house.

So I was actually thinking nice things about their staff when I saw your thread, Jordan...

[tmbyru]

Showchoirguy... I remember this happening to a group of kids who were in front of us while we were waiting to get rush tix on a Saturday. You def need a student ID, but I think the kids in front of us were not persistent enough and I think the box office guy may have misunderstood. I would have kept pushing him since you had paperwork to prove you were a student.

[ClumsyDude15]

The man I dealt with at the Belasaco was younger than the gentleman the original poster mentioned, but I never had a problem with the man in question either - he was helpful during Women on The Verge.

[hermajesty]

qalbino...it takes great skill/patience/maturity/courtesy to deal with any irate customer, that will always calm down if handled correctly. It also gives the staff dealing with them in that manner, a feeling of satisfaction that they have done a good job and in effect, doing the job to the best of their ability for which they are paid to do.

[Jordan Catalano]

First off, no. The customer is not always right. I think the invention of that phrase did more to hurt society than than most things in the twentieth century. It created an entire civilization of people believing they are entitled to something they're not.

But while the customer is not always right, they do deserve to be treated with respect, granted they enter the establishment showing the same respect to the staff.

I've said many times that my first job was at Blockbuster when I was 14. I've been spit on (over late fees), had my life threatened (for not holding a copy of the movie HEAT for someone when it was released), been shot at (this was Florida, so...y'know...) and been treated like shlt more times than I care to mention. But the difference is the only time I was ever rude to someone was when they were rude to me beyond the standard "I'm very upset here over such-and-such and I need to be heard". I'm very proud of the fact that when I switched stores, they needed to hire two people to replace me and that store lost a lot of business when customers followed me to the new store. And after I left the company all together I still received phone calls from them all the time for questions about movies, the store etc.

Now I'm not saying I was always a ray of sunshine. Those who know me know that just isn't me. But when you've been at work for all of 5 minutes like this man was today and you're already being so outlandishly nasty to someone who's done nothing but smile and say hi - Well you're in the wrong job and union or not, you need to be let go.

[showchoirguy]

tmbyru, That was us! I personally believe that we were being the most persistent we could be without starting a fuss, but thank you! We left immediately after, did any discussion go on afterwards?

[Jordan Catalano]

If a group of kids has a bunch of paperwork to prove they're students, those box office people need to get off their high horse little power trip and just sell them the damn tickets. They're trying to buy tickets to a musical, not trying to get on a plane to Afghanistan without ID.

[hermajesty]

###But when you've been at work for all of 5 minutes like this man was today and you're already being so outlandishly nasty to someone who's done nothing but smile and say hi - Well you're in the wrong job and union or not, you need to be let go.###

Exactly Jordan

[showchoirguy]

Amen, Jordan!

[Gaveston2]

But while the customer is not always right, they do deserve to be treated with respect, granted they enter the establishment showing the same respect to the staff.

Much better policy, Jordan. During my box office years I would not have been unkind or impatient in any of the circumstances posted in this thread.

But the guy who told me he was going to shoot me between the eyes because I couldn't improve on his 9th or 10th row tickets? Nah, not so much respect. I treated such customers with about as much respect as they treated me (minus the threats of actual violence, of course). (This was in the 70s; nowadays, that sort of threat would probably merit a visit from Homeland Security).

Frankly, I think treating people more or less as they treat you is a pretty good way to go through life. It's certainly the way I try to approach message boards.

[Mister Matt]

It all boils down to management. Good managers train their staff how to deal with difficult or irate customers, who should be referred to the management if the situation cannot be diffused or resolved. Rude box office staff is usually a reflection of bad management who are either ambivalent and absent or encourage the behavior. I used to supervise box office staffs and if anyone on my staff behaved in the ways described here, I would have either fired them or put them on probation. These positions are not difficult to fill with people who would be thrilled to work in this business. We have similar box office staff problems with the "Broadway" theatres in Chicago sometimes. There is one man I will NOT deal with. If he is the next available window, I'll wait and let someone else go ahead so I don' have to speak to him. I've complained about him before, but again, it's about what the management will allow.

The biggest problem with the Chicago theatres, which are all run by Broadway In Chicago, is their box offices at performance time. They use all windows for everything (Will Call, Sales, Season Ticket Exchanges, etc.). So if you're there to pick up Will Call before a performance, you can stand there waiting 15-20 minutes as other people are buying tickets for future shows or making exchanges and taking up loads of time trying to make decisions. They need a dedicated Will Call window so those who already paid for their tickets can get them and be seated in time. We arrived 20 minutes before curtain for Billy Elliot and were next in line with about a dozen people behind us and by the time we got our tickets, we were forced to wait in the lobby during the opening number to wait for late seating. Over a dozen of us! We were all begging in the line for ANYONE to get our tickets and were ignored. The house manager said they had nothing to do with the box office and refused to help us. I wrote a letter to Broadway in Chicago and never received a response. So from now on, I either don't use Will Call or I pick up the tickets during lunch or the day before. You never EVER make people wait to pick up their tickets they have already purchased for that performance over people who have not yet bought tickets or people not even attending the performance. It's ludicrous.

[stevenycguy]

I've been to the Belasco before for a matinee and the middle-aged gentleman was quite respectful and courteous.

A rush ticket is a really great privilege and many of them are partial view. Those are probably the only ones the box office staff have the authority to sell, even if the rest of the theater isn't full. Just assume all rush tickets are partial view (or balcony, etc) so that you're not disappointed.

[ACL2006]

I would say the best box office staff I've dealt with are at the Schoenfeld, Jacobs & Eugene O'Neil. Anytime I would buy A Chorus Line tickets last minute(discount or if SRO was available), they were always very nice. When buying my tickets for Once at the Jacobs(before the show started previews), the guy nicely explained that since I was buying tickets with a discount, center orcherstra and any aisle seats were excluded since the show was selling very well. He then offered three sets of seating options(row D, row F or row N - all left orch.). And I'm always amazed with how cool and calm the O'Neil staff is despite dealing with lottery, SRO, cancellation lines and a packed lobby three hours before each curtain.

[Jordan Catalano]

"A rush ticket is a really great privilege and many of them are partial view. Those are probably the only ones the box office staff have the authority to sell, even if the rest of the theater isn't full. Just assume all rush tickets are partial view (or balcony, etc) so that you're not disappointed."

There's so many things wrong in that statement, my mind doesn't even know where to start.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

You should've grabbed him by the neck, pulled him through the window, thrown him to floor, and urinated down his throat. What an asshat.

(I've had a bad day too...)

[Jordan Catalano]

You tryin' to turn me on, Jay?

[bwayphreak234]

"A rush ticket is a really great privilege and many of them are partial view. Those are probably the only ones the box office staff have the authority to sell, even if the rest of the theater isn't full. Just assume all rush tickets are partial view (or balcony, etc) so that you're not disappointed."

Ummm no. I work in a box office and rush tickets should definitely NOT always be assumed to be partial view. And if any ticket is partial view, it should be stated when the ticket is being sold.

[Jordan Catalano]

And it's also not a privilege. If offered, it's a product sold by the theater. That's like saying the turkey breast that's on sale at the store for 5.99 a pound this week is a privilege and you shouldn't be surprised or upset if you're only given half a pound for that price since it's a good price to begin with.

[SondheimFan5]

I will say, the folks at TKTS are very good. A few times I've had a list of 3 or 4 shows and they're all sold-out by the time I get to the window, and the person has let me go out of line, take a look at the sign, then go back in the line towards the front.