Friday, August 7, 2009

But I KNOW you're the place with the tent!

As the summer concert season winds down, things are pretty slow in the Box Office. After all, we're done with 3 of the 5 concerts so are only selling tickets for 2 more.

And we're currently in competition with another nearby venue (performing "Carmina burana") to see who gets the most concertgoers for tomorrow night. (I fear we're losing badly.)

So lately I've been spending hours on end sitting in the Box Office alone, answering the phone and selling tickets occasionally, and studying, organizing things, and generally finding miscellaneous activities to do the rest of the time.

With that in mind, you can see how I would almost welcome the chance to deal with an utterly crazy caller this afternoon:

Her: Now, the choral festival… I was there last year, you’re the place with the huge tent?

Me: We don’t have our concerts in a tent. They are in a concert shed. Perhaps you're thinking of someplace else?

Her: No, I was there last year, and it was in a tent. A really big tent, with hundreds of people in it.

Me: Well, we have a physical building that used to be a hockey arena. Maybe it looked like a tent from the outside.

Her: Didn’t you do Solomon last year?

Me: Yes, we did.

Her: Not very many people do Solomon – Solomon by Handel, you know – so I know it was you that had the tent.

Me: We did do Solomon and it was not in a tent.

Her: And you’re the place where you have to park a half a mile away and walk to the concert?

Me: There is a bit of a walk from the parking area.

Her: And you did Solomon.

Me: Yes.

Her: Then you’re the place with the tent.

Me: No, we don’t have a---

Her: But aren’t you right off Route 42 or whatever it is?

Me: Yes, we’re just off Route 41.

Her: Then you’re the place with the tent.

Me: No. I don’t know about previous years, but last year and this year our concerts are in a building that used to be an enclosed hockey rink and has since been converted into a concert facility. It is a concert shed, not a formal concert hall, but it is a physical structure that stands year round, not a tent.

Me (wanting to add): (And didn't you notice the roof and concert floor and concrete walls and lighting fixtures and etc. etc. etc.)

Her: But I KNOW it was a tent last year.

Me: Would you like to reserve some tickets?

Her: I’ll have to call you back.

- - - - -

So she calls back half an hour later:

Me: Box Off--- (she cuts me off)

Her: I’ve just gone on the website and it says the concerts are in a concert shed.

Me: Yes, that’s right.

Her: So it must have just been last year that it was in a tent.

Me: No, it’s in the same place it was last year.

Her: But it says right here that it’s in a shed this year, but you said it was in a building.

Me: Well, as I define it, a concert shed is a building. This structure is permanent, mostly indoors, and exists year round, so I call it a building.

Her: So it’s not a tent.

Me: No, it’s not a tent.

(silence)

Her: Well, I guess we’ll still come.

(I did get a whopping $35 order out of that cumulative 15 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. The hilarity and resulting conversation that I'll be able to use to entertain the other staff here were worth it though.)

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