Just when you think you have it all worked out, the universe slaps you in the face with a reality check. This is what happened to me when I had organised an outing for my friends and I to go see the Book of Mormon.
I had received an email announcing that the show was getting extended and more tickets had been released. After having heard so much about the musical, and not being able to attend my first invitation to see the show, I decided to organise an outing and checked to see if anyone else wanted to join me. Surprisingly there was a lot of interest - the one time where there were more interested guys than girls to see a musical.
Trying to find a day when 8 people are available can be a task on its own, but I managed to settle on a day, book the tickets and get everyone to pay me back before my credit card bill came in - because buying 8 tickets for a show ain’t cheap. We had agreed on a Saturday evening session and we’d make a night out of it by going to dinner beforehand.
A few months after booking the tickets, the day finally arrived. We had voted on going to Whirly Bird for dinner since it was just down the road from the Lyric Theatre. We had gotten there a bit early. That was a good thing because apparently after 7 pm the restaurant closes to transform into the Birdcage, which hosts a vintage burlesque show, so we had to hustle out before then. The quick dinner meant we had some extra time to kill with a few drinks at The Star.
All happy thinking we were going to see the show
The time came to go into the theatre and take our seats. As I took out the printed tickets from my handbag and handed it to the usher she greeted me with a "Sorry, these are tickets for the 2 pm session."
I looked at her in disbelief. "Wait, what? Are you serious?’"
I looked at the tickets. They were indeed for the 2pm session. I checked my emails. They too had the booking confirmed for 2 pm.
"How can this be?" I thought to myself.
My heart sank. I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I came to the realisation that I had f***ed up. Me, who prides herself on my attention to detail had somehow missed the event times when booking the tickets and had selected the wrong session.
I tried to speak to the Box Office attendant to reschedule and they said that with a booked out show that night there was nothing she could do but for me to call Ticketmaster customer support. I called them up who then referred me to make a support request on their website which could take a few days to get a response. Refunds were unlikely.
My friends stood outside the theatre all disappointed that they couldn't see the show. All dressed up and nowhere to go. I felt horrible. Not only that, I was disappointed in myself. As a person who has high self-expectations, this hurt.
In the end, we tried to make the most of night together so we ended up taking the light rail back to Chinatown and spent the rest of the night playing pool. Proud to say that I was winning and undefeated there at least.
A couple of days later a get a response from support, "There is nothing we can do as it is a past event... We cannot reschedule you. You will have to book again if you want to see the show I'm sorry to say." At this point, I had already accepted the loss. It was my fault for not checking my bookings and not purchasing insurance. I was willing to rebook the show and purchase tickets or reimburse my friends with my own money. It was not fair for them to lose out because of my mistake.
My sister advised that at her work, the customers who are difficult and make complaints are often the ones that get their way. Get angry or have a sob story. Now if you know me I'm not an angry person - I really don't care that much to get emotionally invested. I prefer to stay impartial and try to look at things objectively. But because this was affecting not only myself but 7 others, I thought it was worth giving it another go.
I made another support request asking them to call me back so that I could speak to an actual person about my issue. They again asked me to provide feedback via email. So I explained my situation of having a misunderstanding and the cost it would require for me to compensate my friends. If I couldn't exchange or reschedule, at least they could give me something, like offer tickets at a discounted price. I hoped my change in tactic to incite sympathy would get me a bit further than a door slamming in my face.
And it worked! My case got promoted and I got a call from the Customer Advocate team to hear me out. After a bit of back and forth of negotiating with the production company he was able to offer me discounted tickets for a weekday show. It was very last minute trying to organise days that people were free to reschedule, but we finally were able to see the show.
The Show
Shot of the stage since photography during the show is not allowed.
Somehow after our whole ordeal we ended up getting better tickets than I originally bought.
The show itself was hilariously funny and exactly what you'd expect from the creators of South Park. Rude, crude and wrong on so many levels. The performers were so full of energy, the songs super catchy with jokes at every exchange. Some of the guys walked out with sore cheeks from all the laughter.
Though production value isn't as high as say, Lion King or Wicked, and you won't get those chills down the spine from those powerful vocals, it makes up for it in sheer joy and entertainment value.
And in its satire, I actually learnt a thing or two about Mormons.
Top 3 songs:
Hello!
Turn It Off
I Believe
Lessons
If there was anything to take out of this whole episode, it would be the lessons learnt from making such a simple but stupid mistake.
“Live with integrity. Take ownership of your failures and admit to your mistakes.”
This will require you to let go of your ego, but you will gain more respect by taking responsibility than by making excuses and blaming someone or something else. It is your choice on how you respond to failure. If you choose to accept that you are the problem, you can take control in finding a solution.
People make mistakes, it happens. But I will be damned if I make that same mistake again.
