Monday, March 20, 2006

Another Monday lady story

"Do you have any tickets available for Matchpoint at 1:30?" the elderly woman asked when she approached the lone employee working the movie-plex ticket kiosk. The young man didn't need to check anything to know that the film had tickets available and said, "Yes we do." The woman jumped right in, "Now wait one minute now, don't print the ticket yet. Have there been any tickets sold for the show, because I don't want to sit all alone in the theater." Now the young man had to perform a few clicks on his keyboard to see if any tickets had been sold, and once he found the information, he looked up and said, "No, there haven't." By this time a few more people had joined me in the line waiting to buy tickets, it was 12:15. The old woman spoke in the shouty voice of someone with hearing difficulties, "Well, now what about last week, were there any tickets sold for the same movie last week at the same time?" It didn't appear that his keyboard could help him now, and he replied, "I don't know ma'am, I wasn't working at this time last week." None of this seemed to bother the woman so much, she was going to hash everything out right there, and those of us who had the poor foresight to arrive at the theater mere minutes before our films would start would just have to wait. She continued, "Well now, I don't want to sit in a big movie theater all by myself and there really is nothing else I'd like to see. (then, as though someone is protesting her ideas) No, no, this is the only film I'm interested in seeing." At this point, I catch the eye of the guy working the booth, a real model of patience, and yet I detected the faintest exasperated hint of a roll of his eyes as she continued in her shouty voice, " Now can you tell me what time I should check back to see if any tickets have been sold." I was about to crack up watching this unfold especially as I watched the young man, and at the same time I had spurts of rage, unhinged as I was from my nicotine drip. Remember now, it's 12:15 and her movie begins at 1:30. The whole thing was so Seinfeld-y. The young man did not make some terribly biting and sarcastic remark to her question, he simply and cheerfully offered, "How about 1:00? Someone will probably buy a ticket by then." She says, "One o'clock you say, well I will just walk around for a bit, I need to get something for my daughter in law's birthday, and that should give me time to come back, Okay, thank you young man, I'll come back at one." As soon as she departed from the window, I rushed up to buy the tickets for our film which was already beginning. Behind me, I heard the old lady ask all the people in line if they were buying tickets for the 1:30 show and the young man and I finally shared a satisfying laugh together, not a word spoken, but both highly amused at the wacky old lady. Obviously no one in line was buying tickets for her show. But later, when I went to the bathroom during my movie, I saw people going into her movie, so I figured she got to see her film, and that made me smile.

8 comments:

Snooze said...

I commend all of you in the line and the guy selling the tickets for seeing the humour and not losing it with her.

The Wisdom of Wislon said...

Yeah good on the kiosk guy, some people just don't notice others around them do they ;-)

ah well atleast it had a happy ending ;-)

So you were involved in the theatre then, do tell. Not just a pretty face eh ;-)

_Psycho said...

Nothing bug me off more than something like this. You get there 5 minutes in advances, knowing it always take a bit shorter to get tickets and someone make everyone wait !

I hope the smoke thing is already history !

Patricia said...

i'da blown a gasket.
this is why i buy tix online or at the humanless machine. i can't stand in-line morons!

St. Dickeybird said...

My brain was hemmoraging just reading that!
Sometimes I think we should put the elderly on ice floes.

ink said...

LOL! Still, I suppose we all have our moments now and again. You should hear me order pizza sometime!

And, on another note, I'm really glad to see you you're coping with the withdrawal so well, Tornwordo. Keep up the good work! (I don't smoke but, for what it's worth, someone told me gum-chewing or sucking on hard candies can help getting through the cravings ...)

Chunks said...

I have such a weak spot for old people, I want to take them all home with me.

We are all going to be old someday. I hope someone is as patient with me as you were with her.

Kevin said...

OK, that is SO typical. I love it.

Although I HATE having to leave a movie to go to the bathroom. I have to be within seconds of bursting.