It was Friday night and I had to hop a train back into the city at 3:22 to make it to the Javits Center by 4:30. It was the First Wine Expo being held there & I was dying to attend. I had looked at the webiste and found that tickets were $90 a piece. Too rich for my blood. But then I saw this tiny link at the bottom that asked for volunteers. What was the reward? Two tickets to the event for the next day. Yippee! So I signed up to work the will-call booth.
I got there a few minutes early and thank goodness I did. That place is so huge & it's even bigger when you do not know any more than the name of the person you must check in with. I found her in under 10 minutes and was escorted to my spot. At 4:45, another woman came over with the two boxes of envelopes/tickets that I was to distribute as people checked in. She then gave me another 100 that had to be added to the boxes alphabetically......by last name. She explained this so slowly and carefully to me. I was laughing so hard inside but just nodded eagerly so that she knew I understood. I wanted to say "Hey. I teach English at the college level" but know that she must get some real winners when they host this in Boston and D.C. I didn't take offense to it in the least, but she looked so concerned that the directions may be too hard for me to grasp. Heeheehee. Her other concern was that I complete this task by 6:00. It was 4:45. Yeah. I think I can handle it.
I was left alone at the booth to do this. Ten minutes later, some woman comes up and says "I need to leave these here for my friend". I was a bit confused, as I was placed here to hand OUT tickets.....not take. And I had no place to put them........no extra envelopes in which to store them. So I said "Well, I'm not sure. Let me just check with....." and that is when Samantha, from Wine Spectator magazine, said "Is everybody here an idiot?". Okay okay. Normal Grotter reaction would be to blow this woman out of the water. But, Volunteer Grotter said "Hi. I'm a volunteer and have only been here 10 minutes. Let me see what I can do". So I went & found the woman who seated me earlier and she gave me extra envelopes so that I could hold stupid Samantha Wine Spectator's tickets.
Less than twenty minutes later, a man from one of the wineries comes up and says "Do you have the tickets Tracy so-n-so promised me?" Huh? I asked him if he had checked in with the Trade side. He, very rudely, grunted that he had and they sent him to me. I asked for his name and did not find tickets there. I asked for the names of the people he was bringing as guests and there were no tickets under those names either. So I took him to another woman. She had a laptop & could look at the list of comp. tickets. She asked him what day were they for...Friday or Saturday. He looked at me and said "Consumer tickets." I then explained to him that "We have tickets for Friday or for Saturday. Which day did you reserve?" He yelled, threw up his hands, and stormed off. EEK! A guy trying to scam free tickets!!! Evil!
Things were pretty slow until close to 7. That is when the line formed at my booth and I was ransacking those boxes like a mad woman. I greeted each person & smiled.....chatted a moment and sent them on their happy, soon to be drunk, way. So many men. Oh so many. And many asking if I'd be in there with them. I had to (sadly) decline and point out that I'd be attending the next day. There were some skeevy old guys, too, who asked the same question. I happily told them I was going the next day....when they wouldn't be there.
Speaking of skeevy old guys, I had a break and walked in to plan my method of attack for the next day. While I was in there, a scary old guy stops me and says "Hey Grotter" (I hate nametags). I smiled back and said hi. He said "How's it going?" I said "fine". He said "I remember you. You gave me my tickets." I said "Yes. I did". He said "Wow! You did a really good job with that, too." I gave him two thumbs-up and said "I'm going to get some cheese & crackers now" and quickly walked away.
The evening went fast and smooth. Until Samantha Wine Spectator came back. She holds up two more tickets and says "I'm leaving these". I gave her an envelope and asked her to write on it last name, first name. She writes it first name, last name and then underlines....five times.....the initial in the last name. I was dying to look at her and say "Who is the idiot?" but I didn't.
I was released from my duties at 10:00 and made the walk back to Penn. I waited until 11:00 for my parents to meet me there. They had seen "Mary Poppins" and I figured it'd be best to grab a ride home on the train & then car with them.
I rolled in after midnight exhausted and wondering just how people who do this whole commute to the city thing every day for work survive? Granted, I worked both days and then went in, but my trips were for fun! Not work & stress. So I still can't wrap my brain around it.
