My story of Cleveland tickets

["Corkface" <corkface@delphi.com>]

This is a copy of my post on the O&S list, so if you were bored by it on
that list, then delete it.

Drive over to local grocery store (30 min. outside of Milwaukee) to get in a
non-line for Cleveland tickets. Damn! People hanging around outside, and
they don't look like they're buying Cheerios and milk ...

Fears are confirmed, line of about 12 folks with little lottery tickets in
their hands and waiting for Phish tickets to go on sale at ... 9 am, same
time (central) as Cleveland tickets. The kind witch behind the counter
confirms the sale time and informs me I'd have to get a lottery ticket "like
the rest of 'em." I decide to try my luck on our 56K modem and a regular
phone call at home.

Get home and start dialing at 8:50, refreshing the page with right hand,
redial button with left. Clock says 9:10, but Cleveland isn't listed as
being on sale! I keep hearing "All circuits are busy ..." in my ear. At 9:20
or so Cleveland is available, so I select Express Purchase for 2 tickets.
Now I get "Unknown server" error ... then my dog throws up on the carpet
behind me. Time to call out the troops ... get my son to "click this button,
listen to the phone and hit redial if you get the recording", throw the dog
outside and clean up the mess. "Mom, you got tickets!"

Sprint to the computer, still hitting redial, and decide to go with Sect. 3,
Row R, seats 1-2. Let's hit purchase and pray that all goes well. The gods
do not listen to me today as I get the dreaded "These tickets are not
available as time has expired ..." Back to square one.

At 9:44, and three tries at tickets on the website for (progressively worse)
seats, I get through on the phone. I bite the poor woman's head off telling
her about my problems with their site, and she goes through the spiel (sp.)
of "$6 service charge, $4 purchase charge, $2 shoe-sniffing charge, etc."
and comes up with Sect. 3, Row Q, seats 1-2. The phrase "I'll take them" is
shouted into the receiver and she enters pertinent information onto her
screen ... then loses it all. What the f*** is up today??

Long story short, I got the tickets, my son says I'm crazy, Ticketmaster
website bites the big one, and I need any tips on getting doggie vomit
stains off a cream-colored carpet. I promise I'll be happier at the shows
this summer ... really.

Also, I still have two tickets for the ECentre / Camden show ($85 range) if
anyone's interested.

Corkface
corkface@delphi.com