Bad usher/ theatre employee stories?

[aces25]

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[My Fair Lady]

When I saw Wicked, during intermission I asked the usher where the stage door was. He snorted and said, "YOu do know the actors don't come out until AFTER the show."

[Derech2]

o_O

you kicked him in the balls or something, I hope?

[My Fair Lady]

No. I was with my mom, my sister, my friends and her friend, so I couldn't. I wish I ahd though. That would haev been quite funny.

[Parks]

Next time just lie about it. It makes an even better story.

[CostumeMistress]

[romanov]

Years ago in the middle of the first act of Bent I became suddenly ill; and people, I mean ILL. As I was trying to leave as quietly and unobstrusively as possible, I got to the lobby door and a theatre employee literally lunged forward and tried to physically stop me from leaving. I shook him off and promptly threw up in Shubert Alley.

[Parks]

...mm...that's cool. :-/

[iluvtheatertrash]

A half hour before LIGHT was due to start, an usher pulled my cell phone out of my hand and turned it off because I was listening to a voicemail. Incredibly rude.

[romanov]

Parks,'cool' my tookus! If there's any justice, that schmekel's casket has sunk to hell by now!

[442namffug]

Woah about the cellphone. That's assault brotha! Seriously though, I would have talked to the Front of House Staff and been extremely pissed if that happened to me. How dare they TOUCH something of yours when it is not disturbing anyone else?
My story: When I was at WICKED people were taking pictures before the show started. None of the ushers said ANYTHING. Finally, one little girl took out her camera next to me and took a picture (I assume she didn't know much better) and 3 ushers rushed over and promptly YELLED at her and her parents...real nice...get a life!

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Sorry, I think the cell phone thing is perfectly fine! Turned on cell phones inside a Broadway Theatre ARE NOT LEAGAL! The usher is your commander in chief in that theatre and if he/she feels the need to tell you or shut it off for you...then I say that is certainly better than the alternative of having the police do it for you!

[BJC899]

Before Fiddler it was a mosh pit. CRAZY. It was scary a little bit but they didn't handle it correctly at all. It was a mass movement of people pushing and one Usher just kept YELLING at everyone.

Horrible experience at the Minskoff

[JSousa]

Why is that in Broadway theaters, even at intermision, your not aloud to use your cell phone? Not even in the lobby. I was politly asked to step outside the theater becouse I was in the lobby calling my mom to tell her how awsome act one was. lol. And they only told me that cellphone use is prohibited in all areas of the thearer.

[iluvtheatertrash]

I totally agree. You're not hurting ANYONE before the show or during intermission.

Besides, asking me to turn off my phone AND DOING IT FOR ME are two very different things, LaCage.

[trpguyy]

I can't believe that someone could possibly state as fact that having a cell phone on in a theater is illegal. That's seriously the most rediculous thing I've read on here all day. And that should tell you something. It is most certainly legal to have your cell phone on in a theater. In fact, I can't think of a place where you're not allowed to have your cell phone on.

[JbaraFan1]

okay about the cell phones ... I don't live in New York City (or close, really) so I'm just asking ... was this 2003 law (mentioned in this Playbill article I found online) later overturned?

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/77873.html

Like I said, just asking! :)

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Some peoples ignorance kills me...CELL PHONES ARE NOT LEGAL IN NEW YORK CITY THEATRES!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/77873.html

And the law has NOT been overturned Since!

[JbaraFan1]

Thanks, LaCage!

[magic8ball]

Cell phones aren't permitted inside theatres because of their capabilities for snapshots. Shows' sets are copyrighted, and it's illegal to take pictures of them. Also, sometimes cell phones can interfere with a show's infrared technology.

[ShuQ]

Yeah...Fiddler ushers are definitely rude...all they do is yell.

And I'm not trying to be rude at all...but there is a disabled usher at Avenue Q that is incredibly loud and rude.

[mikewood]

I don't agree with grabbing the cell phone out of the guy's hand. You can politely ask the person to turn it off. Is it remotely possible that the usher may have asked you politely on multiple occasions and you were engrossed and THEN he resorted to pulling it out of your hands?

I think the usher could/should have handled it differently. Even for his own safety, you do something like that to the wrong person bad things could happen.

Man, I have checked my voicemail on multiple occasions at intermission...I had no idea it was a law.

I'd also like to point out this passage from the article in the link. At no point, does the usher have the right to yank a phone out someone's hand. The usher's recourse after the request is getting a cop.:
The bill was originally introduced Aug. 15, 2002, by Councilman Phil Reed at New York's City Hall. Councilman Reed previously said, "A lot of people — most people, a majority of people — want to obey the law. It's like the penal code, the health code — there's no smoking in a restaurant, people don't do it. But right now, turning off a cell phone is a request; it's not a law. If it's helpful to the management of the theatre, that's a good thing — it's empowering to be able to say, 'You're violating the law, it's against the law to talk on the phone, turn it off.' And if you have somebody who's going to continue to talk and talk and talk, the management can insist they stop. They can say, 'I'm going to get a police officer.'"

[Fosse76]

Well, that law is unenforceable, and the police have publicly stated they won't enforce that law. On its face, if challenged it might be declared unConstitutional...I haven't read the exact language so I cannot say so at this point. At the most you could be ticketed. It takes a LOT to remove someone from property. The fact that the usher physically removed it from your hand is MORE illegal than the use of it. I believe it's called theft (despite the fact it was returned to you).

In NYC it is also illegal to shake a dust mop out of a window. Who takes such nonsense seriously? The same goes for checking voice mail while in a theatre.

[Mister Matt]

At the closing performance of the revival of 1776 at the Gershwin, my father was running late, so I went to the box office to pick up both tickets and leave one for him at Will Call. This was about 15 minutes before curtain. The Box Office guy insisted there were no tickets for us, which I had booked myself with my mother's credit card. I asked him to be sure to check the name as it is easily mispelled and he just glanced next to him at a stack of envelopes without looking at any of the names and said it wasn't there. I asked him to check in the computer to see if it was accidentally booked for the wrong day. He said it wasn't and I would have to leave. This went on for a while and I remembered I had my mother's credit card number and asked him to check. By this time, the performance had already started. He said the computer was not able to pull up records using the credit card number, which sounded absolutely ridiculous considering records have to be kept of ANY credit card transactions, especially when not made in person. I could see part of the computer screen and noticed that it was Ticketmaster, of which I had 8 years experience. I told him the specific commands to use in the software to search accounts by credit card number and it popped up immediately. He looked into some sort of cubbyhole to his right and pulled out an envelope with the tickets. Everything about the tickets was EXACTLY as it was supposed to be - the performance date, the name, everything. This was 15 minutes AFTER curtain and he made no apologies whatsoever, just looked at me with utter contempt. Had it not been the closing performance, I would have demanded an exchange for another performance, but the only recourse I had was a refund and I wanted to see the show. It was the most infuriating Broadway box office experience I ever encountered.