Theatre Employess are ruining the show!

hunter97 · Newbie

Theatre Employess are ruining the show!

MrE1111 · Guru

See, the problem is that the theater staff, ushers, managers, merchandise sellers, have to deal with the whole audience. They don't have the opportunity to go up to someone and say "photos aren't allowed in the theater," as they have to seat other patrons, who will get angry if attention isn't paid to them.

Yes, they can be rude (and the ushers in the Atkinson aren't the nicest people around), but the only thing they can do is scream across the auditorium. It's a sad fact that in America, people only respond to rudeness.

Ray · Senior Member

Thanks for the warning....I'll be on my good behavior, as opposed to my usual behavior.

DogsandBirds · Guru

From the prospective of the ushers and swag people, there are a few of them and 1,000+ people to deal with. I have seen some pretty sorry happenings from audience members and I don't go to 8 shows a week as they have to work.

Just because someone is in the theater doesn't mean they know the "rules" of etiquette and the rules of the theater, i.e. picture taking, etc. I have sat next to or behind unruly children whose parents took no mind of, rattling candy papers, beepers, cell phones going off, chatty Cathys (male and female) and oh yes, some people who took their shoes off and had stinky feet!!

These people have seen that and more and have become a bit jaded. The average age of the ushers seems to be 60+ and they may not have the most amount of patience, but then again, people are not polite to them either.

They cannot ruin your night if you are acting like you know what it is behave in an audience, whether it's on or off Broadway.

-- Edited by DogsandBirds at 12:02, 2007-07-31

Kait · Senior Member

This is too bad. The employees sound stressed. Still, the best of them will find a way to deal with the situation without losing decorum themselves. I'm going to show my age here, and say that manners appears to be a dying art.
My 14yo daughter recently attended a girls' science camp. She said she felt odd at the mealtimes because she was the only girl (at a table for about 12) who knew to put her napkin in her lap.

-- Edited by Kait at 14:07, 2007-07-31

-- Edited by Kait at 14:09, 2007-07-31

ddktt · Veteran Member

I'm sure it is the training of the staff. Every single worker I dealt with at the New Amsterdam was exceptionally friendly and helpful--the Disney culture. They know they are dealing with tourists and theatre novices so have factored that into their staffing. Brooks Atkinson could take a lesson as they will have the same demographic.

Edwardian · Veteran Member

Sorry but I can't agree with those who defend rude behavior on the part of the staff. Regardless of how inappropriately customers behave, they have still payed $100 for a couple of hours of entertainment and theatre employees carry the responsibility to behave professionally, courteously and with restraint. If they can't pull it off, they shouldn't be there. It is management's responsibility to ensure that the staff maximizes enjoyment of the experience for all patrons.

For many years I have worked with psychiatric patients. Their behavior can be quite extreme and inappropriate at times. People who work with them know not to take their behavior personally, to remain calm and professional regardless of how the patient behaves.

gramps3 · Senior Member

There may be another factor at work.

Different geographical areas have different "styles" of speech that must be interpreted and put in context to be understood.

I have lived in both New York and Maine, among other places, and those are two spots that clearly show this factor at work.

People in New York City (when encountered in a service relationship---not as private individuals) have a very abrupt and clipped manner of speech. It should not be taken personally any more than to feel that the quiet and somewhat down-east folks are snobby and aloof.

It takes a while, but after experiencing it a number of times, one can even get used to this style while ordering a sandwich in a New York deli. I simply hated that experience when I first moved fom the Northwest to the eastern seaboard. After a while I didn't even notice it.

The style wouldn't fly in Virginia nor in the midwest, among others, but New Yorkers take it in stride. Body language is also affected. Notice how little eye contact you get in a subway. When you are only one of millions, each of whom are busy with their own affairs, you are pretty much on your own and keep to yourself in public areas.

But New Yorkers can be warm and sensitive as individuals. Look at how many cried over 9/11.

Rudeness, like beauty, is also sometimes in the eye of the beholder.

Stan/gramps

-- Edited by gramps3 at 19:36, 2007-07-31

-- Edited by gramps3 at 19:37, 2007-07-31

MrE1111 · Guru

Yes, one of the common misconceptions of us New Yorkers is taht we're rude.

Generally, we're not.

Just don't get in our way when we're walking down the street.

Gramps - are you talkin' about this -
"Yeah, a pastrami sandwich to go, please"
"Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Step down to the cashier. NEXT!"

Edwardian · Veteran Member

Gramps, I'm a native New Yorker who has lived for more than 30 years now in the D.C. metro area. Even after all these years of being away from NY, I still find that clipped, sarcastic, impatient and sardonic way of responding wanting to pop out. (This happens most frequently when talking about my Yankees.) These days, when someone relates to me in that way (usually when visiting family in NY!) I just give it right back to them. We understand each other, everything's OK and we're friends. However, in any professional or "geographically mixed" setting, I've learned to tone it down. Why would staff in the New Amsterdam Theater be able to do this but not those in the Brooks Atkinson? It can only be a matter of organizational culture, as ddktt suggests, as communicated in management's expectations of employees.

Edwardian · Veteran Member

MrE,

"Just make sure you put some meat on it, OK?"

gramps3 · Senior Member

I think it wouldbe more like this:

"Put some meat on it!!!

MrE1111 · Guru

Haha.

greatwhiteway · Senior Member

NY'ers are not rude and in fact are a very tolerant group of people. They are fast however, exactly in the way Edwardian descibed by example. The slow curteous way you are treated down south drives us crazy... it takes too long!

I don't know what, if anything, was going on in the BA theatre but I was there, had interactions with an usher who was neither terribly rude but even by NY standards was not polite. She yelled at my daughter when she reached for a Playbill, "Hey don't take that!" Apparently you get them when you are seated. She did later add...",they are all counted," to soften the blow, though that did sound kind of tacky.

singingdoc · Veteran Member

I am a native Philadelphian (a close relative to New Yorkers in agressive speech/ behavior). I have lived in the midwest or the south now for the last thirty years. When I first moved to the midwest I got really annoyed by the polite somewhat slow pace in which things were done (true even in a city like Chicago). I got used to it and changed. I then moved to the south where I got annoyed all over again, this time by an the even slower and more polite style of life. I finally got used to it as well and changed. Now when I go back to Philadelphia and New York I marvel at how I was able to exist and thrive in that enviornment when I was younger. I certainly recognize the differences and consciously adjust my expectations and behavior accordingly (when in Rome...). Because of the differences, I find New York an exhilarating experience but only in small doses (vacations).

ddktt · Veteran Member

I can't say I ran into any stereotypical NY abruptness when we were there. I was very impressed with how all the touristy things were handled. I guess NYC has been a tourist attraction for centuries and has it down. Probably 9/11 softened things up even more. As we were walking around my heart often went out to passersby just thinking about what they went through if they had been there during that awful time.

Living in LA I know Disney considers their staff to be "cast" members. They have carried that over to the theatre. We had scrambled to get there on time (our sightseeing bus couldn't turn onto the street for our stop so we had to overshoot and walk/run back in the humidity). The usher smiled and very pleasantly assured me there was plenty of time to get a drink (a $12 one so you know she was trained to get me back there

Gauche as it is I LOVED my Vodka Tonic with a straw and a lid sipped during the show. The theatre restoration was lovely and I enjoyed the show: acting, singing, dancing, fancy sets and special effects very much.

Edwardian · Veteran Member

Same here, Singingdoc. When I left NY for DC in 1971 I was in culture shock. DC felt like such a sleepy, southern town. After time, I have come to prefer the more patient, kinder and personable ways of interacting.

greatwhiteway · Senior Member

You adapt to your environment... or you die! I think someone smart said that once.

hunter97 · Newbie

I am sorry to ruffly some feathers with all of these comments but there is really no excuse for the way that I was personally treated or for any of the others I watched being terribly treated. I visit New York several times a year and have been to several other shows and never received such treatment. I understand the "New York Way" and this was way way beyond that. To be totally honest we were there from Thursday-Sunday and met some extrememly helpful, kind and courteous people. We kept saying how great it was UNTIL that theatre treatment. AND yes, they were mostly old (tired maybe, no patience, etc.) and yes, they hat to get lots of people in and out but unacceptable is just plain unacceptable. There is no need to work in a service industry if you can't deal wiht people. AND unfair to say all of the employees as I did mention the great bartender upstairs but for everyone else I encountered it was just one rude event after the other. But thank you all for listening and responding!

DogsandBirds · Guru

Hunter - you are totally correct! There is never a reason to be rude. Born and bred in NYC, I am very polite to people. I believe what goes around comes around so therefore I treat people as I wish to be treated.

Rude is rude, you are quite right!

reniefran · Senior Member

I couldnt agree more. I guess I'm old fashioned but I was taught that it was never wrong to be polite and it doesn't matter where you're from. But I also wanted to say that in my brief time in New York which was basically waiting on the street for a shuttle from one terminal to another at JFK I was treated with courtesy. A gentleman who saw my dilemma with a contrary luggage cart very gallantly picked up my bag and placed it on the shuttle for me. It sticks in my mind because it was my first venture into a large city airport. It just kind of helped me to calm down a little.

gramps3 · Senior Member

There may be no good reason for being rude, but I can think of a lot of reasons why one might be rude or appear to be rude where there is no intention to be so.

And to suggest that these employed senior citizens should just quit seems a bit presumptious.

I wonder if any of us fans might jostle and squirm to get close enough for an autograph at the stage door or is there a line and we wait our turn

Stan/grumpy no, that's not right, it's Gramps

greatwhiteway · Senior Member

I don't think anyone got their feathers ruffled. I think you made an observation and people mostly just responded. I enjoyed the discussion and I think most people did. As far as the stage door thing went when I was there fans were polite. I was not jostled or pushed. I guess the worse thing that would happen is that if you left a spot of space in front of you, someone would jump right in it. I was taken aback by the woman who spoke to my daughter.

Hello799 · Senior Member

For all of those that have replied to this thread, I would like to thank you. If you have read any of my posts prior to this one, you may already know that I am very opinionated. When I go to this show next week, I will be keeping this thread in mind. Only because, if someone is rude to me, I point it out. I would hate too see anything bad happen while I was there. I will just be that much more polite now than ever before.
Again, thank you to all.

handjive · Newbie

I just came across this thread today, and felt the need to actually register to speak my mind on this issue.

I am an employee of the Brooks Atkinson. What I do is irrelevant, but I will say that I work in one of the departments attacked in the initial post.

I know that the ushers sometimes rude. I know that the merchandise people give quick, short, and decisive answers. I know that even the bar staff can be rude. While I am NOT condoning the behavior of anyone on the staff, please think about how we feel before you go and criticize.

Ushers are trying to seat you in an orderly and timely fashion. They ask everyone to wait to be seated because, frankly, sometimes people THINK they're in the right seat, but they're not. This just causes more problems later on when they have to come find you and make you move to your correct seat. And the Playbills ARE counted, and the ushers have them in their hands. Like I said, I know some of the ushers are rude, so I'm not trying to defend the one who yelled at someone's daughter or whatnot. But it's hard when all the ushers are trying to do is seat you and effectively handle crowd control, and people are grabbing at Playbills and walking past ushers, then ending up confused. On top of all of that, they have to watch out for cameras (both still and video), help park wheelchairs, and answer questions about where the bar or the bathroom is.

The merchandise counter gets incredibly crowded, as I'm sure those who have been to the show have seen. I've watched them work, and what gets so frustrating is that there is no concept of a line or a set order in which people are supposed to be helped in. So what have I seen people do? They try to ask the seller questions when the seller is clearly helping another customer. Those kids have so many people to help in a short amount of time that they need to answer questions quickly and move on to the next customer. That's why people get the short answers like, "They're $25." and "$15." Like gramps3 said above, in a business/transaction type setting, New Yorkers tend to have an abrupt manner of speech. They're not being rude; they're trying to be efficient. Because they don't have a lot of time to help so many people, there's no time to have a long, friendly conversation. They are some of the sweetest kids I've met; patrons just need to give them a chance to help one person at a time and not interrupt when they're talking to someone else. It gets stressful when people are yelling questions at them from all directions.

Anyway, I just felt like I had to speak my mind. I, once again, am NOT defending the actions of anyone who was rude to a patron (I am truly sorry that you ran into a sour person on our staff), but I'm just asking that you all take a moment and put yourself in our shoes and look at things from our perspective. We're working hard and trying to do our best. Everyone has bad days and good days, no matter if you're a theatre-goer, an usher, a t-shirt seller, or anything. You may have caught someone on a bad day, or maybe you didn't. You never know what's going on, so just take that into consideration.

-- Edited by handjive at 08:38, 2007-08-24

Hello799 · Senior Member

Thanks for your reply handjive. I think what might be appropriate here is for you to take our compllaints to the right people.
I have been in customer service for a little while now. Regardless of what kind of day I am having, what my job description is or how busy I am, as a customer, I don't have to think on how you feel if I were to critize your rude behavior.

Food for thought. Your theatre so far has been at over 99% capacity for the first month. Your theatre holds over 1 thousand seats. Might be a good idea if you opened your doors earlier than 30 minutes to curtain. Trying to seat over a thousand people-one group at a time-in less than 30 minutes is going to create "bad days". As for the bartender, what could they really be rude about??? The five-and-dime concession stand, what do you expect??

I guess I was just gonna leave this one story to myself. But I now feel its time to share.
Its about a stage-hand. During the final number when the entire cast was doing the hand-jive, the patrons were on their feet applauding, laughing and having a good time. A lady that was about 4 or 5 seats to my left was having a difficult time keeping up with the hand-jive. Not sure if she was intoxicated or mentally challanged or simply just not able to do it. But, there were 3 back-stage guys (behind the curtains) that thought it was funny and proceeded to make fun of her.

Handjive- Please don't take this as a personal attack. Heck, for the ushers, when I was there, I thought they were kind and very helpful.

Ray · Senior Member

I had a few little encounters with employees and they were as nice as they could be.
The only complaints I heard, and they had nothing to do with the employees, was from women waiting in line to use the one and only Ladies' Room.
Opening the doors, say, an hour before curtain would certainly reduce the problem, but might mean more pay for employees...Heavens!!! Some women actually used the Men's Room, which is surprisingly small, but no line, no problems. "It's good to be the King" (It's good to be a man).

DogsandBirds · Guru

This is not the only theater that opens the house 1/2 before curtain. To the best of my knowledge, most of them do the same.

There maybe union rules about the time the house can open, who knows?

handjive · Newbie

The powers that be at the theatre are not the easiest people to go to with problems and/or complaints. Trust me, I've tried.

And I have no control over when the house opens. I think it's just the horrible layout of the theatre that hinders efficiency. The traffic doesn't flow well and it makes everyone's job harder. Many Broadway houses, including houses bigger than ours, open at half hour and have no problem seating everyone. I don't think that's the problem.

As for the stage hands, I don't know what was going on... but, honestly, I laugh at drunk people that try to dance, too. What's the harm in that? Laughing at a drunk person trying to dance is a WHOLE lot different than laughing maliciously at someone who is mentally challenged. So I don't think you have the right to judge unless you positively know all of the details of the situation.

I'm not trying to be confrontational; I'm just trying to alleviate some concerns and give explanations.

Edwardian · Veteran Member

Handjive, I have to disagree with you. A customer is a customer. Period. Service personnel need to treat ALL customers with respect at all times.

If someone is drunk and unruly, you deal with the behavior in a calm and respectful way, even if it is necessary to have security remove that person from the theater. Respect, always. And would it hurt to try a little kindness , as well?

DogsandBirds · Guru

Not the job of the stage crew to remove a drunken person. Seems like the person wasn't doing any real harm, just doing a silly dance. I think I might have laughed too!

I don't see the disrespect unless you mean that a person who gets drunk at a show, should be respected? I think that is terribly disrespectful to the cast and crew!

handjive · Newbie

Well, I understand that. And throughout this post, I have said that I don't condone any actions of the staff. I'm just trying to make the point that there is a difference between laughing at someone to be mean, or because you think something is funny. Whether the person is a customer or not is irrelevant; I'm just making the point that maybe they weren't "making fun". I'm responding to the fact that Hello799 was automatically assuming that they were being mean.

And I just read the above post, and that's exactly my point. Yes, theatre staff has to be respectful, but do people really think coming to shows drunk and being rude to the theatre staff is respectful? Yes, customers deserve respect, but that doesn't mean that patrons have the right to be rude and that the staff shouldn't get respect back.

-- Edited by handjive at 20:49, 2007-08-24

Edwardian · Veteran Member

I totally agree that patrons have a duty to be respectful and also to not disrupt other audience members' enjoyment of the show. People who do behave inappropriately should be dealt with respectfully and as discreetly as possible, up to and including being ushered out of the theater if necessary.

Hello799 · Senior Member

I do apologize for posting and then leaving the forum for the whole day.

As I read all of the posts after mine, I get the impression that I made a mistake in my previous post.
I gave several reasons as to why this person was unable to do the handjive, ONE of them was it being that she was drunk. As I was only 4 or 5 seats away, it is my opinion that she was NOT drunk.

Its irrelevant, because I was there and saw the employees. I assure you, they were not laughing at her. They were making fun of her. It was intentional, and it was mean spirited.

My only regret of the whole situation was that I concentrated so much on that issue, while I missed over a minute of the show.

Handjive.......I completely understand the circumstances that some of the employees are in. Because this thread was started before I went to see the show, I paid special attention to this issue. I was actually surprised on how friendly the employees were to me. From what I noticed, I would definitely be high-strung with your job.

DogsandBirds · Guru

I was at the matinée today. I just want to tell you the staff was more than polite and lovely. I was sitting in the front row of the mezzanine and before the show started staff came over to the row to ask all the people not to put anything on the rail in front of the row. Seems that the night before, someone decided to put their water bottle there, which was full, and the bottle fell off and dropped into the orchestra, hit a woman in the head, broke her glasses and causes a cut down her face.

Can't imagine having to deal with that!

BroadwayDream101 · Veteran Member

You know, when I was sitting in the first row of the mezzanine, I thought about that...My brother put our playbills on the ledge, and had thought about them falling. That wouldn't be good...I'd hate to be the person sitting right underneath the balcony where anything could fall. Of course I grabbed the playbills and stuck them in my purse so nothing of that sort would happen with us involved...

Iris · Member

We were at the August 23 performance and the only rude people we encountered in the theatre were the people 2 rows in front of us who kept getting up during the performance. The BA staff was very gracious and we asked to take pictures inside the theatre and were granted the opportunity.

We were surprised at how friendly the natives were in NYC. From the airport to the person walking down Broadway -- we were expecting rudeness and never found it.

I guess each experience is unique. I loved the production of Grease and thought the entire cast was terrific.

DogsandBirds · Guru

We are a friendly lot and mostly polite. Come back and see us again sometime!

MaxFan · Veteran Member

DogsandBirds wrote:

We are a friendly lot and mostly polite. Come back and see us again sometime!

I agree! In both our visits to Brooks Atkinson the ushers and merchandise employees were businesslike and helpful. They were a bit abrupt at times, but only because they were busy. I rather enjoy that New York style. It is a great city.