“Hello? Is it me you’re looking for………….” Damn, wrong song! (sorry Lionel Ritchie but I like you too….!)
“Hello from the other side“…….. This actually describes my feelings and frustrations this morning as I attempt the impossible; booking accessible seats to a stadium tour of a huge, big named artist, nothing simpler I hear you say…….
I am a huge fan of Adele and like millions/trillions/gazillions of other likeminded people, I’ve spent this week attempting to book tickets. Now I do appreciate that this might mean a stint in front of the laptop, constantly checking the window as it refreshes every three seconds to see where you are in the queue or if you’ve even made the queue at all but try booking an accessible seat and wow! are you in one whole different universe……!!
Presale tickets go on sale today, so armed with my secret code, (you know, the one only me and about 750,000 others know about as we’re members of her fan club) I sit holding my phone and start the process. As a person who needs an accessible seat, I cannot buy tickets online, no siree, I have to ring to speak to a real life person so as they can ‘assess my needs‘ and ‘assess which area would be more suitable for me‘. Much as I want to shout out and say that I can assess my own needs and also can decide which area I would like for myself, I hold back, check I’ve got the correct designated accessible seat hotline number, press the numbers and wait…….”Thank you for phoning Wembley Stadium, this line is busy, please try later” is the reply, ok, not a surprise, am expecting a bit of a wait so I press redial and start again. And hear the same message, ok, let’s try again….. same message, redial…….same message, redial……same message, redial…………..same message, redial…………..
Now I won’t bore you with how many times I did this but let’s just say, it got to over 100 attempts and over an hour without success; but on the 127th time…….. no message, just a click and some very repetitive music as if I was on hold……… YEY, I thought, at last! I’m through!! There’ll be a REAL person talking to me any minute!!!
Unfortunately, that music will now be forever in my brain as I listened to it for 1 hour and 24 minutes without anyone answering or picking up!!! I’ve even managed to write this blog whilst waiting! Now I’m stuck in the eternal dilemma, do I hang up or just keep listening? If I hang up, I’ll just get the standard answering message. I know this as have also tried to get through on P’s phone, very much to his annoyance and now he’s sloped off with his phone to have a bath, I think just to get away from me, he isn’t even a fan of Adele so he ‘doesn’t know why I should use his phone anyway‘!!! So here I am, waiting, typing, waiting, typing, waiting and typing some more……..
Ok, decision made, P has now finished his bath and I’m still waiting!!! Think it’s time to call it quits guys, here goes, have to press the ‘end call’ button….. Noooooooooo………………. 😱😱😱
But……
OMG, there’s a voice! Well, another voice telling me I’m currently being held in a queue ( No, REALLY..!!!) so here I am again, I’ve pressed option 7 and I’m ready, well, typing and waiting, typing and….. you know the score……….
But this time, the music is different at least and ever so slightly annoyingly, is interrupted every 10seconds with a voice saying “Welcome to England fans“. Not quite sure now if a. I’ve pressed the wrong button and am waiting now to book tickets for the football or b. if Wembley Stadium is welcoming people to England or c. if Wembley only welcomes fans from one part of the United Kingdom…….
This entertained my thoughts for a while but by now, my patience, once buoyed with excitement and anticipation, is now wearing thinner by the minute………
P walks in from the bathroom, ‘you’re not still on that bloody thing are you?’ says he! ‘Yes‘ says I! And I turned to grab the phone when I heard a voice saying “hello? welcome to Wembley Stadium, how may I help you?“…………..
Three hours, one bath and a whole heap of patience later, I am the very proud owner of 2 accessible Adele tickets!! Now who said ‘good things come to those who wait’ eh? Whoever he was, he was damn right! What a morning/afternoon, completely exhausted but also completely exhilarated, need a lie down now to recover! (with a big grin on my face obviously ………!!!) 😘
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