Anjulie is one of my favorite new artists. Her self-titled debut (full review/interview coming soon) has been on rotation since I got it this summer, and she’s continuing to build a buzz and a following. She made a trip to Chicago this week, and had a show at the House of Blues on Wednesday. I was excited to see her live show, and went over early to check out her opening slot prior to headlining performances by B.O.B. and Shwayze (why these dudes have headlining slots is beyond me). I was uncertain of the crowd, as the show started pretty early and was all-ages. When I approached the ticket window to grab my passes left for me by Anjulie’s team I waited patiently behind three kids with braces and mom’s credit card, as well as a ‘growing more frustrated by the minute’ parent probably wondering what the f**k is a Shwayze, and why does it cost $22.50?
I finally approached the ticket window, slide my ID through with my RH card, and told them I should have a press pass under Anjulie. Without much effort or politeness, the HOB ticket rep asked me who Anjulie was, and said, ‘she’s not here. There’s nothing we can do.’ I replied, ‘Anjulie, she is here, and is performing tonight,’ which was met with, ‘well, she has no list.’ I then proceeded to show this girl the email from her team with all the necessary info, which was then met with some s**t about I can have her manager call the HOB stage manager or some s**t which I didn’t really care about and just left.
I know the game, and I also know that guest lists and press crednetials and all that can get messed up or lost along the way, but come on, a little effort? A little customer service? I always thought it was the ticket window’s person to represent the venue and actually help patrons see a show, not lazily shift through papers and turn people away without getting up from their seat. Why would I call the HOB stage manager? I don’t even know who that is, and I don’t work for the HOB, that again seems like the job a good customer service rep. I really wouldn’t even care, except that this happens everytime at the House of Blues, whom for some reason employs people that either can’t read, or just don’t care enough to correctly look at guest lists or don a thinking cap to figure out viable solutions to this sort of problem. The House of Blues maybe a great place to see a show, but for my fellow journalists and others, it’s a terrible venue that treats people rudely and never goes out of its way to work through any confusion and help people like me just do their jobs. While usually I wait through their bulls**t only to have them tell me 10 minutes and a supervisor later that my name was on the list all along and then attribute the problem to some other bulls**t excuse, I just left.
I’d like to hope that this won’t happen again…but it will with another artist, and another ticket rep until the House of Blues hires people that really care and have a beyond 5th grade reading level. I still got some lesson plans left from my teaching days, holler at me if you’d like to get hooked on phonics.