A Trip Down Neurosis Lane

Yesterday I played around on my computer until the clock struck 10:01 am. Then, trying to breathe normally, I logged onto Ticketmaster and scrolled down to the Weezer show. I found last week that in October Weezer was going to play at an auditorium about 10 minutes from my house, and I had to go. I'm not sure why this event became so do or die--midlife crisis perhaps? Or maybe it's because I haven't seen a rock concert in seven years? Probably both.

At any rate, I thought of nothing all morning except the moment I would buy my two Weezer tickets online. I saw that American Express cardholders could buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public on Friday, and I've got an Amex card! I clicked on the "look for tickets" button. I then typed in the security word and clicked the "continue" button. I watched a row of rectangles flash across the screen, then a message appeared: "You're order could not be processed, try again." So, I did. I got the same message. I tried again, and again, and again.

These are times when I wished I worked, because then I would have a boss looking over my shoulder, keeping me from fixating on these tickets. But, since I keep my own schedule, I can put everything else aside and drive myself crazy clicking buttons, typing in security codes and getting the confounded "try again" message over and over again.

I called my husband and bitched to him about it. "Why don't you try calling Ticketmaster?" he asked. Oh, yeah. That snapped me out of my delusional state.

After talking to a machine and still not getting tickets, I hit the star key for a customer service assistant. I told Laura my problem, that I couldn't get Weezer tickets even though I have an Amex card. "Oh, this offer is only for Blue cardholders," she said. "You'll have to wait until Friday when tickets are available to the general public."

What??? I tried to keep my voice from raising two decibels. "If that's the case, why does the web site say tickets are available for ANY American Express cardholder?"

"Oh, let me check." After a few moments, she said, "Sorry, it's just for Blue cardholders."

I wanted to strangle her through the phone. So Ticketmaster can post certain information on its web site, and have its customer service assistants give different information, and there's nothing I can do about it. At that moment, I knew I just had to let it go.

But thank goodness for blogging! Today I went back on the Ticketmaster web site to walk through the horrible ticket buying process again so I could write about it. But after I clicked the "continue" button, a new screen popped up. Two tickets were available! I had 2 minutes and 15 seconds to accept them. I looked at the page again to make sure I was reading it correctly. I managed to regain my composure and secure the tickets before the clock struck 2:15.

So all's well that ends well, and I'm going to the Weezer show after all. But it'll probably be another seven years before I go to another concert again. Ticketmaster took me to hell and back yesterday, and I'm just getting too old for that kind of stress.