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For those who care/kept track/etc
Jun. 4th, 2009 08:23 amGoing to see Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer last night was great fun. My only complaints were these:
a) the show started thirty minutes late and I have a punctuality fetish. I do not believe in wasting moments of anyone's life unless you have to. And since the main attraction was already there at the book store, there was no reason to start at 8:32 as opposed to the advertised 8:00 starting time. If this were a college class, I would have been within my rights to leave.
b) we weren't informed that the venue was, aside from the special tickets for the "tables", standing room only.
Now, the standing room only thing isn't a problem for me or the Boy, but we saw a lady with a cane with one of the staff of the bookstore trying to find a place to sit down and see the show, and she obviously hadn't bought one of the special tickets that accorded you a plastic chair and a table with the rough circumference of Lindsey Lohan's waistline, which is to say: very tiny.
That's one of those little ablist things that gets on my nerves, especially since it's so easy to take care of. If you can't provide for chairs for everyone - and this place could have had a little more seating - at least tell people this fact so they can make decisions accordingly. I don't know if the staff was able to accommodate the lady (I'm sure they were), but I'm sure she might have tried to buy a seated ticket or maybe phoned ahead to ask for an extra chair to be put out if they'd told people it was standing room only.
When you're not entirely able bodied, such information as "is there a bathroom" or "are there places to sit" or "is there enough room for a wheelchair" become much more important. Also, if you're pregnant or elderly, these questions become more important. Especially the bathroom one.
c) Someone brought their baby and it cried to beat the band. Eventually they left. I get annoyed at this not only because a crying baby makes it hard to hear and is annoying - but because the baby is crying because it's distressed. It's obviously very unhappy (maybe even scared or in a bit of discomfort) because the place is loud, filled with people, way too warm, there's clapping and loud music and wolf whistling and shouting. Why would you do that to your poor kid? Especially when the show runs from 8:00-10:00. I'm no parenting expert, but I think at that hour, your child would prefer being in their nice, quiet, comfy crib. Away from the sweaty, noisy, loud mass of strangers. I mean, hell, by the time we got home at ten past eleven, I was more than ready to crawl into my nice quiet bed and would have started crying if someone had dragged me out to a concert, too!
So, yeah, don't do that to your kids.
But anyway, besides these things (which were pretty minor as things go)...
( The very exciting goings on and happenings at the show. Cut for people who could care less. Which I imagine is most of you. )
a) the show started thirty minutes late and I have a punctuality fetish. I do not believe in wasting moments of anyone's life unless you have to. And since the main attraction was already there at the book store, there was no reason to start at 8:32 as opposed to the advertised 8:00 starting time. If this were a college class, I would have been within my rights to leave.
b) we weren't informed that the venue was, aside from the special tickets for the "tables", standing room only.
Now, the standing room only thing isn't a problem for me or the Boy, but we saw a lady with a cane with one of the staff of the bookstore trying to find a place to sit down and see the show, and she obviously hadn't bought one of the special tickets that accorded you a plastic chair and a table with the rough circumference of Lindsey Lohan's waistline, which is to say: very tiny.
That's one of those little ablist things that gets on my nerves, especially since it's so easy to take care of. If you can't provide for chairs for everyone - and this place could have had a little more seating - at least tell people this fact so they can make decisions accordingly. I don't know if the staff was able to accommodate the lady (I'm sure they were), but I'm sure she might have tried to buy a seated ticket or maybe phoned ahead to ask for an extra chair to be put out if they'd told people it was standing room only.
When you're not entirely able bodied, such information as "is there a bathroom" or "are there places to sit" or "is there enough room for a wheelchair" become much more important. Also, if you're pregnant or elderly, these questions become more important. Especially the bathroom one.
c) Someone brought their baby and it cried to beat the band. Eventually they left. I get annoyed at this not only because a crying baby makes it hard to hear and is annoying - but because the baby is crying because it's distressed. It's obviously very unhappy (maybe even scared or in a bit of discomfort) because the place is loud, filled with people, way too warm, there's clapping and loud music and wolf whistling and shouting. Why would you do that to your poor kid? Especially when the show runs from 8:00-10:00. I'm no parenting expert, but I think at that hour, your child would prefer being in their nice, quiet, comfy crib. Away from the sweaty, noisy, loud mass of strangers. I mean, hell, by the time we got home at ten past eleven, I was more than ready to crawl into my nice quiet bed and would have started crying if someone had dragged me out to a concert, too!
So, yeah, don't do that to your kids.
But anyway, besides these things (which were pretty minor as things go)...
( The very exciting goings on and happenings at the show. Cut for people who could care less. Which I imagine is most of you. )
