I am a very brave soul. Today I bought from a scalper.
I went up to guys who were ginormous, and guys who looked like thugs, and guys who looked like rich snobs, and every other kind of guy out there. (And in doing so I realized that rich snobs annoy me the most.) The prices were just plain crazy. And the number of people looking for tickets was crazy. But gall dang it I had requested this day off back in April to go to this game, and I was going to go. After a lap around both Target Field and Target Center with no success, and with the game already started, I had to decide whether or not I should think about giving up. But what kind of boring story would that be? I didn't want to. I decided to head toward the ballpark one last time.
And there I found a normal-looking guy selling the one extra ticket he had for $15 to a scalper. "No! You should've sold it to me! Now he's going to scalp me!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! If I had known..." he turned to the scalper, "Tell you what, sell it to her for $20."
The scalper was holding on to a $10 bill, looking through his wad to find a 5 for the guy. Not finding one he gruffly turned to me, "Just give the guy $20!"
And so I did. The guy was happy because he got $5 more than he thought he was going to, I was happy because I finally had a ticket and because I'd rather give money to the normal guy than the scalper, and the scalper was crabby because he lost a sale. "Now I won't be able to eat!" he yelled after me. Yeah. Cuz I care. He can eat the rest of the tickets he wasn't able to sell because he was asking too much.
It was annoying that he stepped in, but I suppose I can't balk at $20 too much. I had set my limit at $15, but there was nothing out there, and it was a $35 ticket. It felt a little far from home plate, but beggars can't be choosers. And now I learned that I would rather sit up higher and closer to home than closer to the field but farther down the line.
Ooh, and I can't complain at $20 too much cuz I got a free shirt. TC was shooting them in my section, and rather than stand up like everyone else, I decided I would stay seated, figuring that it wouldn't come to my area, and if it did, staying seated would make it easier to dive. My technique worked. The people next to me were in the bathroom, and it fell right next to me. An easy dive.
And it was good that I got the shirt because someone two rows up spilled his beer, trickling down onto the bottom of my purse, which I could now wipe off because I had a shirt.
And the shirt is now in the washing machine.
It was a nice day for a game (though with no breeze or shade, a little hot), and we won, and I don't think I got too sunburned. A bit of a farmer tan maybe, but not burnt.
Ooh! And excitement of excitement, the fire alarm went off. A big siren sound, followed by an "Attention, please!", followed by everyone looking confused, followed by everyone cheering.
All in all, a good day.
(Though I still wasn't able to take my nieces, Target Field. Still not your biggest fan. Your loveliness is eclipsed by your inability to supply me with tickets.)
6 comments:
I'm so jealous that I couldn't join you on your adventure. Next time, since you're now an expert.
Sounds like it was meant to be. Way to go! :) (But how did you know who was selling? I remember you said that was something you were concerned about before you went...)
Is Charlie a unicorn?
the expert in me has now seen how hard it is to get decent prices. perhaps if we waited til the 3rd inning, but in the first they were still outlandish.
oh, you can tell who's selling. they have their 'i need tickets' signs. my thing was that i wanted to buy from a real person, cuz i figured they'd be more trustworthy, and as it was that was what i got. :)
and yes, charlie is a unicorn. :)
Chel, she told me it was because they were holding up one finger. You just have to make sure you go to the person holding up the right finger.
Thanks, Celeste. I wonder why she didn't tell me that. And thanks for the warning -- I'll try to avoid the people with the wrong finger up if I ever try this...
i don't know if any of those people had tickets. i didn't go up to any of them. they may have been looking for one. i don't know.
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