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Does anyone really like waiting rooms? It's one of the few things in society that seemed to be universally loathed. Waiting rooms are not really a concept that needed to be ported over to the digital world, but they "solve" a problem and so they exist.
This morning, thousands of folks in Houston and beyond found themselves in digital waiting rooms, watching a blue bar timer move from left to right across their screens, waiting for the moment they could buy RodeoHouston tickets.
This is not how most people wanted to spend a beautiful Saturday morning.
If the problem in past years was that folks were unable to reach the RodeoHouston site because their servers couldn't handle the demand, then the new digital waiting rooms from AXS were a success. It seems most folks were able to get to the site, get to the show they wanted, and then get in the waiting room.
In that way, the system worked fine.
But it still left people - people who want to throw money at the Rodeo, mind you - in a situation where they simply want to buy tickets and can't. The only difference is that instead of not being able to access the site, they were left staring at a blue bar move from left to right with no indication of what their place in line was or how much longer it would be until they could buy tickets.
The "Thanks for being patient, please wait your turn" *Important Message* on the page probably didn't help either. Like in a real waiting room, what choice do you have?
Our experience, as it was, was jumping in to the waiting rooms at 9:40 a.m. and then going off to play Cookie Clicker until it was our turn to buy tickets. We picked Luke Bryan, Fall Out Boy, Florida-George Line and Ariana Grande as our test cases. At about 10:22 a.m. it was our turn to buy tickets, and across all 4 rooms the result was exactly the same: yes, tickets were available, as long as you don't mind sitting in the upper deck.
This means we did not get to explore the whole "NOTE: Action, Field, Club Level Seats are Singles Only." thing that the Rodeo tweeted out right as tickets went on sale. This tweet did not go over well with some people.
In summation: the struggle is real, y'all.
Let's see what Twitter had to say about the new ticketing system.
@RODEOHOUSTON that was absolutely the worst concert ticket buying experience ever you suck ☺️☺️☺️
— Tori Garcia ✨ (@xoxotoriamanda) January 17, 2015
Haven't seen a single positive tweet about @RODEOHOUSTON yet! Shows you how upset everyone is
— Marc lobos (@lobos_marc) January 17, 2015
@AXS and @RODEOHOUSTON have officially let everyone in Houston down. Way to go, #RODEOHOUSTONFAIL
— Pete Hernandez (@DynamoPete) January 17, 2015
@RODEOHOUSTON too bad your virtual waiting room idea was terrible. This is the worst ticket buying experience of my life.
— Kara Lewton (@horsiechiq) January 17, 2015
@RODEOHOUSTON The "virtual waiting room" might be the dumbest idea in the history of the internet. Nice going.
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) January 17, 2015
Been in the virtual waiting room since 9am. This is so stupid. I have shit to do, can't wait around all day. #RODEOHOUSTON
— Maria Estee [: (@mariiahhhh) January 17, 2015
@RODEOHOUSTON SO HELP ME GOD IF I DONT GET ARIANA TICKETS BECAUSE OF THIS NON GUARANTEE WAITING ROOM ILL PUNCH A COW. OK NO BUT ILL BE MAD
— Amanda (@amandaplease223) January 17, 2015
Note: "Punch a cow" is going in to our regularly used phrases immediately.
@RODEOHOUSTON I have a better chance of winning tickets off the radio than buying them off the site so thanks for that
— Christie Saad (@ChristieSaad) January 17, 2015
Y'alls waiting room sucks, come on @RODEOHOUSTON "it will be your turn soon" my ass
— Maya (@MayaGhoson) January 17, 2015
And as a final reminder of why this whole digital waiting room exists in the first place:
@megansnyder4 the waiting room's purpose is to help filter out scalpers and allow the real ticket buyers to enter store.
— RODEOHOUSTON (@RODEOHOUSTON) January 17, 2015
We wonder how that worked out.
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