Friday, September 7, 2007

Exercises in frustration

1) People in Hong Kong knows that after the disappointment of Jacky Cheung canceling his last two concerts, the next thing to look forward to is the Eason Chan concert. How many concerts do you see where its popularity it so huge that they had to add shows 3 times to accommodate everyone? However, 3 times don't seem to be enough.

I decided to go down the the nearest ticket outlet early, in hopes of scoring a couple of those hot tickets myself. However, it seems like I underestimated the demand, or the efficiency of ticket sale outlets, quite badly.

The outlets opened at 10, so I went down there at 9 am. However, there were already two lines - one right in front of the store, and an extension across from it. I entered the second line as about the 43rd person. 2 counters working, just under 70 people, each person take about 3 minutes, that's 105 minutes max I'd have to wait in line, right? Ticket counters open, the store only lets 10 people in at a time, but they only let 10 people in every 30 minutes. That means the second line I was in did not move until 11:00.

11:45. They finally let 20 people into the store in the second line, and a few people in my line has given up. I have a group meeting at school starting at 12, I thought I'd give myself a leeway and say I'd arrive at 1. But as I count the people in line, I realize I am the 21st person in the second line. That means I will have to wait another hour to get to the front, and another half hour to get into the store, and another half hour inside the store to get to the counter.

I like Eason Chan and all, but do I like him THAT much?

What really pissed me off was one women in front of me actually knows one of the ticket buyers in the first line. As he came out, she left the line to meet him and went back to her place in line holding two tickets.

So almost a 3-hour wait left me ticketless, food-less, and very late for my group meeting. URBTIX, I hate you.

2) Northwest Flight 1 is supposed to leave Tokyo at 6:35 pm and arrive in Hong Kong at around 10:20 pm. Tonight, the flight is expected to leave Tokyo at 9:40 pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 1:25 am due to an "inbound flight delay." In the past week, there has not been such delay, not even the night Typhoon Fitow hit Tokyo directly.

Northwest, I hate you, too.

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