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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Stadium ushers use
discretion in seat policyQuestion: We attended the University of Hawaii-Fresno State game with our 9-year-old granddaughter, whose siblings had late soccer games. The usher in Section D would not allow us to sit with her (to wait for the rest of the family to show up) since we had season tickets in another section. Our section was too far away to be worth going there and bringing her back to her parents when they arrived. The usher was very adamant and would not listen to reason. We tried the next entrance where a young usher understood our plight and let us in. However, 10 minutes later, she came to our seats, apologized and said her supervisor said she must ask us to leave. What harm could two elderly people cause baby-sitting in our family's seats until they arrived, at which time we had our own seats to move to? Why don't ushers check tickets on the upper levels where anybody can go up the spiral walk and not have any checkers? Why two different rules? What security do these measures accomplish? Can I have a logical explanation from the Stadium Authority? It certainly is enough to discourage us from renewing our tickets next season.
Answer: Your situation could have been handled with better discretion, acknowledged Scott Chan, operations manager for Aloha Stadium, who apologized for the inconvenience you were put through.
He explained that the stadium has had a policy for the past three to four years to allow people only into the areas for which they have tickets.
"That's to prevent people who aren't authorized to go in to loiter and block the aisles -- which is violating the fire code -- obstructing views of others and being a nuisance for handicapped people by sitting on the aisles," Chan said. "We've had too many complaints regarding that."
The policy has helped control those behaviors, he said.
That said, Chan added that he will be working with employees regarding customer service. "If we can be a little bit more helpful, we will try to do that."
In the employees' defense, he pointed out that "it's really difficult when you grant a request for one and not for another in front of everyone."
Still, "it depends on the situation at the time," he said. "We try to empower our ushers to make those decisions that we would have made without having to consult with us. That's the reason we train and work with them prior to the season."
As for screening the bottom levels more than the top, it's because people want to get to the seats closer to the field.
"So we're a little bit more lax in the upper concourse because no one is really fighting to get there," Chan said. "We do have people manning" that section as well, but often they'll let people through because fans aren't clamoring to sit there, compared with the orange and blue sections, he said.
Mahalo
To a very nice young man named Kaleo. I recently left my cane in a shopping cart at Kahala Mall. Kaleo contacted me to say he had found it. I asked him to leave it at the Longs lost-and-found. I wanted him to know that I sincerely appreciate his good deed and thoughtfulness. May good fortune bless him. -- A Grateful Senior
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