I have bought a lot of concert tickets throughout my life. I remember my very first attempt to get tickets to a show. As a kid, I desperately wanted to go to concerts. Desperately. I begged and begged my mom with no luck. Her rule was simple. I was allowed to go when I was able to go by myself. She did not want to be forced to go with me. Finally, when I turned 15, she deemed it safe enough for me to go alone as I was going with a couple of friends and my mom’s best friend’s oldest son would be there, if we needed something. My excitement could not be contained as I could not wait to go to my first concert (which happened to be Depeche Mode). Once permission was granted, the next step would be how to acquire these coveted tickets. I took note of when they would go on sale and the plan to call into ticketmaster for tickets was made. The Saturday morning came. At 10 am sharp, I began dialing. Busy. Call again. Busy again. Rinse and repeat. About 40 minutes later, we finally got through! Victory! Sort of. We got lawn tickets. While disappointed, I was thrilled that I would be at the show.
Fast forward a few decades to buying Duran Duran tickets and I still have not totally mastered the art of the presale. Maybe it is not an art but a science. I now know some tricks. For example, I make sure that I am logged into the system (if I can) ahead of time. A map of the venue sits next to my computer for reference. I usually have multiple devices, hoping that one might be faster or better than the others. Yet, all those tricks and more sometimes don’t work or don’t work as well as I would like. Nonetheless, I have found myself sharing all of these tricks in the last week or so with my colleagues. Were they trying to buy concert tickets? No. I wish. No, instead they were trying to get vaccine appointments.
Earlier this year, I saw tweets like this one and could not relate.
It is not that I did not want my parents to get the vaccine but because their health care provider was ON IT. They called them to schedule appointments and those were kept. I didn’t need to help them. Therefore, as of today, my parents are fully vaccinated, which is such a relief. So, while I laughed at this tweet, I was relieved that I didn’t have to deal with the “trying to schedule a vaccine through a website” struggle. Then, this week happened.
In Wisconsin, like many other states, educators and school staff are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. My colleagues and I were lost about the next step. We were thrilled but confused. “Now what?” we all wondered. Then, a friend discovered that Walgreens was offering vaccines to all eligible people through their website. Easy enough, right? Wrong. The site updated appointments once a day and they went fast. People were chomping at the bit to get this done. Soon enough, I found myself sharing the tricks of presales that I have learned over my tenure as a Duranie, including to make sure you have an account and being logged in when the new appointments go live. Who knew that being a fan might actually help to save people’s health and safety???
For those of you wondering about me, I have an appointment to receive my first shot on Tuesday. I have to go to my clinic for some special procedures as I have a history of allergies and reactions to medications. I’m nervous but also excited to have protection for myself and my community. More importantly, I’m thrilled that my colleagues, many of whom are due to return to buildings, will get the necessary protection for their lives and health. On that note, would it be wrong for me to call up my mom and tell her that my concert going that she was not thrilled about taught my useful and helpful skills??
-A
