Will Call sucked real bad

[darkfred62]

Will Call sucked real bad this year.

Stood in line for four hours to get my prepaid tickets. There was no control over the ticket lines until you got under the shade structure.

So what happened? Too many will call tickets, not enough people to process? No line control is kind of inexcusable. Even the Tards at TSA can do that.

I heard once it got dark, people were cutting the line right and left. Some were doing it because they did not know where the end of the line was. Others were cutting the line because they are assholes.

I watched one lady just chew some ass ( I backed her up too after I saw what was going on) on some line cutters during the day.

[theCryptofishist]

Remember the so-called "tards" at TSA are paid. If two of the people who were supposed to be working that shift were a day late because of car trouble, well that ripples.
If the dance camps buy out burningman, I'm sure the line will be managed very slickly.

[Jovankat]

I was dismayed to see the line extend beyond the shade directly back out into the sun while I was getting close to the front. I really wanted to go back there and rearrange it so it doubled back and everyone was standing in the 4 foot of shade along the back of the covered area but American Boyfriend wouldn't let me.

[Joeln]

I was dismayed to see the line extend beyond the shade directly back out into the sun while I was getting close to the front. I really wanted to go back there and rearrange it so it doubled back and everyone was standing in the 4 foot of shade along the back of the covered area but American Boyfriend wouldn't let me.

When I got there they were standing in that shade. I thought 2 hours was bad until I heard what others went through.

They'll figure it out. The rest of entrance and exodus was pretty painless.

[theCryptofishist]

I was dismayed to see the line extend beyond the shade directly back out into the sun while I was getting close to the front. I really wanted to go back there and rearrange it so it doubled back and everyone was standing in the 4 foot of shade along the back of the covered area but American Boyfriend wouldn't let me.

You're a sheepdog! How cute!

And, of course, TSA does it 50 weeks a year, not just one. They have a lot more time to have ironed out the wrinkles.

[Jovankat]

Nope cat herder

What does TSA do for the other 2 weeks of the year? Is there a free for all fortnight at some point?

[theCryptofishist]

Actually, I assume that they get the same federal time off anyone else (except DOD) gets, 3 hours annual leave every pay period for the first two years, then 6 for some years, and finally graduating to 8 hours for every 80.

Because they are DHS they may get huge salaries as well.

[BBadger]

Watching those folk in that "line of shame" further validated my view that a ticket in the hand is far better than one in the booth. It's like having to wait twice. Still, it was supposedly Ticketfly's fault, as with many other problems with the ticketing I've heard.

[Jackass]

I had my ticket, but the gf didn't. 6hrs. for one will call ticket, luckily it was dark so it wasn't in the blazing sun. One guy said it was 8 hrs. for his. People were looking for tickets like packs of wild dogs. Someone asked the gf if she had gotten her ticket, she clutched her ticket, lied and said no and proceeded to run back to the car. It was almost like they were going cannibal at the will call. At one point an MV blew some fire, they blasted off some pyrotechnics and there was karaoke and that was cool, but not cool enough...

[AntiM]

Even with EA, and a separate line, our ranger took an hour to get his wristband. The line cutting included the road, a camper who decided they had to get over to the will call line in front of us, causing MyLarry to slam the brakes. There were NO other vehicles, he could have turned right from any lane. They Gate people directing traffic gave him a hard time, and when we parked behind him, I was well behaved and did not sharpie "I drive like a dick" on the back of his vehicle. But I thought severely harsh thoughts about his parentage and personal habits.

[remi]

My will-call experience was fantastic!

I was stuck behind the rain storm, so I stayed at the Sparks Marina RV site for one more night. I woke up at 4am, drove off, and I was parked at my camp spot by 8 am. That's 4 hours to drive all the way to burning man, 2.5-3hrs hrs to drive from Sparks to will call, waited in a 40 minute will call line, then drove and found my friends at 3:30 I within a half hour or so. The people in line were all in great spirits at will call, even tho we had to wait an extra day. One of my campmates was given two tickets instead of the one that he purchased, so he was able to gift it to one of the people who was wanting a ticket at the will call booth. He didn't have internet to double check if he was double charged, so he just kept it, but now that we're home, he looked and he was only charged for one. I'm sure that made someones week. I couldn't imagine it being any better.

Exodus was just as awesome. I hit pavement in 30 minutes. I pretty much drove 5 mph straight out of burning man... and that was leaving Monday at noon.

[MFOB]

I was there 8 am Friday morning. Will Call was at the most 5 minutes. Gate was another 5 minutes. Seems as if I missed all the waits. Longest thing was the drive from pavement into BRC. Same as on the way out after the man burned.

[remi]

I was there 8 am Friday morning. Will Call was at the most 5 minutes. Gate was another 5 minutes. Seems as if I missed all the waits. Longest thing was the drive from pavement into BRC. Same as on the way out after the man burned.

You went to burning man on Friday Morning and left Saturday night? Not even 48 hrs?

[Sham]

Personally, I never understood why someone would do will call unless they absolutely had to. Having a hard ticket in your hand seems to make so much more sense to me. I have a file folder with all my BM info for the year, and the ticket and vehicle pass goes in a brightly colored envelope.

I can think of some real reasons for doing will call---such as orders from out of the country, or possible someone who is moving during that time.

Having a hard ticket in hand gives you the ability to sell it before the event--without going through the hassle of changing the name or having to meet up with a person to split an order.
For reasons beyond my control, I did will call last year and it was at least an hour wasted just winding my way through.

Can someone please give me a few reasons why they would willingly do will call?

[unjonharley]

Sounds like Will-Call got dumped on by Ticket-fly..It was ticket fly's first year.. Give then next year to do better..

[ACfromSAC]

I did will call once in 2012 and swore to never EVER do it again. Just a giant disorganized cluster of people hoping to filter into the right place eventually.

[MFOB]

I was there 8 am Friday morning. Will Call was at the most 5 minutes. Gate was another 5 minutes. Seems as if I missed all the waits. Longest thing was the drive from pavement into BRC. Same as on the way out after the man burned.

You went to burning man on Friday Morning and left Saturday night? Not even 48 hrs?

Arrival: Friday, August 22nd, 2014, 8:00AM.
Departure: Sunday, August 31st, 2014, 2:00AM.

Thats 210 hours.

[AntiM]

Can someone please give me a few reasons why they would willingly do will call?

Some staff/performer tickets and low income are will call only. Also, if someone always loses stuff, will call is safer.

[VultureChow]

There were a lot of people vowing future will call only after the shipping issues this year.

I suspect that won't happen. Though I did hear an astronomical number for total will call tickets this year. 30,000. Nearly 50% of tickets through will call sounds really high for something that sold out 6 months ago. I'm starting to wonder if the scalping situation is worse than I thought.

[forty_eight]

The actual ticket line went pretty well for us. I was a bit ashamed and surprised by the ticket seekers trolling the line, though.

It was leaving the parking lot that was painful as fuck.

An orderly line had begun to form right as we neared the ticket window, so when I got to the car after getting the tickets - even though we parked near the exit/front of the car line - I did what to me was the right thing. I backed out and went to the back of the line. Well, not everyone really saw that as an acceptable protocol and pretty much a free for all ensued at the exit. I forget exactly how long it was but it was at least 2 hours of sitting in the same exact spot while people cut, merged and otherwise finagled their way to the front(ish) part of the line.

There were these young folks in a motorhome trying to cut, and we weren't having it. My wife was out encouraging people in the line to not allow cutters. She even made the little motorhome boys stop harassing a lady in front of us to let them in. One of the douchebags proceeded to call my wife a cunt for not letting them and proceeded duck behind the dash afterwards. We laughed and pointed, lol. They ended up backing up and trying to cut others off at the exit. They made it out maybe 10 cars ahead of us. I was satisfied that they didn't get too much from their bastard ways, but I do hoped their burn sucked donkey balls.

Be good burners, people ... it ain't that hard.

[forty_eight]

We got tickets offered to us very late, and the fairly firm suggestion was to use Will Call. The option to have them shipped was still available during the buying process, but it was "firmly suggested" to use Will Call.

The mental image of that ticket screen with the shipping option stayed squarely in mind during that horrific stay in purgatory, lol.

[MoBo]

Can someone please give me a few reasons why they would willingly do will call?

Since 2011 I have been transporting a friend from Zurich, so even when I have a paper ticket our vehicle HAS to pass thru will call.
I travel a lot for work with little notice, so I am potentially not home when tickets are delivered.
Returning volunteers for some departments can earn staff priced or free tickets (depending on hours worked) and these are always delivered at will call.

It's too bad the will call waits were piss poor this year. Prior years I have never waited more than 30 minutes though that could have been sheer luck of arriving at the right time of day.

[Ano]

One aspect of Will Call that was utterly fucked this year came from scam tickets. Tons of fake tickets "held at Will Call" were sold this year, and tons of very upset people would get in line, wait for hours, get to the window, and then take up time and scream bloody murder at the situation. Understandable, saddening, infuriating, all of the above. I met a few sad people this happened to.

Another aspect of the Will-Call-Fucking came from people who had bought tickets/Vehicle passes for multiple people in their camp, and got to the window and needed to split a huge order into multiple small ones. This would reverberate outward. Sometimes people who were waiting on a split order would get to will-call before their order had actually been split. Sometimes folks would split the wrong part of the order the wrong way, or human error would put an extra vehicle pass where it shouldn't be or something. This would cause further delay, of course.

And lastly, apparently, around half of the tickets picked up this year... were at Will Call. Which means somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 transactions had to take place at those windows.

[forty_eight]

Well, I guess I'll give some of the line trolling ticket seekers the benefit of doubt that maybe they got scammed. THAT would be crushing!

[MoBo]

Well, I guess I'll give some of the line trolling ticket seekers the benefit of doubt that maybe they got scammed. THAT would be crushing!

I would think anyone who is on ePlaya would know better, but did anyone on here actually get scammed in this way? It would be nice to know what the numbers were of folks who were both turned away from gate due to counterfeit paper tickets, and those who were turned away from Will Call due to being scammed.

Publicizing this info would dampen the aftermarket for-profit ticket sales.

[unjonharley]

I can not imagine some one get to the will call line and having a ticket to sell.

[forty_eight]

I can not imagine some one get to the will call line and having a ticket to sell.

One person was like "shit, maybe I should be at the airport".

Or maybe at home not potentially fucking up the scene you ostensibly care about!

The ability of people to compartmentalize and rationalize shit amazes me.

[unjonharley]

I can not imagine some one get to the will call line and having a ticket to sell.

One person was like "shit, maybe I should be at the airport".

Or maybe at home not potentially fucking up the scene you ostensibly care about!

The ability of people to compartmentalize and rationalize shit amazes me.

Then having a "start" single line would help.. Greeter, Are you in line to pick up a will call ticket, this line.. You are here to split group tickets, this line.. Your in line to do other than pick up tickets, this line.. AND Please step over to that line for rants and complaints..

[Nipple]

This year's Will Call was last year's Exodus.

I'm sure next years fiasco will be different and better, unless it's different and worse.

[maryanimal]

It took me 6+ hours to get my ticket at Will Call. People with low income tickets have no choice. I made the best of the situation. I brought my chair to sit in, I wore my hat and made friends while in line! We all talked about what was going on (TicketFly couldn't get all the tickets mailed out, for what ever reason, and sent everyone to Will Call), and we were entertained by fire spinners, hacky sackers, soccer ballers, hoopers, and merry makers.

When the lines wound down they merged the lines. That's when all the problems started happening. There were asshats who just arrived trying to cut in line. Fortunately there were a couple guys keeping an eye on the perps, telling them where the end of the lines were. When I finally got my ticket, I turned to the wonderful people who I shared these 6+ hours with and said, "Finally! Give me a fuck yeah!" and everyone in the lines heartily yelled FUCK YEAH and cheered!

The bottom line was I was there and I knew I was getting in! We all made it in. That's all that mattered. I thanked the folks behind the other side of the windows for getting done what needed to be done, at no fault of their own.