| Show TRIALS OF THE TICKETTAKER Some of the Annoyances She Encounters En-counters at Picture Exhibitions New York Commercial Advertiser I As a rule the young woman who takes tickets at the picture exhibition is an art student herself The other girls trying to earn money envy her and think she has a soft thing It Is apparently easy enough to be the ticket taker at a picture show All there is to do apparently Is to sit in arm a-rm full of pictures take peoples tickets a they come in and sell catalogues You would be surprised to see how much work It is said a girl who takes tickets at one of the big exhibitions You have to keep your eyes open all the time for there are a large number of people who try to run past without tickets I have to go after people a dozen times a day calling Ticket please and they turn on me with an indignant stare Most of them then goad go-ad buy tickets But one welldressed women the other day took up her lorgnette looked over me from head to foot and said in an Icy tone Ticket I have no ticket and proceeded calmly k on her way I ran after her again Madame I said I shall have to trouble you for a ticket I have already told you I had none she said I am afraid you will have to get one said I I was beginning to be afraid I should have to get a bouncer to put her out for I was determined she should not go In without paying That is what Im here for and I any conscientious Well at last she flounced out to the ticket office bought her saying ticket and put it down on my desk sayingWhat What an Imposition That is one sort of the people I have to deal with Then the other kind is the kind who wish to borrow a catalogue for a minute and keep it the whole afternoon af-ternoon I have to be very stern about catalogues The best way Is to politely polite-ly look up whatever picture is asked for and to absolutely refuse to let anyone any-one take a catalogue for a moment One nice old lady took me at my word and I really believe she asked me every single number in the room I did more than 25 cents worth of work for her I con tell you The worst is telling people the prices of pictures After about six weeks of It It gets on ones nerves This Is what continually happens hap-pens A threadbare old gentleman comes to the dek Do you know the price of pictures pic-tures he asks Yes would you like to know the prices of any I reply There Is one in the other room he says saysWhat Is the number I ask I cant tell you the number but its in the other room Then I have to send him for the number Number 221 That is 500 Why asks my old gentleman I it is early in the afternoon I explain ex-plain to him that I suppose the artist thinks It worth that that he Is well known or what not later I say I dont know Not one person In fifty of those who ask the price have the slightest slight-est Idea of buying Some will go through half an exhibition and insist on knowing the prices of all I get so tired of being polite and affable to all these people that by the time I get out in the evening I a ready to insult my dearest friend for the sake of being rude to someone Its so hopeless telling tell-ing the price of a picture over and over again and each time having people exclaim What an awful price A great many people hold me personally per-sonally responsible for the pictures Lots of people come and talk very disagreeably dis-agreeably to me about them What makes them have such bad shows hey ask me Young men come up and say Isnt this awful trash In an accusing ac-cusing sort of way as though I had done it all myself And one man fairly shook his fist in my face and demanded his money back Its a swindle he shouted to me But it really wasnt my fault At private exhibitions its different here people come up to me and say What a privilege to sit among the works of the masters all day I dont ell them that If I sat among the works of the masters much longer Id go mad but I would like to |
