The Arena Staff Not-so-niceness Thread

[Babbit 9]

I refrain from using incident, because, well, I don't mean to strike fear into anyone.

It's pretty obvious now that a considerable amount of people received a little grief from the 1st Mariner Arena staff and security. If you are one of those people, we would like to know your experience.

A lot of the issues come from the fact that arena staff are used to handling droves of (sometimes) unruly people at your typical concert. There are some things we won't have any control over, understandably, but there are some things we can help alleviate by better informing the arena staff.

We don't want to leave anything out, so we need your help. Post your experience here, no matter how insignificant, and we'll see what we can do.

[The Eva Monkey 14]

I didn't go to the Masquerade, but I have been to two UMBC graduation ceremonies at First Mariner, and from those two encounters, I've come to the realization that they expect you to have some sort of psychic seat finding skill. If you don't head straight for a seat in a straight line, remain perfectly seated for the entire event, they can and will jump down your throat. If being polite to attendees is a job requirement, half of those people ought to be fired.

[chibi_a 0]

Well, the people checking bags were nice enough. But after I walked past the check area...where to? They told us 'just go up!!'(...up, up, and awaaay...).

[KuroBara 0]

I had two issues with the arena staff. The first was not letting performers bring in food or water. We didn't have access to concessions, and even so we were performing! I know that cosplayers do not equal U2, but we should at least have been able to bring in a few granola bars to keep our blood sugar up. Making us leave water bottles outside made no sense because water was provided to us inside anyways. We weren't going to buy drinks anyways, so why make us ditch the bottles?

The second issue came after the masquerade. My group was keeping all of their stuff together. After the awards I spotted my husband and friends right outside the door. I went out to see them and when I turned around to go inside the woman at the door refused to let me back in. I didn't want any of my skit members to come out to help because they would be booted too! I couldn't get to my badge or hotel key, or get back in to take photos with the rest of the group. It seemed unreasonable to me.

[AlterEgoZoe 0]

1. The no-food and drink policy was crap.

2.They gave my group a hard time about forgetting our badges at the hotel and RUDELY refused to let the Masq staff know where we were (one member was running to the hotel-fortunately 1 1/2 blocks away- to get the badges and the rest of us were waiting for her). As a little note there was only 2 people behind us (so absolutely no line which would have been no problem for the 2 badge checker people there and having ONE of them let the staff know). That was uncalled for. ETA:When were rudely told that they could not let the staff know that we were there, the one who went to get the badges said to them basically: "If we don't let them know, we'll get disqualified!" and the one badge checker said something to the effect of "Well, now it seems you're going to get disqualified."

[alabaster 0]

As Edwin noted, there are some things we can address and some things we can't.

First, we can and will work to educate the Arena staff to treat our members better. We are slightly outside their normal paradigm, but that's no excuse for mistreating folks.

That said, forgetting your badge is something that really isn't their fault, and they didn't have a way to let our people know. We can address that somewhat next time by having one of our staffers at the checkin door and making sure they have a radio. But their job is to enforce the rules.

Second, the "no outside food" rule is not going to change significantly -- that is how they make their money, after all. The rule has been in effect for the entire time the venue's been open and it's in effect for every other show they do; they're not going to change it for us. But I'll see what I can do about at least letting you bring in an open water bottle.

However, I do seem to recall paying for catering and a water setup. Did that not happen?

[lordofvt 0]

However, I do seem to recall paying for catering and a water setup. Did that not happen?

We at least had a water setup in the waiting room backstage.

[KSweeley 63]

I attended the Masquerade and there was no catering/water setup from what I saw when I entered the 1st Mariner Arena.

[Babbit 9]

Just to clarify, the water setup was for our participants, and not the general attendance. There was one in our office space, and then a couple others around the backstage and waiting areas.

Unfortunately I didn't get to observe much of the setup past the waiting areas and what not. We always try to have at least water readily available to our participants. With as much running around as they do in stuffy costumes, keeping them hydrated is a must.

[AlterEgoZoe 0]

First, we can and will work to educate the Arena staff to treat our members better. We are slightly outside their normal paradigm, but that's no excuse for mistreating folks.

That said, forgetting your badge is something that really isn't their fault, and they didn't have a way to let our people know. We can address that somewhat next time by having one of our staffers at the checkin door and making sure they have a radio. But their job is to enforce the rules.