Livin' the Dream...Part II: Since when does the Midwest have an ocean?

Be forewarned - this post is VERY long and probably not horribly interesting to anyone but me (and maybe Steph!)  :)  Don't worry - the next in this series will likely get into what everyone thinks they want to hear about!

While at Target Center, I had moved up the responsibility ladder very quickly.  I sort of got addicted to that upward movement...it was like changing jobs without changing jobs.  Or moving into a new apartment without having to actually move (which we also did every year at this point in our lives).  The change was fun and exciting.  And while Live Nation was part of Clear Channel Entertainment, I had aspired to what was logically the next step in my career evolution: Regional Director of Ticketing.

I don't recall for certain how I found out the job was available but I'm pretty sure that the heads-up came from my friend who happened to be the Regional HR Director for Clear Channel.  She had been one of those handful of people to leave Target Center with Clear Channel.  I eagerly built myself a hotmail account so that I could communicate incognito and sent in my resume.  I remember precisely the way that my stomach felt the moment I hit 'send' on that email.  It was a nauseating combination of excitement, fear, dread and a distinct feeling that I had just betrayed my home and my family.  I had been at Target Center for roughly 6 years.  The people there were absolutely my family.  We spent ridiculous hours together.  We worked together...we ate together...we drank together...we played together...there were few boundaries.  And I was absolutely dedicated to my box office team.

I had, essentially, two #2's in the box office.  One of them, I knew didn't want the responsibility that came with my massive office.  The other, I was really enjoying working with.  She had great ideas and was learning something new all the time but I wasn't sure she was quite ready for it.  I had worked really, really hard to build up the part time team.  We had authored a simply complicated incentive program for the part-time folks that had just begun to really take place.  When I started in the box office, one of the boasts of the last Director had been the fact that she had almost zero turnover in the part-timers.  Made me feel horrible when I started to lose some of them...until I realized that the staff was getting better and better every day and that maybe zero turnover isn't all it's cracked up to be.  We had a ragtag team of box office misfits that was truly gelling, was actively changing the focus from "selling tickets" to "creating amazing experiences" for our patrons.  I also had a college intern that I had been mentoring who was a bit of a mini-me and I was excited to see what she was going to shape into.

I felt simply sick.  I remember precisely what I wore when I snuck over to the Hilton to meet with the gentleman who would become my boss.  I remember precisely how awkward it felt to try to eat with someone I had just met while attempting to make a great impression.  And I remember exactly how badly I wanted to throw up when I walked into my boss' office to tell him that I would be leaving Target Center.  Leave I did.  And the world spun on without me.  The gal that I wasn't sure was ready...was.  And the mini-me?  She'll pop back up in the story too!

I moved out to the St Louis Park office into a tiny cube (did I ever mention that my Target Center office was massive?  Truly massive!  And so comfortable...)  but it was mostly ok because I was NEVER there!  Anyone who thinks that a career including a lot of travel is somehow glamorous...has never done a lot of work-related travel.  As Regional Director of Ticketing for Clear Channel Entertainment (which would quickly become Live Nation Entertainment as we spun off from the media conglommerate), I covered a 13 city region that included:  Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Columbus, and St Louis.  Looking back, I wonder what my bosses thought that I should be doing in this role because I'm not entirely certain that we had the same end-goal in mind.  


I felt that in general, box office managers were underrated, underappreciated, misunderstood, understaffed...I still think so.  I was very lucky at Target Center (and I knew it - believe me!) that I was adequately staffed, adequately paid...I worked crazy hours under way more stress than one would think but I was given the tools that I requested to get the job done.  As I looked across the rest of the box office world (yes - I'm making some sweeping generalizations here, for sure!) I did not feel that the same could be said most anywhere else.  My goal was to be a resource for and a voice for the box office managers in my care.  All of our box office managers manged amphitheater box offices so summer was really "go time" for everyone.  I spent the first couple of months in my new role travelling to each of my cities to visit with the managers there and try to get a handle on what their needs were.  Their needs seemed pretty universal and pretty basic to me...and were essentially exactly what I expected them to be.  More time.  More money (to pay more staff...few were complaining of low salaries though they WERE mostly pretty low).  More education.  More appreciation/recognition.  I remember very, VERY clearly the drive from Virginia Beach, VA to Bristow, VA (aka. "Washington, DC").  That drive takes you a good distance right along the Atlantic Ocean and I remember the blue sky and the sun shining...and thinking to myself, "if I'm the Reg Director for the 'Midwest Region'....since when does the Midwest include an ocean?"  It was THIS market that gave me my enormous, unexpected challenge and showed me more clearly what my bosses expected of me!  


The box office manager in DC had managed that particular box office since the venue opened.  She was one of the few "lifers".  She had been doing this forever and I had a great deal of respect for the job that she did.  She really knew her stuff...knew the ins & outs of the Ticketmaster system better than anyone else I knew and she always, ALWAYS looked out for the customer first!  She was the one person that I was nervous to go visit because I knew that she had a lot of experience over me.  My visit with her went fine.  Turned out she had a competent #2 in place that she was thoroughly training to replace her so that she could retire soon.  We had a nice visit and I went home.  No worries there.  But then.  I got the call.  She had given her notice and was leaving.  Oh - and as a bonus?  Her #2 had quit two weeks before that and all of her day staff gave their notice the same day that she did.  And ... it was smack dab in the middle of the summer season.  


Ah!  I get it!  I'm an insurance policy!  I was on my way to the airport when the call came...I had a weekend bag packed to go to Chicago to Alpine Valley to observe and help out.  Could I go straight from there to DC?  No...not without coming home to repack unless they wanted to buy me a whole new wardrobe!  So I flew home from Chicago, repacked a much bigger bag and headed to DC.  Where it turns out, I would live for the next 3 months.  

Bristow, VA's amphitheater

When I arrived, the box office manager who had just given her notice, (I'll call her "S") showed me around and told me to make myself comfortable.  She was on her way into the city to work a theater show that we had there that day.   She'd be back the next day.  She had intended to work through her 2 weeks notice, help me get acclimated and give me a firm ground to stand on while I scrambled to find someone to replace her.  It was roughly 2 hours after she left for the day that one of the Operations guys knocked on the box office door.  He told me that he was changing the lock on the door because "S" had told him that the key that the cleaning crew used had been lost.  Seemed logical to me.  He went about his business and left me with a key for myself, one for "S" and a spare which I locked up in the vault.  The next day, I beat "S" into the office.  I was on the other side of the large space when I heard her key struggling in the lock.  I walked swiftly to the door with her copy of the key in my hand and a smile of greeting on my face.  By the time I got to the door, she was FURIOUS!  Her face was red, she was shaking and she sputtered something to the effect of "I can't believe it's come to this.  I can't believe they locked me out of my own box office." and then she spun on her heel and sped away.  I stood there with my hand stretched out in front of me holding the key to the office...I would pay money to see the look on my own face.  I was dumbfounded.  I truly, TRULY thought that she not only KNEW that they were changing the lock the day before but that she had ASKED them to do it.  I followed her and tried to explain but by the time I caught up with her, she literally had half of her possessions boxed up.  She would not listen to a word I said so I stumbled back to the box office.  She came in with her purse on her shoulder, handed me a pile of folders and turned to go.  I sheepishly asked her, "will you at least give me the combination to the safe?" to which she replied (and this is a direct quote, I remember this moment like it was yesterday), "F@*$K YOU!  Figure it out!"  OK then.  After the staff made change for customers out of their purses for roughly an hour, I was able to get in touch with her #2 who had left a week or so earlier and luckily, she hadn't changed the combo yet.  BUT - I was left with zero information...zero staff...it was a freaking NIGHTMARE!  I spent the next 3 months living between a Country Inn & Suites and a furnished corporate apartment working around the clock, making everything up as I went, piecing a staff back together...I truly have never been so stressed out and never worked so hard in my life.  

I include this photo because this was the appropriate view that I was always treated to as I drove into the amphitheater parking lot.  I was usually the first one there and there were ALWAYS countless vultures perched on fence posts drying their wings in the parking lot.  Always creeped me out!  

Remember that college student that I mentioned earlier that I had been mentoring as my intern?  She had graduated and was working an uninspiring job.  When I landed in DC and realized that I wasn't leaving anytime soon, she quit her job and moved into my cube back in Minnesota so that she could help me keep up with my actual full time job while I did the full time jobs of two people out in DC.  I remember distinctly the day that I was talking to her on the phone and she quietly asked me, "do you think I could do that job?"  Again - insert a picture of me with an utterly DUMBFOUNDED look on my face.  I believe I guffawed and responded, "uh - YEAH" and then instructed her to send me her resume so I could send it up the chain.  It wasn't much longer until I was helping her move into an apartment and her very own box office in Bristow, VA.  I now had one mentee (is that a word?) running a box office in Minneapolis and another running a box office in Bristow, VA - both were getting positive reviews and I have to admit, I was very proud.  


Anyway - that got to be a lengthier story than I intended...but it was a surprisingly important time in my career/life.  Surviving it, coming out the other side stronger than I started, is definitely something that I am proud of and point to as something that helped make me who I am today professionally.  




It wasn't long after this that I was back in Minneapolis and the decision was made to close down the Minneapolis office.  One talent buyer was moved to Chicago and everyone else was laid off.  It was a miserable experience.  I had no idea it was coming until moments before it happened and I was left behind to collect passwords and keycards from my friends & colleagues and escort them all out of the building.  It was unpleasant to say the least.  I was allowed to work from home for nearly a year which was also a big adjustment.  Then - in December of 2006, we found out that we were pregnant (yes - we had been trying and it was a very well thought out pregnancy). In January, I bought a flight and set up a meeting with my boss in Chicago to break the news to him.  I was due in mid August which would mean that I would be essentially out of commission for the entirety of the amphitheater season so I wanted to tell him in person.  He phoned me less than one week before I was scheduled to meet with him to let me know that the day had come...that I would have to move to Chicago if I wanted to keep my job.  There was a time, when that is precisely what Chris and I were working towards.  But with a baby on the way and my family all here in Minnesota...there was no way that was really an option.  So I turned down the offer of a move and began the process of losing my job.  And THAT is a story for another day...

Livin' the Dream...Chapter 1: Ticketing Queen

I have the most fantastic jobs!  Truly!  3 of 'em!  I get to be a full-time stay-at-home Mom!  I also get to be a volunteer doula!  AND - I get to be a promoter rep / production manager / sometimes ticketing manager.  It's this last gig that I want to blog about a bit.  This is another post that I've been really pondering for a while.  And I'm not really sure how to approach it.  I know it's going to get VERY verbose (have I mentioned that I can be verbose?) so I might just break it into a series of briefer posts that I will probably nonetheless send out into the world essentially right after each other.  I KNOW that this is something that a lot of people are interested in because everyone is always asking me "what is it you do exactly?".  No one gets it and I think it's that air of mystery that makes the whole thing seem so very glamorous.

I'll back up a step and tell you how I got here first...My fabulous husband and I got married directly out of college.  Our wedding was precisely 1 month after my graduation day.  And I moved into my new husband's apartment in the Twin Cities without a job in site.  I, of course, was convinced that the mere sight of my flashy Cobber ring would immediately land me the perfect job making at least $45,000 per year.  Why wouldn't that happen?  Alas...I spent many, many, many days cleaning the apartment until it sparkled and then spreading the want ads on the living room floor and attacking them with a red Sharpie.  (yup - I'm dating myself here...this was the last of the days of actual newspapers and resumes mailed out on fancy resume paper)

I had met Chris working at a summerstock theater in my hometown.  I was the business & box office manager for the theater for 2 summers.  When I ran across an advertisement for an entry level job in the Target Center Box Office, of course I sent in my resume.  We were in Arizona for my Mother-in-Law's funeral when I got the call that I had the job.  When we returned to Minnesota, I became the Ticket Operations Finance Coordinator.  The paycheck was precisely half of what I expected to be making with my fancy schmancy college diploma so, of course, I expected that I would be moving out and on to bigger and better things in no time as I continued to look for a "career".  And I was right - I did move on to bigger and better things pretty quickly but I certainly didn't move "out".

Xcel Energy Center was being built across the river and would be opening soon and they were cherry-picking employees from Target Center pretty quickly.  First our Director of Ticketing left making me Assistant Director of Ticketing as we all shifted.  Then the NEW Director of Ticketing left making ME Director of Ticketing in short order.  I was 23 years old, had just doubled my salary and had a staff of 4 fulltime and 30some part-time employees.  I won't completely underestimate myself by saying that I was solely in the right place at the right time, but that was most definitely a big part of it!

I had a distinct love-hate relationship with my job as Director of Ticketing for Target Center.  Mostly love.  I loved my fellow employees.  I loved my staff (mostly).  I loved the thrill of a lobby full of people. I loved the heady excitement of an anticipated onsale with customers lined up around the block (yup - dating myself again...there WAS a day when a box office saw some real action at an onsale before internet was king!).  I loved the challenges of 'figuring it out'.  Loved the talent that I quickly discovered for turning around an unhappy customer.  I hated the hours.  Hated the fact that what we did was made to feel as important as saving lives.  Hated missing holidays, birthdays, weekends because Cher or Elton John or the Timberwolves waited for no man!  But mostly I loved the gig.

When I started at TC, we ticketed Target Center events and single game sales for Timberwolves.  We added a WNBA team to that mix (Go Lynx!).  Then the company I worked for was bought out by SFX Entertainment...who was then bought out by Clear Channel Entertainment...and we got into "other" stuff.  That's when things got really interesting.  Now I was working for a promoter.  And we were promoting shows in North Dakota and elsewhere in Minnesota pretty regularly.  I was now travelling to fabulous Fargo and Decadent Duluth and the Great Grand Forks to manage ticket inventory for our shows outside our doors.  We also started promoting club shows.  Lots of 'em.  My staff was working the door at The Quest, the 400 Bar, etc. which meant many nights of going to sleep on the couch with my cell phone on my chest waiting for a 2-3 am phone call saying "we're done and everything is OK" or worse - standing in a smokey, dirty, DEAFENING club selling a little piece of paper to very drunk people.  Not my favorite.

Then CCE pulled out of Target Center management.  A handful of employees went with the company, moving the promoter responsibilities out to an office building in St Louis Park and leaving the rest of us to go back to our core business.  I felt left behind.  I took it personal.  I know I shouldn't have, but when you put as much of yourself into a gig as I did...as we all did...I took it personal.  I wanted to go too.  I felt like I had mastered the skill of box office management and wanted to learn more about this promoter business.  But I was left behind and found myself working for the Timberwolves organization.  Which was not at all what I wanted.  I certainly don't know if working for the MN Timberwolves is indicative of what it is to work for professional sports teams in general...but I don't want to do it again.  I dug in and tried to find new challenges where I was but I was definitely restless.  I stayed on for roughly another year until I saw the post for CCE's Regional Director of Ticketing...and that adventure is for another day!