The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-04
TRIALS OF THE TICKET-TAKER.
Some of the Annoyances She En-
counters at Picture Exhibitions.
New York Commercial Advertiser.)

New York Commercial Advertiser.)
AS 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" 1t
is apparently easy enough to be the
| ticket taker at a picture show. All
| there is to do. apparently, is to sit in d
room full of pictures. take peoples
tickets as they come in and sell cata-
| logues.
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 large number
OF people who try to run past without
tickets. l have to go after people q
] dozen times a day, calling Ticket,
| please and they turn on me with an
indignant stare. Most of them then go
and buy tickets. But one well-dressed
women the other day took up her
lorgnette, looked over me from head to
foot. and said, in an icy tone: Ticket!
have no ticket and proceeded calmly
on her way. 1 ran after her again.
" Madame 1 said, I shall have TO
trouble you for ticket
"I have already told you 1 had
none she said.
q am afraid you will have to get
one, said L. L was beginning to be
afraid l should have to get 'bouncer'
to put her out, for 1 was determined
she should not go in without paying.
That is what I'm here for. and am
conscientious. Well, at last she flounced
out to the ticket office, bought her
ticket and put it down on my desk,
saying:
What an imposition
That is one sort of the people I have
to deal with. Then the other kind is the
IL
for a minute. and keep it the whole af-
ternoon. I have TO be very stern about
catalogues. The best way is to polite
ly look up whatever picture is asked
for, and to absolutely refuse to let any
one take catalogue for moment
One nice old lady took me at my word.
and 1 really believe she asked me every
single number in the room 1 did more
than % cents worth of work for her.
/ can 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 hap
pens: A threadbare old gentleman
"'Do you know the price of pic
tures?' he asks.
"'Yes: would you like to know the
prices of any?' reply.
There is one in the other ROOM he
says.
~ can't tell you the number, but it's
in the other ROOM
Then 1 have to send him for the
number
Number 221.'
That is $780,
"'Why?' asks my old gentleman
IF it is early in the afternoon, l ex-
plain to him that 1 suppose the artist
thinks it worth that; that he is well
known or what not; later l say L
don't know. Not one person in fifty Of
those who ask the price have the slight
est idea of buying. Some will go
through half an exhibition and insist
on knowing the prices of ALL l get so
tired of being polite and affable to all
these people that by the time l get out
in the evening am ready TO insult my
dearest friend for the sake OF being
rude to someone. It's so hopeless tell
ing the price of a picture over and over
again, and each time having people
exclaim, What an awful pricel-
"A great many people hold me per-
sonally responsible for the pictures.
Lots of people come and talk very dis
agreeably to me about them What
makes them have such bad shows?'
they ask me. Young men come up and
say, Isn't this awful trash?' in an &C
cusing sort of way, as though l had
done it all myself. And one man fairly
shook his fist in my face and demanded
his money back. It's a swindle.' he
shouted TO me. But it really wasn't my
fault.
AT private exhibitions it's different.
There people come up to me and say:
What a privilege to sit among the
works of the masters all day. L don't
tell them that if sat among the works
of the masters much longer I'd go mad,
but 1 would like to-