You see, I travelled to Las Vegas to go see Rod Stewart perform at Caesar's Palace. (End of July 2013). For this event, I purchased fancy gold shoes, and a gorgeous black dress. I also stopped in at the Bellagio Salon & Spa for an updo and makeup especially for the concert evening.
Alas, when we arrived 30 minutes before the scheduled show (July 31st) we were advised the show had just been cancelled. As were were informed, the performer wasn't comfortable with his voice at sound check and decided to cancel the whole show at the last minute.
I was devastated! Not that it was going to be the highlight of my life or anything, but it certainly was an enormous let down.
Then, I felt ripped off. There was no alternative presented by Caesar's staff. No compensation or significant effort to salvage the evening. Yes, they made suggestion for alternate Vegas shows we "might" be able to get tickets to at late/last minute tickets but I hardly wanted to zip into a cab and hope to get into a performance of "O" down the street, or Carrot Top or the like. I wasn't dressed for Carrot Top and at this point I certainly wasn't in the mood to laugh. If Rod Stewart was in the building... damn it, I wanted him to sing to me.
Sadly, we were not able to re-bound from the disappointment and salvage the mini-vacation. 12 hours later I was at the airport and heading for home on our scheduled flight. The next day I was right back to work where I would genuinely work the next 30 consecutive days and nights.
When days off are so precious and far between, you want them to be memorable. Not a huge waste of planning energy and money.
Had the concert happened and I'd sung along to "You're in my heart" I would have been a very happy and beautifully dressed lady, with a great story to tell and a memory for the scrapbook. But that didn't happen.
And for more than a week, I didn't think my concert tickets were going to be refunded. Even though I bought them direct from the concert company, I was initially offered an exchange for future tickets, not a refund and I was very unhappy. I wanted my money back. There wasn't going to be a future concert date for me.
But ultimately I did get a refund of my total purchase price to my credit card. So that was good.
Now of course there's no refund for the dress I only wore for an hour, but I guess that's life. At least I didn't cry and ruin my $100 face.
So, here's the lesson. Hockey players don't cancel and football players finish the game even with broken ribs! So I'm going to pay to see them. Sure, there was a delay of game at the Superbowl when the power went out.... but they didn't CANCEL!
Therefore, into the future I will pin my hopes and hard earned time off on professional sporting events. I will forgo the dress and buy a jersey. No makeup required and rather than sing along I'll scream and cheer for goals. My voice is better suited to that purpose anyway! LOL And if I'm going to travel, let's hope the host stadium/arena has club seats. If I want to watch little league and sit in bleachers, I'll do that at home. If I'm going to see the pros.... well, I'm willing to pay for it. But there sure as heck ought to be a show!
So there's my newest life lesson, in your choice of formats! "Bet on the game. Not an aging rock star..... Travel to see the team, not the tease. Somethings are better on the radio.... but the game isn't one of them."
Now, I need to sign off and Google an NFL schedule!!! I have some ticket money and a few flight credits burning a hole in my pocket!
