I got kicked out of a hockey game.
OMG LIVEJOURNAL THREAD, no, I'd actually like to know what people think about this. This is the first arena I've ever been to with such an asinine rule, but I guess in bigger cities, this kind of thing might not be uncommon. We didn't have it at the arena in Wilkes-Barre, anyway. Curious if there's been any similar experiences, or ones that ended better... or worse.
I went to the TD Banknorth Garden for the first time tonight. It was time to see a Bruins game, and I was pretty damn excited about this. I was given my ticket by a friend on our way there, and I tucked it into my bag and didn't think about it until we got there. We walked fairly deep into the arena before we got to the ticket collectors. It was at this point, after they let me through the turnstyle, that they drop the bomb: no bags allowed. None. No exceptions.
Sure, that's alright. I asked where the bag check or lockers were. They don't have any. No bags and no place to store them.
Um, right. That put me in a difficult situation, and needless to say, I was quite pissed that they let me get that far without them saying a word to me, and now they tell me that even if I consent to a search, even if I dumped everything out of my bag except for the school books which I sort of need to keep, I would still not be allowed inside. Even if it was empty. I asked them what they'd do if it was a purse. "It's not a purse, it's a backpack." If we wanted to nitpick, I could have said it was a messenger bag, but then he'd insist those weren't allowed either.
Had I been calm and rational, I would have left, taken it home, dumped it and come back. Having just found out about this ridiculous policy, then being told that I should have noticed the "no bags" on the ticket I was handed when I was already on my way over, and that there were signs everywhere. When we're trying to figure out where our seats are and the arena is full of people, there was no way in hell we were going to notice such a sign. What they should have had were people at the door telling them that they were too lazy to do searches and too cheap to provide a place to check bags, so all bags aren't allowed.
Long story short, I said it was bullshit, turned and walked out to take my bag home. The security guy who explained the whole policy was still talking and I had heard quite enough. I flipped him off, and he demanded my ticket. At this point, I wasn't looking for a fight and I didn't feel like talking about it anymore. I handed it over and walked out.
Yeah, now that I've calmed down I realize I shouldn't have flipped the guy off, but I don't think it was grounds for that. Nor do I think it was necessary that a security guy yelled at me while I was trying to find my way out and walking in the wrong direction. I had never been in the arena in my life. I wrote their customer service a long email, and I'll be complaining directly to them tomorrow. I'm curious, has anyone encountered a similar policy to this? I've had my bag searched a number of times in a number of places, and I've been told I was required to check my bag, and I've had no problem with that. However, being told bags are prohibited and then given no options for storing it? That's crossing a line, as far as I'm concerned.
