April showers may not have fazed C.C. but I was drenched. It's a Friday night, I'm sitting at work eagerly waiting for the day to end so I can go see the Yankees.
By the time I get to the Stadium it's 8pm. C.C. is on a tear striking out 6 in a row. The game is in the fourth, I pull into the parking garage and I'm told..."If you want there are GOOD SPOTS left, but an employee has to walk you there." I want to get into the Stadium ASAP, I'm already late and I've missed four innings. I offer the woman $5 and I'm told it's $10 for the "good spot." I hand over $10 and we rush into the Stadium.
I have season tickets, four tickets in the Grandstand and two in the Jim Beam Suite. As a season ticket holder each year my sets of tickets come with coupons, one for a Yearbook, and another for a "Commemorative Season Ticket Holder" pin. Tonight, April 16th was the first night season ticket holders were told to use them.
At 8PM, neither was available, I was told to come back next week that they were going to "RE-STOCK." Let me point out, yearbooks are available all throughout the Stadium, but apparently season ticket holders are only allowed to get them in a, "Team Shop" so if they are not available in there, I need to wait until the next game. As far as the pins, they have not received them yet. No problem, I'm always at the stadium, I'll come back next week, and we decide to go to my seats in the Jim Beam Section.
Now as a season ticket holder my tickets say face value is $65, yet if I buy a ticket in the Jim Beam Section, either through Ticketmaster or the Yankees on game day it's over $100. When people ask to use my tickets and I have to charge them over $65 I need to explain as a season ticket holder in the Jim Beam Section I am required to pay a PSL. Tonight I was using my "Jim Beam" tickets so luckily I didn't have to explain that to anyone.
It's now 8:30pm; I've already been denied "programs and pins" and told to come back next homestand, and its pouring. I never even made it to my seats. We decide to go inside the "Jim Beam Lounge" for food and drinks. We get two burgers and two fries, the charge, $36, but hey, the "Food Network" is cooking the food, it must be worth at LEAST that. We take our food to the bar, we order two "Red Bull and Vodkas," the barmaid, "K," explains, "we do not serve Red Bull we only serve AMP" and asks if that is okay? No problem we order two AMP and Vodkas. She asks, "Would you like me to make them doubles?" Why not, were already late, there are no programs, there are no pins, it's raining, it's Friday, we took her up on her offer and made them doubles."K" puts the two drinks in front of us along with a bill for $52.
So it's almost 9 we haven't seen a pitch, it's raining, we paid $23 for parking, $10 to get a "GOOD SPOT," was advised that even though I'm, a season ticket holder and have spent close to $25k for my tickets my programs and pins are not available, I dropped close to $40 for two burgers and two fries in a suite where the face on my tickets says $65 even though they are $100 ea and now I'm told two drinks in the same size cup as everyone else is $52 because I said yes to a double. That was it; I asked for a manager, his name was "K" also. He explained once something is "rung up" there is no turning back. I tried to explain the situation, and I asked for a bill.
The bill states I ordered four shots of "Kettle One" and four "AMP'ed Energy." I asked why we were charged double for both the vodka and the AMP'ed, and if I received double the shots and double the soda how it fits in the same cup, I also asked why I was being served top shlef vodka when I didn't ask for it. Another bartender listening to the conversation spoke up and said, "I told you someone was going to catch on." He was told to get back to work. The manager "K" said once a drink is poured there is nothing that can be done, as far as being double charged for both the liquor and the soda he said that's just how it is. So here is how I say it is, my two year contract is up this year in the Jim Beam Suite, would I recommend it to anyone?, ABSOLUTELY NOT! Since the Yankees have partnered with STUBHUB you can get tickets for half price the day of the game for almost any game. Is the Jim Beam Suite worth it, if you own a company maybe, it's an inexpensive way to "dazzle" clients, as a fan, no, you gain nothing, as I mentioned earlier you can get these tickets or better cheaper on STUBHUB and don't have to lay out the money nor explain the difference in price. And when someone asks if you want a double the answer is absolutely "NO!" I was already aggravated after being charged extra for parking, told programs and pins weren't available, and then the $36 burgers and fries. The $52 drinks were just the icing on the cake for an already miserable night. But hey at least the Yankees won.
