I have a binder that contains treasured possessions of some memorable moments of my past. Inside are ticket stubs from events I attended over the years. I have the ticket stub from the old Yankee Stadium when on June 17, 1978, I witnessed Ron Guidry strike out 18 California Angels. A press pass that allowed me to hear Hunter Thompson speak at NYU in 1994. Numerous ticket stubs from the many concerts I attended, including multiple times to rock to The Who, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. 

 Before the internet, you went to the venue to purchase a ticket. An actual person showed you a display of the seating arrangement options. Once you paid, you were handed a ticket that contained the venue name, who was performing, your seat number and usually an artistic scroll.

At the event you handed your ticket to an attendant who carefully ripped it in half. You now held a ticket stub. That souvenir became part of my collection to conjure up memories.

Collecting ticket stubs disappeared when the internet became the main way to purchase a ticket. Instead of a paper ticket, you got an email or text on your cell phone containing a barcode.

For the most part, it is almost impossible to go to the actual venue and buy a ticket. Instead, you are directed to go online to one of the big conglomerates that have attempted to control the market. Lately one of them, which I will refer to from now on as MT had to adjust their method of allowing tickets to be bought online. 

What was happening was that ticket scalpers were using programmed, for lack of a better term, “robots” to snap up tickets by the thousands and thus control the lucrative aftermarket sales.

However, when the process that allowed these computer-generated robots to resell those tickets at soaring prices came to the forefront, changes had to be made. Lawsuits followed and they were forced to make changes to eliminate robotic purchases.  They devised programs that would potentially identify computerized robots by searching for telltale words that exposed the scalpers. Once identified, those attempted purchases were blocked. That thwarted the ticket scalpers from cornering the market.

However, it created problems for many people trying to make legitimate purchases. For example, I will use a fictitious name of a friend who was blocked from using a ticket company similar to MT. Let us say his name is Rob Ottomley. For many years Rob was able to buy tickets from the MT site without any problems. When MT was forced to create a system to prevent robotic scalping, Rob was notified when he tried to sign on to their account, that his access was blocked because he was suspected of being a “robot.”  He tried to contact MT by telephone and email with no success.

Eventually, he convinced a friend, who still had access to MT to contact the company. When he got through to a representative, they gave him a “problem account” URL that allowed Rob to contact the company.

Tech support tried many ways to fix Rob’s problem. Turn off the Wi-Fi and use cellular, turn off VPN, delete the MT web site and reinstall. Nothing worked.

Then, almost jokingly, Rob said, “You know my legal name on all my credit cards is Rob Ottomley. Could your screening system be triggering my suspension by seeing the word “Robot?” A brief pause followed and tech support put Rob on hold. Minutes later, a tech support supervisor told Rob his account was no longer suspended and now was active.

The proceeding story is all true. However, as they say on many television crime dramas, my friend’s name and ticket company have been changed to protect the innocent.

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.