- Impeccably well-dressed and coiffed elderly woman comes in and says, "I want a nice gift for my grandchildren. How much are these pencils?"
- "I'm looking for a ballet video for my granddaughter; what can you recommend?" I pointed to Swan Lake from the Kirov. "Doesn't the swan die in that? I don't think that's appropriate!"
- Guy comes in and says, "Do you gots any recawdings by Julio?" Julio who, I asked. "You don't know Julio? The greatest Italian tenor of all times? Where's your manager, you don't deserve to work here if you ain't never hoid of Julio." He meant Gigli, as in Beniamino.
- They warned me not to play any recordings we didn't have in stock. Nonetheless, I popped in Lakme. The famous flower duet came on, and I had a rush at the register of people demanding the recording, which we didn't have.
- I also unfortunately played a video of Parsifal on Yom Kippur.
- "Heya, I'm looking for a CD by the three guys, Domingo, Paparazzi and Caruso."
- An elegantly dressed woman comes in and makes a rather large purchase. She says to the chick at the register, "I get a 10% discount." Carla says, "You got Met ID?" The woman snorts and says, "I am Mrs. Domingo!" Carla says, "I don' care. No ID, no discoun'."
- "Do you have any recordings of Barber of Seville with Pavarotti?"
- Guy comes in, says, "I want a CD of good opera music, but I don't want any of that Wagner stuff, I don't like him." He pronounces 'Wagner' as in Lindsay or Robert.
- At the first intermission of Aida, a woman asks, "Do you have the recording of tonight's performance?"
- This one may not work on blog format, but I'll try. Imagine yourself a 19 year old innocent boy, recently arrived in New York from Oregon, where they pronounce the letter "r." Woman comes in and says, "You got common?" I thought for a brief second and said, "I'm sorry, common what?" She says, "Carmen, the opera!"
- My first day on the job, I'd been there all of ten minutes: woman walks up to me and says, "Do you have John Dexter's autobiography?" It was Beverly Sills.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Strolling Down Memory Lane
A recent post on Tony's blog inspired some nostalgic reminiscence on my end. Eleven years ago (dear GOD I'm old) I took a job at the gift shop at Lincoln Center. I, too, had my share of memorable customers. (I mean, hell, eleven years down the road I'm still complaining about them!)
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9 comments:
That's quick typing, Andy!
Nothing quite as glamorous at my end, though I have had occasional requests, in broadest Glaswegian, for "that blind bastard". Better known as Botticelli. Or, more accurately, Andrea Bocelli.
I type 80 wpm!
Yeah, this woman at work the other day talked about how she LOVES Bocelli, I nearly threw up.
What the hell are you doing up at 2 a.m.?
I drifted off earlier in the evening, not particularly tired now - despite having work at 8:30.
Please tell me you don't have to put up with people telling you what a great voice Russell Watson has ...
Well, I don't work there anymore, but just recently I did hear someone sing Josh Groban's praises (pardon the pun). Barf. If they think THAT is good, they really out to lie down in a dark room and listen to Tebaldi sing the phrase, "Ma quando vien lo sgelo, il primo sole e mio; il primo bacio dell'aprile e mio!" They'll die.
I'd settle for Susan Graham or Anne Sofie von Otter's "When I am laid in earth", but the sentiment's the same. Incredible they should fail to realise what quality they're missing out on.
Now might be the time to ask you if you're still doing any singing ...
That sounded like an online chat you two :)
I don't know how fast I type but we should do a test, Andy!
Don't you like Bocelli? I mean, it's commercial, alright... and well, Josh Groban... *puke* sorry, I had to throw up...
Richie
Good morning!
The problem I have with Bocelli is that his voice invariably sounds strained. If I've learned one thing about singing over the years, it should be effortless.
If he isn't straining, then he needs to work on his tone.
I'm sorry, one thing I always hated as a singer was when young, arrogant, no-career singers had the audacity to criticize singers who were actually working. That said, no, I don't care for Bocelli at all. When he sings opera, for my taste I find that he has very little appreciation for style and is also rather clumsy musically. Plus even digital editing can't always fix his pitch problems.
Oh, I also loved customers who would buy historical recordings -- you know, Emmy Destinn in 1908 or something like that -- and come back incensed because the quality was "terrible."
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