So my kid tells me last Tuesday she wants to go see Jefferson High play their rival Friday night. Cool, right? Except we’re talking the big game. I knew tickets would be nuts. Forgot they moved almost all sales online. Total headache.
The Ticket Panic Sets In
Woke up late Thursday. Big mistake. Hopped on the school’s athletics page. Looked easy enough—tickets link right on top. Clicked it. Boom.
Website looked like it was built in 2003. Tiny text, confusing buttons. Scrolled forever. Found the football schedule, clicked Friday’s game. Got hit with a login wall. “Parent Account” or “New User?” Tried my parent account from last year’s field trip. Forgot the stupid password.
Clicked “Forgot Password.” Email took five minutes to show. Reset. Finally logged in. Saw the ticket page… almost puked. Prices were jacked up.
- General Admission: $10 online (but $8 at gate!?)
- Preferred Seating: $15
- Plus a $2.50 “convenience fee” per ticket. Ouch.
Thought maybe other sites sell them cheaper. Bad idea. Tried one big reseller place. Tickets were $25 EACH before fees. Nope.
Grinding Through the Process
Went back to the school site. Filled my cart: 3 GA tickets. $30 + $7.50 fees = $37.50. Payment screen popped up. Card fields looked sketchy—no padlock icon. Hesitated. Found a tiny link saying “Secure Payment Gateway.” Reloaded. Padlock showed. Felt better.
Typed card details slow as hell. Hit “Submit.” Spinning wheel… for like 45 seconds. Thought it crashed. Refresh? No way, might double-charge. Waited. Finally: “Payment Approved!” Got a garbled email confirmation instantly. Looked like spam, almost deleted it. Saved it anyway.
Did I Actually Save?
Walked to the game Friday with my printed tickets (yep, had to print ’em at work). Saw the ticket line snaking around the block. Cash only sign. Felt smug for two seconds until…
Gate price was only $8 cash!? Online was $10 + fee = $12.50. Paid $4.50 EXTRA per ticket online. Total ripoff.
BUT… skipped that massive line. Took maybe 1 minute to scan our printouts. People in line looked miserable. Saw a guy arguing he brought a screenshot, not the PDF. Gate staff turned him away. Oof.
My buddy tried buying at the gate with his phone. Showed the email. Worker shrugged. “Need printed copy. School rules.” He had to drive home and back. Missed the whole first quarter.
Painful Lessons
- Check gate vs online price EARLY. School sites hide the gate price. Ask other parents.
- Make that account BEFORE ticket day. Password reset stress is real.
- Print your tickets. Phone screenshots fail. Guaranteed.
- That “fee” is just tax plus profit. Expect to pay for not freezing in line.
Save actual dollars? Probably not. Save your sanity and first-quarter highlights? Yeah. Next time, I’m buying Wednesday. Or maybe just sneaking through the band entrance. Just kidding. Maybe.
