PSE: Fan Experience 2018-2019

[Two or less]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Or if people show up and have eaten beforehand.

The food actually has improved over the last few years, but has a long, long way to go.

As far as other venues, the only one I know FOR SURE is a DN venue is Camden Yards, and the food there is pretty gross.  Even Boog's BBQ leaves a lot to be desired.

Honestly, i rarely ever eat at the arena, im more of a beer and peanuts guy during games. I go somewhere before or after the game for food and more drinks, so i can't truly comment on the issues. But, the stories that have come out from opening night via twitter and wgr are incredible. People waiting in line for 30 minutes for a hot dog only to be told they can't sell hot dogs anymore because the temperatures are not warm enough.... Sabresbucks not working.... 30min wait for orders to go through for suite holders.... ordering beer and person telling them they dont have that beer and customer clearly points out that beer in a cooler... its been amazing reading the stories. 

 

 

[SDS]

26 minutes ago, Iron Crotch said:

From my perspective, concessions are pretty lousy at many US arenas. I think it's a function of the employees as much as anything. I have no idea how much they're paid, but I'm guessing it isn't very much.

 

I think this is an important point. 

[Andrew Amerk]

1 hour ago, Briere48 said:

Honestly, i rarely ever eat at the arena, im more of a beer and peanuts guy during games. I go somewhere before or after the game for food and more drinks, so i can't truly comment on the issues. But, the stories that have come out from opening night via twitter and wgr are incredible. People waiting in line for 30 minutes for a hot dog only to be told they can't sell hot dogs anymore because the temperatures are not warm enough.... Sabresbucks not working.... 30min wait for orders to go through for suite holders.... ordering beer and person telling them they dont have that beer and customer clearly points out that beer in a cooler... its been amazing reading the stories. 

 

 

My friend that I went to the game with waited probably close to 20 minutes in line for a slice of pizza. They were all already premade - all the staff had to do was dish out a slice and take a payment. We almost missed the introductions because of how slow they were. 

[That Aud Smell]

Yeah - can we get this thread re-titled to “in game experience at arena 2018-2019” or some such?

colour me confused as to why @PASabreFan wants his thread to stay nominally limited to the matter of whether and how in-arena matters affect the players.

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Yeah - can we get this thread re-titled to “in game experience at arena 2018-2019” or some such?

colour me confused as to why @PASabreFan wants his thread to stay nominally limited to the matter of whether and how in-arena matters affect the players.

I find that angle interesting. Everything doesn't have to be dumped into a megathread.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

I find that angle interesting. Everything doesn't have to be dumped into a megathread.

Thanks, guv.

[PASabreFan]

To be consistent I shouldn't ask Sauve to make his concessions thread an arena experience thread. We can have a thread about concessions and how the arena experience affects players, innit?

[MattPie]

FWIW:

• Delaware North is the concessionaire for Shenandoah National Park. The in-room tea is ghastly, as was the food at one of the non-lodge places. The breakfast in the lodge was good, I'm not sure if that's them or not.
• DN is also the concessionaire for Austin (TX) airport. I'm sure the food is the same.
• I've apparently seen DN places twice in the last 2 weeks.
• Aramark is also meh as Doohickie mentions.

[spndnchz]

30 minutes to get a beef on weck that was cold. Awful. 

[spndnchz]

I’ll do a write up tomorrow. Just wow. So many mistakes. 

[LTS]

20 hours ago, SDS said:

I think this is an important point. 

In what way?  As if they got paid more they would care more?  I would disagree if that's the case.

The vast majority of the people working those jobs simply do not care enough to do a better job. If you paid them twice as much they wouldn't care more. There are some who do have pride in their work. They shine and it's great when you find one.

There may be a concept that "it's only a minimum wage job" I don't need to care. But in my experience, when those people make more money they'll find another reason not to care.

 

[bob_sauve28]

6 minutes ago, LTS said:

In what way?  As if they got paid more they would care more?  I would disagree if that's the case.

The vast majority of the people working those jobs simply do not care enough to do a better job. If you paid them twice as much they wouldn't care more. There are some who do have pride in their work. They shine and it's great when you find one.

There may be a concept that "it's only a minimum wage job" I don't need to care. But in my experience, when those people make more money they'll find another reason not to care.

 

I use to be one of "those people" and the pay mattered to me. If you offer better pay, you will attract more and better people. You can keep the hard workers and more easily replace the bad ones. In a full employment environment like we have now, they may  be attracting first time job holders, people that have not worked in awhile or just semi-lazy people. Hirer wages could attract better people that have other employment opportunities. 

[LTS]

5 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I use to be one of "those people" and the pay mattered to me. If you offer better pay, you will attract more and better people. You can keep the hard workers and more easily replace the bad ones. In a full employment environment like we have now, they may  be attracting first time job holders, people that have not worked in awhile or just semi-lazy people. Hirer wages could attract better people that have other employment opportunities. 

I think you missed what I was saying a bit.  The job itself is not going to attract all that many people. It's not a career job with many upward opportunities. You might get a few better people to sign up to sling hot dogs a few nights a week for part of the year, but you'd have to offer a TON of money for that to be financially viable as a career.  The price of concessions would be astronomical (compared to where they already are).

What you are left with is a portion of the workforce who needs supplemental income or are really desperate for a job. For those who will have pride in how they work you'd see that whether you paid them $10/hr or $20/hr.  Those that don't won't suddenly show more pride in their work just because you pay them more. Those have that pride in their work are probably not hanging around there too long unless they get moved out from behind the counter and into a better position.

McDonald's could offer $30/hr.  But the job itself is a dead-end job and wouldn't necessarily attract people who are looking to be rewarded for their hard work.

 

[That Aud Smell]

Stuff was going south at New Era today as well.

 

[Andrew Amerk]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Stuff was going south at New Era today as well.

 

Maybe it’s a coordinated effort to create hype about the food?

[DirtDart]

It was definitley off the last two games. I got an email stating to use my bar code on the onebuffalo app to get discounts, but it didn't work at the stands. 

[That Aud Smell]

Please change the thread title. A suggestion:

PSE: Fan Experience 2018-2019

@bob_sauve28 Before the update, you would do this by going to your first post and choosing the edit function. Then you can fiddle with the thread's title.

Edited October 8, 2018 by That Aud Smell

[Andrew Amerk]

11 hours ago, DirtDart said:

It was definitley off the last two games. I got an email stating to use my bar code on the onebuffalo app to get discounts, but it didn't work at the stands. 

Did they give you the discount anyways?

[That Aud Smell]

Awesome sauce on the thread title.

I'm going this afternoon. I'll see what's up.

[inkman]

20 hours ago, LTS said:

I think you missed what I was saying a bit.  The job itself is not going to attract all that many people. It's not a career job with many upward opportunities. You might get a few better people to sign up to sling hot dogs a few nights a week for part of the year, but you'd have to offer a TON of money for that to be financially viable as a career.  The price of concessions would be astronomical (compared to where they already are).

What you are left with is a portion of the workforce who needs supplemental income or are really desperate for a job. For those who will have pride in how they work you'd see that whether you paid them $10/hr or $20/hr.  Those that don't won't suddenly show more pride in their work just because you pay them more. Those have that pride in their work are probably not hanging around there too long unless they get moved out from behind the counter and into a better position.

McDonald's could offer $30/hr.  But the job itself is a dead-end job and wouldn't necessarily attract people who are looking to be rewarded for their hard work.

 

It seems as if they are using the same work force for both the BCA & KBC (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but in theory if you worked at both arenas and they really made an effort to book on off days you could work close to full time hours although gas and mileage would be a bitch. 

[bg17]

I bought a ticket package for the opener that included some fun extras. Two Sabres pucks were part of it. Both the Sabres folks and I forgot about the pucks. This morning I got an unsolicited apology from the Sabres for the mistake and was told the pucks are in the mail. 

[nucci]

21 hours ago, LTS said:

I think you missed what I was saying a bit.  The job itself is not going to attract all that many people. It's not a career job with many upward opportunities. You might get a few better people to sign up to sling hot dogs a few nights a week for part of the year, but you'd have to offer a TON of money for that to be financially viable as a career.  The price of concessions would be astronomical (compared to where they already are).

What you are left with is a portion of the workforce who needs supplemental income or are really desperate for a job. For those who will have pride in how they work you'd see that whether you paid them $10/hr or $20/hr.  Those that don't won't suddenly show more pride in their work just because you pay them more. Those have that pride in their work are probably not hanging around there too long unless they get moved out from behind the counter and into a better position.

McDonald's could offer $30/hr.  But the job itself is a dead-end job and wouldn't necessarily attract people who are looking to be rewarded for their hard work.

 

at $30/hr many wouldn't care.

[That Aud Smell]

38 minutes ago, bg17 said:

I bought a ticket package for the opener that included some fun extras. Two Sabres pucks were part of it. Both the Sabres folks and I forgot about the pucks. This morning I got an unsolicited apology from the Sabres for the mistake and was told the pucks are in the mail. 

Good news is welcome, too. 

[North Buffalo]

Camden Yards has great food, so does Citifield.  Separate Vendors and food truck types have their own areas.  Why is one organization. (Delaware North) running it all. That is the problem.  Let individual businesses/owners rent their own space and provide a variety of good food. Quality would increase and choices as well.  Problem is structure imo.

[Andrew Amerk]

1 hour ago, nucci said:

at $30/hr many wouldn't care.

For $30/hr at McD’s, I’d have your fries looking just like the pictures.