Getting What You Pay For?
The difference between plenty and not enough can be just a couple of inches. I recently went to a concert at the Peppermill Concert Hall in Wendover, NV. My lovely wife is a big Gordon Lightfoot fan. For Mother’s Day we got her two tickets to his show. It’s a bit of drive from Pleasant Grove, UT to Wendover, NV. As we made our way to our seats I considered the leg room.
It was possible for people to walk past us without having to move. The Peppermill Concert Hall holds about 1000 people. We all had plenty of legroom. How much did I pay for this leg room? $25 per ticket. Not a bad deal.
I travel a lot. Most of it is on airplanes. I considered the legroom I had available to me on the plane.
How much did I, or rather my company, pay for this legroom? Over a $1,000. (Much of my travel is last minute.) Not a great deal at any time. The airplane we were on carried about 215 people. Sure, the people in first class and extended economy had more room, but even there, I’m not sure you can get past someone without them having to get up.
From a legroom perspective, the concert hall was a much better deal.
During my last trip to Louisiana, I drove to Dallas to see the Texas Rangers embarrass my beloved Seattle Mariners. I paid $16 for my legroom. We had to stand to let people pass, but didn’t need to get out of the aisle. Globe One Park holds about 48,000 people.
Last Sunday, like most Sundays, found me and my family in the second and third rows of the righthand set of pews in our local church. My lovely wife is the music director. Last Sunday, I led the young men of the congregation in singing “Oh, My Father,” in honor of Father’s Day. As we scooted past one another to exit the rows during the service, I thought again about the amount of space I had. The seat was free, of course. The chapel and accompanying gym for overflow hold about 400 people. We were probably about 2/3 full.
What’s my point? Just that we pay for knee space. Sometimes, it’s in a large venue, like the Rangers’ stadium. Sometimes, it’s smaller, like the plane. Sometimes it’s a good deal, like the concert hall. Sometimes it’s really expensive, like the airline seat. Sometimes, it’s priceless. Those would be the times on Sunday.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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