from jessie...with love: Not quite junk mail

For my birthday, my amazing parents bought me tickets to my most favoritest band's concert that's happening TODAY at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater... COLDPLAY (insert shrill screams of excitement here)!

My parents provided the funds, but it was ultimately my responsibility to go online and purchase the tickets. This was not a very complicated process: type in critical information, give them a credit card number, and tell them how you want to receive them. I chose to have them delivered by US Mail. There is little in life more exciting than receiving something you're looking forward to (aka not bills) in the mail. Not to mention I wanted the tangible "official" tickets in my hand, not the "piece of paper" tickets you can print from your home computer which are no where near as fun (but in hind sight may have prevented my problem). Order placed

Two weeks of anxious anticipation and mailbox checking went by with no results. The usual junkmail, flyers, and bills were present, but no tickets. Understandably, I GOT WORRIED! I was not about to miss one of the most important concert experiences of my life because of the US Postal Service!!! So I contacted Livenation who told me I had to wait 4 weeks before I could request "will call" tickets. After excessive waiting, some finagling over e-mail, a lot of patience, and one phone call I arranged for Scott and I to pick up the tickets at will call the night of the show. Not my first choice, but better than no tickets at all. I was SOOOO upset, and very willing to complain, that my tickets never came through the mail to anyone who I thought would listen.

Flash forward to this past Saturday. I was in a cleaning frenzy, which resulted in my swimming though our "junk mail" basket (for all that mail that either needs to be shredded, thrown away, or viewed eventually). To what in my open hands did appear but my tickets. Turns out, Livenation sends them in unmarked envelopes to deter anyone from hijacking them prior to their arrival. DOH! You can't judge an envelope by it's cover... and you can't say you didn't get tickets if you refuse to look through ALL your mail.