Journey to a Whole Lot of Flicks – Part 1



It was what everyone was talking about. For the past week or so, the common greeting was replaced with "Have you gotten the tickets yet for the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival?" Two weeks of movies from all over the world at three major theaters in Taipei. There are only 4,000 ticket packages for sale at US$90. Each package contains 14 vouchers which viewers can exchange for real tickets at designated locations once they've decided which movie they'd like to watch.



Bill and I knew from the beginning that we'd want to watch more than 7 movies, so we asked a colleague of mine to get two packages for us. The idea of watching 14 movies in 2 weeks seems crazy and exciting. We went out with friends Friday night and, as I said earlier, EVERYBODY was talking about what movie they wanted to see and dreading the long wait in line that awaits for us the following day.



Saturday, Oct 11th was the day viewers could exchange vouchers into real tickets. Because of all the hype about the long queue for tickets we heard so much about the night before, Bill and I were ready for what we might have to deal with. Contrary to what our friends told us, we found out online that there were 365 ticket-exchanging locations in the Greater Taipei Area and that we could exchange tickets at FarEastern Mall, which is less than 10 minutes (on the motorcycle) from our house. We were relieved. We decided to go for brunch at Carnegies, select all the movies we wanted to see during brunch, and walk over to the mall to get the tickets.



When we got to the Information Counter at FarEastern Mall, there was a line of... oh... maybe 6 people in front of us. Bill and I happily got in line and took turns making bathroom trips or simply walk around the mall for a bit. 10 minutes passed, we hadn't moved an inch. 20 minutes passed, we hadn't moved an inch. Then we found out that all that waiting was nothing more than a waste of time because we were supposed to go up to the counter and get a number. We got #59, and they were processing #6. The young girls behind the counter asked for my cell phone number and promised to call me when they got to 10 numbers before mine.



Bill had planned to head to the music festival in the mountains in southern Taipei, so he started getting ready as soon as we got home. We thought about rushing out to other ticket-selling locations, but I decided to stay put and wait for the call. What a mistake! I, of all people, should know that the Taiwanese are not known for efficiency and logical thinking skills. What made me believe that the girl at the Information Counter was going to call me, I will never know.



3 hours later, I woke up from a nap and decided to call the Mall and ask them what was going on. The girl on the phone told me that they were processing #43 at the moment and I should get there as soon as I could. I was still kind of spaced out from the nap, I offered my understanding lazily, "I guess it had taken this long because everyone is choosing at least 14 movies, huh?!" The girl replied in an innocent voice, "Agh.... No, not really. There was a long while when none of the number holders came to exchange tickets, so we've opened it to whoever that was on sight at the time. Now a lot of number holders are coming, so I think you should get here a.s.a.p. because you may have to wait in line for a long time."



Her innocent voice became nails on chalkboard and rage rose from the center of my torso. I jumped off the couch, grabbed my bag, and hopped into a cab. When the cab driver asked me which road I'd like him to take, I replied impatiently, "Whichever way that's the fastest." I text-messaged Bill and told him how angry I was. Bill phoned back and suggested that I should talk about this with their manager and see if they'd compensate us in any way. However, we both knew it was nearly impossible because it is not the Taiwanese way to admit their own mistake and take responsibility for it.

I stormed into the Mall, leaving the revolving doors spinning behind me. Déjà vu! There was a line of about 6 or 7 people, just like earlier in the afternoon. "Not as bad as I imagined," I felt myself calming down and snickered at myself for freaking out so quickly. I even considered dropping the whole thing and just wait in line on the way to the counter.



From their name tags, I saw the girl with the innocent voice, so I reported my arrival to her. Without lifting her eyes, she pointed to her left and said, "Please go to the end of the line and wait like everybody else here." Her nonchalant attitude triggered my muscles to tighten and my lips started shaking. "Excuse me?" I tried very hard to be polite, "do all these people all have numbers before mine?" She looked up and said it matter-of-factly, "Everyone has to wait in line now," and went back to what she was doing.