Morrissey is playing a few sold-out shows this week at the Apollo Theatre. I snagged a couple of tickets on eBay for about $20 above the box office price and had them sent to my dads office because I dont have a doorman to receive packages. One of my dad's associates signed for it, but when I went to pick up the tickets today, they had somehow disappeared. We looked high and low, but they could not be located, and because the show is tonight Im going to have to miss it. Regardless of why the tickets disappeared (Does someone in the office secretly love Morrissey? Could lawyers really be this careless?), does the associate owe me for the tickets? After all, it was his signature on the package receipt.
JD, Manhattan
Ask Gothamist always uses shipping insurance when having expensive items delivered, especially tickets that probably cost almost $100 each. However, even insurance wouldn't have helped you this time as most delivery companies are off the hook once a package has been accepted at its final destination.
Signing for a package, whether for a neighbor, roommate or coworker is in effect a contract stating, "I will make sure this package is brought to its intended recipient." If the associate did not physically give the package to another person with explicit instructions to make sure it wound up in your hands, then the guilt over making you miss the comeback tour of the former Smiths singer should be enough to make him cough up some dough.
Although having packages delivered to one's office is a common practice among the downtrodden and doormanless of this city, your situation is unique in that it was not your office to which the tickets were delivered. This makes things a little trickier, because you don't want to put your father in the uncomfortable position of confronting his associate over concert tickets meant for someone who is not a firm employee.
Much will depend on your father's relationship with his associate. Is it a contentious one, rife with office politics and Melrose Place style backstabbing? Then, in the best interest of your father's livelihood, Ask Gothamist says tough luck, JD. But if your father and his associate are career-long chums with deep pockets and a minimal risk of being offended at such a request, Ask sees nothing wrong in trying to get a few bucks out of the man who signed for your tickets.
