Monday, March 1, 2010

Concerts and Hand Stamps

My hand 24 hours (and a shower and several vigorous hand washings) after a Rodrigo y Gabriela concert at the 9:30 Club in D.C. My fiancee's is below.

"I am never going back to 9:30 Club. Last time, my hand stamp took 3 days to wear off!"

Okay, so no one says that, or would act that way. Economists talk about how higher prices and added inconveniences drive away some marginal customers, but a longer-lasting-than-desired hand stamp from a concert has no apparent downside for the venue. A different kind of ink likely would vanish quicker, but what incentive does the venue have for using it? The disfigured splotches make for great free word-of-hand advertising as people return to work the next day. Heck, some dork might even write a blog post about it.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I can see where it would be particularly inconvenient, like if you had to go to a formal event the next day. But I can also imagine that it's rather rare that anyone is at the 9:30 club the night before they have to go to a formal event.

Hal said...

Just use Purell, or any solvent (rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, or even vodka).

Don't get me wrong, I love your blog, but maybe this time nobody thought about this because it actually isn't important.

Greg Finley said...

Guilty as charged. Since when does something have to be important to be on the Internet? But you're right, probably something better reserved for a flippant tweet.