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Life in New York Continues - Without Carol (Cont)
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When we found the assistant chief usher in his secluded office, he listened to her complaint but of course could not produce the umbrella. While she was relating what I had said about finding the umbrella and taking it to the lost-and-found room, he glared at me fiercely but said nothing until she left. Obviously not placated with our explanation, she assured us she would see the manager the next day, before leaving and slamming the office door in a rage.

Her action was disconcerting to us both, but I soon found my troubles were just beginning. First, the assistant chief usher angrily asked me if I had read R. K. O.'s Blue Book of rules and regulations for the service division. When I nodded yes in response, he opened a copy of the Blue Book he had just pulled from his coat pocket. (I remember wondering at the time if he kept a copy of that "theatre bible" with him all the time.) Handing it to me, he demanded that I read aloud "section 18,. paragraph 2." Following his order, I read to him what was there: When a customer asks if an article has been Found, the usher will say only, 'I do not know, Sir (Madam), but I will check our lost-and-found Room and let you know if it has been found and returned.'"

I was chagrined that I had not remembered and followed these instructions, and was about to offer an apology, when the assistant chief usher -- now livid with anger -- interrupted and told me in no uncertain terms that if I ever again violated a rule in the Blue Book, I would be fired forthwith!

When I tried to explain that knowing full well I had found the umbrella, I was merely trying to help the customer, he exclaimed it was not my business to help a customer. My business, he said, was to follow the Blue Book --period:

Later, I learned from another usher why the assistant chief usher had been so angry about the umbrella incident. Just a few minutes before the lady had returned to the theatre looking for her umbrella, this same assistant chief usher had taken the umbrella -- the red one with the black onyx handle -- from the lost-and-found room and put it in his own locker, with the comment to others in the dressing room that the pretty red umbrella would certainly help to keep him dry while walking home in the heavy rain when he got off work!

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