Okay, well Oprah herself didn’t call me but she might as well have called! Judging by the fact that my whole body was shaking and I was dancing around the house like a giddy school girl you would have thought that Oprah called and told me that she was giving me keys “To your brand new car!” Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. So here’s the scoop:
After a year of hit or miss attempts at trying to secure 2 tickets for my mom and I to go see Oprah, I decided that 2008 was our year. We were going to see Oprah! It was a nice sentiment, but after 8 hours straight on the phone this past Friday I realized that even with obsessive dialing, hanging up, and redialing getting my hands on these tickets was going to be much harder than originally anticipated. According to Oprah’s website, “Demand for her tickets far exceeds supply.” With my spirit only slightly bruised, I decided that I would just try again next month (the phone lines only open up 1 day per month, and on that day they sell out all of their tickets for the next month and they are only available by phone…no waiting lists!).
One tip I had read online was that there were occasionally last minute reservations available, and to get those you had to check the website throughout the day to see if any tickets were available. So, I started checking. For 2 days in a row I sent emails with my sob story asking for last minute reservations, and then immediately sat by the phone waiting for my phone call. Well, it didn’t happen. That is until yesterday!
I had all but forgotten about those emails as I went about my business yesterday, so I didn’t think much when I heard the phone ring while I was putting Madeline down for her nap. After putting her down I made my way downstairs and decided to check the phone figuring David had called me to ask me some random question. Well, the moment I started scrolling through caller ID I felt my heart drop out of my chest when I saw “Harpo Inc” on my phone. AGHHH!!! I missed the call. I felt myself break out into a cold sweat, and with shaking hands I quickly checked my voicemail.
It turns out Chevonne was calling from the Audience Reservations department and she wanted to see if I still wanted tickets, YES! I quickly wrote down her phone # (I had the direct line to the woman who could fulfill my Oprah ticket fantasy, no more busy signals!), dialed it, and was hit with her voicemail. At this moment I had to decide, leave a non-psychotic message calmly telling her I still wanted tickets, or slam the phone down and obsessively dial her phone number until she picked up. Judging by Chevonne’s outgoing message I sensed she got a lot of psychotic people calling her (she instructed me to only leave ONE message, to WAIT for her to call back, etc). So I left my message and waited.
In the meantime I called David, and gave him the scare of his life when he picked up the phone and I started screaming at him. Apparently he does not think tickets to Oprah warrents screaming outbursts and shear panick. I wanted to stay on the phone with him forever analyzing whether or not Chevonne would call back or not, but I guess his job is more important than Oprah…go figure!
Well, to keep this relatively short, after about half an hour of nailbiting the phone rang, and to not seem too desperate I let it ring twice before answering it. YES, it was Chevonne! The tickets were still available, and I enthusiastically wrote down all of the directions she gave me about what it entails to be one of Oprah’s audience members. So, my mom and I are headed to see Oprah next Thursday, and we have already started fantasizing about what fun topic we might be there to discuss. I will hopefully have some fun stories to share next week after we get back from the show!
1 Comment
January 28, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Okay here’s my story – We had reservations for 1/29 (oprah’s bday) then she cancelled and rescheduled for 1/30, only to ultimately reschedule for 1/31. (Which would be Thursday –same as you– however, just today I was checking the website and saw last minute reservations for Wednesday and more information about stars from the past (now, a little sidebar – I had submitted my crush on a star from the past last week and a Harpo producer emailed me and wanted my photo, etc) – fast forward to now . . . after I see the last minute Wed reservations … that has since disappeared and now it’s all last minute reservations for people who have a story about a star from the past. so that’s the show we’re seeing. I believe you’re seeing Kevin Everett the spinal cord injured NFL player who has his book coming out on 2/1. Please keep in touch and let me know what happened @ Thursdays show and I’ll do the same for you for Wednesday. k? cynthiataylor21@hotmail.com