“Pass It On” - Sunday, 2 June

One of my favorite forms of humor is a good-news-bad-news-good-news-bad-news… sequence.  And I have one of those for you today!  And it's a true story.  

• Good News:  About a month ago, I was researching performances in Paris during this stay – concerts, ballets, theatre, “spectacles” in general.  I’ve long wanted to see something at the Comédie Française theatre at Salle Richelieu, just across from the Louvre in the 1st arrondissement.  Et voila, a show called “Les Démons” was playing tonight, and a single seat was available in a good location for me (given my mobility limitations).  So I snapped it up.
• Bad News:  I was researching multiple shows at the same time, and I got this one confused with one at Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, which was wordless.  Les Démons is in French, no supertitles…wasn’t sure that I wanted to see it now.  Duh!  I looked at the Comédie Française website and they didn’t offer any turnback options.  Bummer.  
• Good News:  Last week I stumbled across a service called PasseTonBillet, which offers the opportunity for individuals to post tickets that they can’t use.  You just have to identify the event, date, time, and seat number (if there is one), the original price, and the price you’re willing to sell it for.  You upload an image of the ticket with the barcode or QR code.  If someone is looking for a ticket to something (which might be sold out, like this show is!), they can go to the PasseTonBillet website to try to find one.  Bingo!  Just the ticket (ha ha)!  I posted mine.  The buyer would pay PasseTonBillet, and they would forward the money to me, minus a service charge.  https://www.passetonbillet.fr/
• Bad News:  Right after I posted my offer, I tried to link my bank account, and learned that they don’t accept U.S. banks, only banks that have an IBAN number (primarily in the European Union and the UK).  They don’t offer any other types of transfers such as PayPal, Venmo, etc.  I couldn’t find a way to cancel my offer on their website.
• Neutral News:   I got a couple of emails from PasseTonBillet this past week, saying that my ticket hadn’t sold yet, so maybe I should consider lowering the price.  I didn’t bother to do so because I couldn’t receive the funds anyway.
• Good News:  I got an email this afternoon that someone had bought my ticket!  Good for him!  He got a deal!
• Bad News:  The system will try to transfer the money to me, but since I haven’t entered a valid IBAN number and bank account number, the money will stay in PasseTonBillet’s account (or maybe it will never leave his bank account...the logistics weren't entirely clear).  
• Good News:  They gave me the buyer’s contact info and gave mine to him, so maybe he will try to contact me to arrange some other type of funds transfer, but I really don’t want to mess with that.  He bought it fair and square.  Enjoy the show, Adam!