This past Saturday, I attended an autograph signing featuring Bengals legends at the Cincinnati Bengals Pro Shop. It was by far the worst autograph signing I have ever attended. I wrote an email to the Pro Shop that voiced my displeasure with the signing and overall terrible experience. Below is that email.
Good Afternoon,
I am writing to you about an unpleasant experience I had at
the Cincinnati Bengals Pro Shop today. I arrived at the Pro Shop around 11:20
AM for the 12:00 PM autograph signing featuring the Bengals legends. My
girlfriend and I were walking to the back of the line when a man who I later
learned was the manager stopped us and told us to “stand here.” We stood there
as more people arrived at the store and another long line formed behind us.
We patiently waited for our line to join with the back of
the other line for the autograph signing. A security guard was at the end of
the first line, and eventually the lines merged as the security guard left the
end of the first line. We thought we were going to get autographs from the
Bengals legends as the two separate lines had finally become one. A few minutes
later, the security guard came back and said that my line was not allowed to
get autographs and cut off the line splitting it back into two separate lines.
An employee, not the manager, came back to tell us that we would not be getting
autographs, and that the line had been cut off when it reached the wall at the
end of the clearance section. Needless to say, this made the entire line mad as
we were essentially told to wait for autographs when the manager knew that we
would not be getting autographs.
I am not mad that I was cut off from receiving autographs. I
am mad that we were not told from the beginning that we would not be getting
autographs and wasted over an hour of our time standing in line for nothing. As
I said earlier, the manager told us to “stand here.” He did not once say that
the line had already been cut off. He did not even have the decency to come
tell us himself that the line was cut off after the two lines had already
merged. On top of that, the signing started late.
So to recap, the manager told us to “stand here” despite
knowing the line was already cut off. The lines merged and a security guard and
an employee, not the manager, told us that we would not be allowed to get
autographs because of the cut off. The manager did not even attempt to talk to
us or explain the situation to us at all.
I would like to know why we were told by the manager to
“stand here” when he clearly knew we would not be getting autographs. This was
easily the WORST autograph signing I have ever attended. There was little to no
communication from the staff or manager to the attendees, no explanation as to
why we were told to wait for no reason, and it started late. Needless to say
this was a terrible experience. Please explain to me how this is considered
acceptable by the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cincinnati Bengals Pro Shop.
Sincerely,
Ryan Cahill
I want to clarify that I am not mad that I was cut off. I am mad that the manager did not tell myself, my girlfriend, or the massive line behind us that we had been cut off and would not be receiving any autographs from the beginning and had us wait over an hour for nothing. It was a huge waste of time. If you plan on attending a Bengals Legends autograph signing, be prepared for a very unpleasant experience if the Bengals Pro Shop does fix this problem.
