Box Office
The Box Office is the domain of the FoH Manager but require to be cleaned and have the floor painted. There are two cupboards in the Box Office, the one on the left "Cleaning Cupboard" contains cleaning supplies and the furniture for outside the building during the fringe, during the fringe alcohol tends to be kept there. The other "Box office Cupboard" contains the safe and old ticket books, it should be kept locked at all times and has two locks on it. It is more useful for locking things up during term time as the cleaning cupboard is rarely locked (otherwise people don't clean!). The pyro and gun boxes are kept in here currentlyis this true???. The lights are 12V type and run off a transformer in the cupboard which can be switched on with the switch beside the box office. The panic alarm button can be found under the box office and the reset button is beside the box office light switches. The panic alarm connects to a flash light in the office, red LEDs in the tech box and a buzzer in the café.
The wall at the back of the box office is quite delicate and could probably do with reinforcing but I don’t know what’s behind it and am scared to look.
The sound system for FoH runs through an amp in the box office cupboard where there is a DJ mixer which selects between the feed from the tech box and a CD player in the cupboard. The FoH microphone connects into the mixer but it’s easier to have a loud voice than to faff with it.
The stairs up to the balcony need to get cleaned and painted every so often. Other than that they can be basically ignored, try to keep them clear of rubbish and be aware that they get very slippery when it’s wet, several people slipped down them during fringe 2001.
There is a caution slippery floor sign for when it rains or someone has been cleaning. The floor does get slippery but we’re mainly covering our backs if someone slips and falls.
Most of the wiring in the Box office was re-done fringe 2002 and is now all controlled from the switches under the till, bar the lights.
Ticket System
Bedlam has run a computerised box office system since Fringe 2002 initially using "limelight ticketing" and a standard printer.
The current Box Office system was procured in the summer of 2005 and is powered by the NEWTS software written by David Illsley. The NEWTS software is written in Java and uses a Visual Basic interface to send things to the ticket printer.
The ticket printer is a Star TSP400 thermal ticket printer, with cutter.
Tickets are currently provided by Thermal Tickets or Kalamazoo Security Print
Coming soon SNEWTS....
Panic Alarm
There is a panic alarm trigger in the office (and in the servery) when this is activated, alarms will go of in different parts of the building. The reset is on the top of a black box beside the printer. (marked reset thoughly enough)
For more information see Communication#Panic Alarm
Till
The till is opened by pressing the doorbell switch to the left of the drawer (not the red button to the right, that is the panic alarm you fool)
As of fringe 2006 the till now features an immobiliser connected through the panic alarm. When the panic alarm is activated in the box office, the till will no longer open. Once the alarm is reset, the till will work again. If this stops working the till can still be opened by flicking a switch at the back, underneath the till (though this is a pain to find)
Originally the till was powered by 2x9V batteries however in the process of the above change the batteries were removed and the system is powered purely from the panic alarm however the old battery connecters are still in place connected together (the whole wiring is a bit of a mess really and should be sorted by someone that cares and has time)
Counter
The thing the Box Office computer sits on. The drawer should be filled with money bags and pens by the FoH Manager. It is now attached securely to the floor. A strip of wood on the front can be delicately removed to reveal the 12v lamps giving the undercounter lighting and allow lamp changes.
CCTV / trampcam
see CCTV system
