Taking dates to owned community lots

[Pegasys]

I was planning on having one or two of my Sims take over some of the Downtown lots (e.g. The Hub, or P.U.R.E.) Now I'm glad they haven't.

My Sim went on a date with a townie (Jan Tellerman) to a place that has an Electrono-Ticket machine. Jan spent all her time pondering whether to sign up. My Sim can call her over and dance, etc. but he couldn't buy her an entry ticket, and anytime Jan wasn't preoccupied (several times), she wandered back to the front of the building, still trying to decide whether to buy a ticket. By the time she finally does buy a ticket, the date is nearly over.

I think during a date a Sim should be able to buy a ticket for his/her date, or is there an option I've overlooked?

[simmiecal]

I haven't done this yet but I know if you have the owner on the lot, you can give free admitance to someone. Can you click on the ticket machine for any options?  I'll have to experiment tonight.

[Hitch]

What happens if you have the owner stop charging before he leaves the lot? Can your other sims then visit for free? I haven't experimented with this.

[Motoki]

I haven't taken dates to owned venues but I have to owned restaurants and a word of advice, hire employees!

Even if you always send them home or never call them in when you actually play the restaurant, you will need them to show up and work the restaurant autonomously if you visit it. The reason being that ONLY the owner will show up on the lot autonomously to work it, even if you have 8 people in your family and they normally all work the restaurant, only the owner and any employees will show up to work it.

[Pegasys]

I forgot to mention that the Sim with the date was not the owner of the venue. The owner was on the scene but acting as DJ at the time.

Hitch, that's an interesting idea and I'll try it next time.

Motoki, thanks for the heads up. I haven't done a restaurant yet but that would be awful to arrive and have only the owner there.

[Lion]

There are definitely issues with taking dates to owned businesses. the ticket machine is one. There is definitely no option to buy tickets for your date, as said. I tried. Also, if there are things for sell, like a flower shop or a grocery store, the date would have the buy bar up, and you couldn't stop, my sim tried to distract her, but she keeps going back to buy bar. She eventually bought something, and paid at the register. And guess what, the date ends  , with more than 2 minutes left!

So before somebody came up a hack, don't bring your date to a store or venue, which takes away a lot of fun from OFB. I like to visit owned businesses.