Would it help, though, even in the short term? Making an actual `ticket` table really isn't that much work. If for some reason it is, you can always use an array type, or even shove JSON into a text column. Even if you're not thinking further than an MVP—hell, further than 5pm—one column=one ticket seems the most awkward and difficult solution I can think of.
My best guess is it started as a single ticket column, then maybe a manual migration to quickly add a second when a rat's nest of code was built around the single column already.
the most far-fetched justification I can muster up for this: the UI/user requried a tabular display of all tickets as columns with one row per user ... and they had a UI that only displays DB table contents as-is.
Nah, even for a 5pm demo that just sounds absurd (with up to 500 tickets per user).
