Message To Holiday Moviegoers

RHU,

I am a Slave to a major chain movie theater.

It has its perks, occationally, but.

The next person who tells me movie theaters are "recession proof" because people "will always pay for entertainment" is getting ninja kicked in the fucking face.

We have 7 floor staff working on 100 hours a week all together.

Holiday season? This time last year we hired 5 extra people to cope with the 800 people per day coming just to spill popcorn and soda all over the bloody carpet.

This year we're averaging less than 100 obnoxious custys a day and the most hours any one person gets in a week is 25, most of us get 6 or 10, and thats before we're forced into leaving early or taking unpaid 35 minute breaks.

And while I'm here: Dear Money-Pinching Customers who Want to See a Movie but Not Pay for a Night Out Movie theaters do not make money off of box office sales.

You know why new movie releases track opening weekend box office sales and are all like "Zomg we made 20 million?" because something like 95% of ticket sales go back to the bloody film makers to pay off the expensive ass actors that everyone is  supposedly going to see the movie to see.

So quit your bitching about how expensive the tickets are, we can't do a shit about it.

And don't stare at the concession menu for 3 minutes and /then/ ask me how much such and such is when you've clearly read it and know the bloody answer.

I will not magically make it cheaper for you. Its expensive. We make all our profit from concession. Because we don't make any from ticket sales.

AND STOP GIVING YOUR SPAWN THE DAMN POPCORN SO IT CAN SPILL IT ALL OVER THE PLACE!

Gods I feel better.

You guys are the awesome.

BTW, a weird "Do you work here?" story:

I'm in an office supply store contemplating the ink cartridges. Dressed in white goth pants with all sorts of black chains and a blue sleeveless shirt and big black feather earrings.

And this guy wanders down the aisle and mumbles something in my direction.

"Eh?"

"Wheres the *soemthing-or-other*"

[blank stare]

"Do you work here"

"...Do I look like I bloody work here?!"

and 'cause I didn't, I could say it as loud as i wanted :D

~Kat
(as in "Yes Kat like Cat but with a K please don't meow at me anymore you crazy blue-haired old bitches)

Comments

[Joe]

How many times have you seen Mom hand the ultra-mega size popcorn to her four-year old and say, "Now don't spill it"?
When the inevitable happens, Mom goes ballistic.

[Pharmacy_psycho]

It used to annoy the hell out of me that my ex would not let me buy concession food at the drive-in. I know that they make their money off the food and not off the entrance fees, and it was damn cheap to bring the whole family in. There are very few drive-ins left as it is, and I wanted to see my favorite movie place stay open. I wish there was one close to me now, I'd be there every chance I got. I hate being blasted by indoor theater sound, and much prefer being able to set the sound to my preferred level even if its with those horrible, scratchy, drive-in speakers.

[N/A]

I almost always buy popcorn and soda at the cinema. Our local cinema employees are so awesome and friendly and I want them to keep their jobs. They don't look at me like I'm crazy when I'm alone and order the kids pack (the small soda, popcorn, and candy combo) either unlike several of the people at our other local cinema. I don't mind paying the crazy inflated prices because I know that's how they make their profits but I'm not about to buy a vat of soda and a sack of popcorn that I'll never finish anyway.

[Misty]

And I thought my theater getting 400 people on a slow weekday was bad.

And you forgot about the people that must have fresh popcorn. Over five minutes old and OMG! Its terrible!!1!

[Walmart grunt]

I used to work at a movie theatre, and it was some interesting times. I was actually making a cartoon about it, but then college happened, and fun basically stopped. Kudos to you for not killing some small children. I was tempted after I told the child for the bizillionth time that throwing popcorn at one's sibling is NOT encouraged.

[Em]

Omg I hate when people give their spawn the popcorn to carry. Auditoriums with kids movies are the worst to clean! Popcorn EVERYWHERE and usually at least one pop spill.

I've worked at a movie theatre for 3 years and I totally agree with like everything you said. Except the not busy over the holidays thing. Maybe it's because I'm in Canada or something but all through the holidays we were struggling just to have enough staff on everyday.

And even now it's still busy. Avatar is still selling out every night even though it came out December 18th. A slow night at my theatre is less then 1000 people. And on saturdays we're averaging about 5100 the last month.