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Job Number Six, Movie Theater Part Two

I worked at the Starlight Cinema for about two and a half years, and I had the fortune of working in an upper-middle class area, full of financially comfortable families who thought they were rich. In a word – demanding. In another, spoiled. These people wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter with a subservient smile, because that’s how the majority of them thought of us – as their servants. One night, I was talking to an older gentleman customer, and his wife came over, pulling him away. She said, loud enough for me to hear, “Honey, don’t talk to the help.”

Seriously.

Sometimes it seemed like the customers wanted to see what they could get away with in their constant quest to get their money back. Complaints that the theater was too cold, the sound was off, the picture was blurry, they just plain “didn’t like it” or whatever. Either they sit through an entire film without letting us know there was a problem (and mysteriously, they were the only ones in that showing that found that complaint), or they try to go back into the theater after getting their money back. Apparently they think they’re rich, but need to hang onto every penny.

One day in particular, I ruined a family’s day and got laughably close to being fired. I was working in the box office, which can be a harrowing experience. It’s a very small enclosure, and you have people yelling into the speaker (they think I can’t hear them through the glass even though the speakerbox is in plain sight) who are rushing because they’re late (I have another story about that)*, and then the phone is ringing, too.

“Starlight Cinemas, how can I help you?” I asked in between handing change and tickets to a theater patron.

“I want to know if you still have tickets for A Beautiful Mind for tonight’s showing,” a female voice demanded.

“No, I’m sorry, the evening show is sold out.”

Silence. At least 30 seconds of silence while I have customers in person standing there waiting for me to get off the phone.

“Ma’am?” I asked.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“I’m sorry, but the film is sold out.”

“I know. What am I supposed to do?”

Silence on my end. She had me there. I mean, what was she supposed to do? Hell if I knew!

“I just want you to know that you ruined family’s day. I don’t know what I’m going to do now!”

At this point, the customers who were waiting on me got particularly unruly, banging on the window in an attempt to get my attention. I did the only thing I could think to do – I hung up the phone. After waiting on the group which had accrued, I heard the phone ring again, and I just knew it was her again.

“Starlight Cinemas, how can I help you?” I tried to sound pleasant and professional.

“I can’t believe you hung up on me! I’m calling your manager and getting you fired!”

She said a whole bunch of other things I couldn’t recall later. After we ended the phone conversation, I contacted my manager immediately, letting him know he might get a phone call from a woman complaining about me. He shrugged. We got this all the time. Honestly, I shouldn’t have hung up on her, but we had customers all the time screaming and stamping their feet like children because something didn’t go their way. One phone call complaint wasn’t about to get me fired! (She never called, by the way.)

*Another time I was working at the box office, two young boys came running up to the window, asking for tickets to a PG-13 rated film. Problem was, by law, I wasn’t allowed to sell tickets to children under the age of 13 without their parent present. I could get into big trouble with my boss for going against that rule. I told the kids they would need a parent to buy the tickets for them.

“Our Dad’s parking the car! We’re late and he sent us ahead to buy the tickets.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to wait for your Dad.”

I’m a stickler for rules, in some case just because it pisses off the customer even more. I guess you get that way when you work in customer service for a while…

After a few minutes, their Dad showed up and boy was he mad that his kids didn’t already have tickets. After explaining our policy to him, he continued to argue with me, until he finally said, “You know you’re never going to get anywhere in life by following the rules.”

And he walked away feeling victorious while I just shook my head.


Working at Starlight Cinemas was the best and worst job I’ve ever had. Like I said, it’s a perfect job while you’re a student, but it’s also got other great benefits – free popcorn, early showings (we’re allowed to have midnight showings without inviting the public, as we’re encouraged to pre-screen the films to make sure they’re okay before they’re shown to the public. These were especially exciting for the Harry Potter films!), and just the movie theater environment can be fun.

Some of the bad things include listening to complaints (like the ones I’ve already explained), always smelling like popcorn (sure it’s awesome at first, but it gets stale after a while), and then there is the fact that at some point a customer is going to spoil the end of a movie for you. You’ll be standing at the entrance/exit to the theater with your broom and butler or trash bag in your hands, waiting for people to clear out so you can clean up after them (seriously, where else is it acceptable to throw all your trash on the floor besides a bar, maybe – the upside here is that you’ll often find change and sometimes a buck or two. We paid many a turnpike toll using found money), and all of a sudden someone will say, “I can’t believe <insert character name here> died at the end!”

You want to scream, “Dude! I haven’t seen it yet!” But then there’s that perception that we get to see all the movies before everyone else, so of course we already know the ending, right? Plus they don’t think about the line of people waiting just outside the theater for the next showing to begin! Listen, people, I realize you’re excited about the film you’ve just seen, but please try, at least try not to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet!

Thankfully, I worked with my husband at the theater and we helped keep each other sane. Oh, have I mentioned what it’s like to work with a spouse?