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Topic: increasing workforce efficiency - boothless

Mark Hajducki
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
Registered: May 2003

posted 03-15-2013 10:45 AM

quote: Marcel Birgelen
In return we would be given a voucher for a free ticket, which obviously doesn't cover the up-charge for a 3D movie

From a customer service perspective the cinema should issue a refund AND a complimentary ticket for a future performance.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 03-15-2013 11:13 AM

That's what I always did in the rare instance anything went wrong and we couldn't finish the show back when I was managing. (Intermittent seize, blown speaker, etc) My argument was that it was owed to the customer for inconveniencing them and I never got pushback from corporate about it.

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Tony Mace
Film Handler

Posts: 6
From: Cut Bank, MT USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 03-15-2013 12:12 PM

Our chain has 2 versions...

V1 - Our fault (equipment etc) - a sicker is put on the back of the voucher for a free popcorn/soda combo

V2 - Act of God (power outage, flooding etc) - they just get the voucher because it was something we could not control/fix

99% of our customers are happy with this policy - as it does not happen at my theater very often - maybe twice in the last 2-1/2 years...

Myk

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-15-2013 12:41 PM

I would expect more than just a simple ticket refund or just a voucher for another movie if the show was ruined by a technical problem. These days when I'm seeing a movie I'm taking my girlfriend with me and spending a considerable amount of money on concessions. The bill for the snacks can cost more than the movie tickets. It would really suck to spend all that money on concessions and end up leaving the theater far earlier than expected and with no refills on the soda & popcorn.

I suppose the trend of cutting theater staff is only going to get worse especially if audiences go along with those changes. There is a lot of customer resistance to things like self-checkout cash registers. The two Walmart Supercenters here in Lawton added more of those things, but not many people use them. Newer smartphones can make credit/debit card purchases with a tap on the right cashier device. But I don't know anyone personally who has enabled that feature in their phones. I'm not sure what to think of self serve concession stands.

The corporate offices can keep trying to reduce payroll all they like, but customer service is going to hell as a result of it. Lower staff equals longer lines at the ticket booth and snack bar. It also equals a dirtier theater since there are fewer people to keep everything from the auditoriums to bathrooms clean. At worst, the theaters could actually become more dangerous in some locations. I can see the increased potential for fights and other nonsense if a skeletal staff is pretty much leaving it up to the audience to police itself.

Ultimately there is absolutely no substitute for having professional minded staff in the theater to help customers whether it's a technical problem with the movie or any number of other issues that will never be automated out of existence.

Computer-based equipment can, does and will fail at some point in time. Keeping the movies running is a mission critical thing. If the staff consists of nothing more than a few minimum wage paid kids in high school and one or two adult managers with not much in the way of I.T. experience when serious problems occur it could translate into lost shows.

The "minor" issues, like a blown sub-woofer driver or surround speaker will often go unnoticed. The minimum wage staffers probably don't know any better and likely won't even care if they do notice the technical problem. That's not their job. The manager can take care of it. The problem is the managers are likely too busy tracking down exactly why the box office is 20 cents short or why the inventory came up 1 soft drink cup short. And they're probably fried from lack of sleep having to close last night at 2:00am and yet be back at work to listen to corporate bitch at them at 9:00am.

I guess none of that matters considering some new theaters don't even have an actual projection booth. The damned projector is hanged from the ceiling near the back of the auditorium and I suppose all the related I.T. gear is stuffed in some big closet elsewhere in the complex.

quote: Manny Knowles
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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-15-2013 01:29 PM

quote:
- All content is delivered via closed CDN. TMS is controlled from the central office and managed via their in-house NOC. Maybe you want to keep one or two guys around that can push some buttons in the event of a failure.
- You buy your ticket on-line or via the ATM in the lobby. Box offices are nowhere in sight, maybe you'll find an information desk hidden away in a corner.
- The concession stand is now a supermarket with maybe one or two manned checkouts and a bunch of vending machines.
- Nobody to check your ticket, because the seat detects whether it should be occupied or not. If the amount of tickets sold do not add up to the number of occupied seats, a third party security guard will come and check it...

This all sounds just cold, impersonal, and bland. Devoid of personality. It's turning a theater into a Netflix machine, except you watch the movie right there instead of taking it home.

I used to think early VOD would be the death of the movie business but now I'm thinking it's going to be the corporate multiplex cost-cutting mentality. That's one advantage we have being a single screen, I guess....there's not enough money involved to put in all the fancy machinery. We have to use people! You know...smiling friendly faces.

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 03-19-2013 09:34 AM

I agree with that sentiment. I think more movie theaters die from self-inflicted wounds than from external forces.

Too many corporate offices, as well as the employees themselves, forget that they are in the entertainment business that happens to show movies. The pointy-haired bosses tend to look at numbers and forget what generates them, and employees tend to look like they are being punished instead of grateful that they have a job, much less one that centers around showing people a good time.

Then they whine about how the movies suck, which is why they are losing business. They whine about the cost of buying the equipment they need to stay in business. They blame everyone else for their troubles.

Thank goodness that there are still people in the business that haven't forgotten how to show people a good time, even if the movie doesn't live up to their expectations.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-19-2013 08:25 PM

quote: Scott Jentsch
employees tend to look like they are being punished instead of grateful that they have a job

Most of them I know are greatful they have a job but annoyed that it pays minimum wage.

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