Now can anyone tell me how a missing ticket STUB is a cash shortage?"

GCC used to have this bug up their ass when they did chopper audits. If any "corrective" action were taken based on a missing stub, a court would throw it out faster than you can say "uncontrollable." The policy was meant to terrorize the ticket takers into doing their jobs.

However... chopper audits where more than an occasional stub was missing, or both halves of tickets were found, or tickets from other days or improper showtimes were found were an indicator of theft or a ticket taker not performing his or her duties.

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Too many circuits have not only eliminated the chopper audit, but eliminated the ticket taker as well, making the cashier both sell and tear the ticket.

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LOL! It is easy to tell how much the industry has changed when a question like this is asked.

The doorman's stand where the ticket stubs are stuffed is called a chopper. (I suppose the doorman was referred to as a chopper as well, maybe Bob Marr can tell us the derivation of the name.) In days of old, when men were bold, each doorman was responsible for the tickets stubs for his shift. In some theatres the box had one compartment for each type of ticket, or later, each auditorium. These were cleaned out at shift change. The cardboard tickets from the automaticket machines were an improvement, in that they had a drive hole, which could be used to thread the stubs of a steel pin. Prior to a shift, the doorman stuck a card on the pin shaft with his name, date and time. At the end of the shift, he logged out and another doorman logged in. Cashiers did hourly reports indicating the ticket numbers sold during each hour. Because the doorman had to peg the tickets in chronological order, counting was easier and patterns could be determined.

A chopper audit matched the tickets in the chopper compared to what had been sold that day, shift, or hour, depending on what was being examined. Pre-numbered sheets allowed a check-off of serial numbers.

If two of the same serial number were found, it was an indicator of deception. If stubs were missing, it indicated a lazy doorman who either was allowing tickets to pass untorn or palming them for re-use.

There were other variations of things to look for, but those are best not discussed. A sharp owner, auditor, or DM would note them.

Some theatres audited choppers regularly (ie: daily), others only when a DM had time on his hands or felt like being a prick. For many years the final vestiges of chopper audits have been the hoary directives to bag, date, and store the ticket stubs in some back closet or cabinet, where they rot away for years.

I have done many chopper box audits. If you recall in another thread awhile back that is how I caught the manager of the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore splicing his own tickets into the pack. I started in this business as an usher in 1956 and also worked as a doorman at the Loews Paradise in the Bronx. It was a ticket chopper then and thatis what I always called the box. In those days we took hourly reading and were signed in and out with the little square stubs.

If somone sells a white stub, or in this case the whole thing, then it comes back. There is no real accounting for that except for eyewitness account of stub selling. The audit does nothing but waste time and money, and create an adversarial relationship between office and theater. Very unhealthy company.

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The Trans-Lux Inflight Cine's used the National Cash Register that printed the ticket. This ticket was perforated and torn by a doorman. Both parts of the ticket contained a ticket number. The stubs for a given day were placed in a brown paper bag, dated and put away.

Inside the door where you load the ticket paper is another register that recorded all transactions made by the machine and could only be cleared by Regional Manager after an audit.

The yellow copy of the ticket was taken out at the end of each evening in a long roll and placed in the bag with the stubs. This was done for audit purposes.

All of our theatres were audited on a regular basis, both box office and concessions.

The only time the audit became confrontational was if someone was caught stealing money. Otherwise they appreciated the compliments they received and the high rating for their work.

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In 1977 I put the first Pacer unit to be sold into the New York Experience in New York City. This was a Trans-Lux/Bing Crosby Production on the History of New York City.

After this I placed Pacer units into the new builds.

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He actually landed in the lap of a very pretty lady in the front row.

We were fortunate she had a sense of humor and thought it was part of the show.