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Author Topic: Carmike Sucks Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-26-2003 08:48 PM                     I really wish they would do something to upgrade/fix/improve the Carmike in Orlando/Winter Park. They are, to my knowledge, the only theater in the city and vicinity that still does not have cupholders, incredibly old carpet, and runs MONO in FOUR of the 8 screens. Two of the other screens are 2-channel "Mono/Surround" and the remaining two are Dolby CP55s with DTS. OTOH, they DO have adjustable side masking in all auditoriums and are a first-run house. About a year ago if I'm not mistaken, when Carmike closed the other location in the area (leaving this one as the only one) they lowered the admission prices of this one to compete with the Regal Googleplexes that were springing up around town. The place still gets a decent crowd. There were about 200+ people in Daredevil on opening weekend. Not a sellout, but impressive for this place nonetheless. I really wish they would change out the old (and in most places, moldy) carpet that has a pattern that would take you back to 1975, upgrade that nasty MONO (and Mono/Surround) sound, and get some cupholders!! This place would probably do a lot more business if these issues were addressed. But alas, since it's not one of their ultra-mega-mega "named after my kid whom I'm going to spoil with my unfathomable wealth while I pay everyone minimum wage theaters, I doubt they'll do anything to it. =TMP= P.S. I'd like a copy of one of those christmas cards as well, if anyone has one. Maybe we could photoshop the "family" in front of a neglected Carmike theater and mail it back to him!  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-26-2003 11:02 PM                     Looking at logs is a pretty slippery slope. Publishing the results of doing so is even worse. Most people have an expectation that their web browsing is somewhat private, and that web site maintainers will treat their logs confidentially and not provide them to the world. While it's every maintainer's choice to do so or not to do so, knowing that film-tech has a practice [if not a policy] of posting log excerpts might make some people unhappy; perhaps even happy enough to no longer read the forums. . I don't think that is desirable. (I recognize some would disagree.) --jhawk (who recognizes that his near-religious conviction comes from an environment where a web servers are run by a few maintainers and store data for thousands of users, who strongly believe in their privacy; as such, not everyone may agree)  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-26-2003 11:25 PM                        That's why you don't see any log excerpts here.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-27-2003 06:02 AM                        What Daryl said. We keep server logs for debugging purposes and general statistics. They don't get posted. None of us really has time (or cares) to look at them, anyway. I was just making a different point earlier which is that log files aren't necessarily useful in determining whether someone from Carmike is reading this. Personally, I don't think it should matter--as long as users are responsible and don't intentionally post libelous or proprietary information, then it shouldn't matter. After all, we all want the same thing (improved film presentation). If home office employees are reading this, then hopefully they are doing so with that goal in mind and aren't out to punish employees who care enough to discuss these issues on their own time. In any case, in Carmike's defense, I will point out that all of the major chains seem to have problems, but much of the quality of any given theatre location seems to rest with local management. Even the best-run chains will have dumpy theatres and even the worst ones will have at least a few very good locations. And a great manager can make even the worst shoebox-type mall theatre into a great place to work or see films.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-27-2003 05:46 PM                     Jack Connor, the manager of the Carmike theater here in Lawton is THE reason why the theater remains in good shape. Visit most theaters built just before the stadium-seating craze began and you'll often find a complex that is falling apart. If anything is on the fritz, he'll either fix the problem himself or make a lot noise to get it fixed. If Jack wasn't managing this theater, it would likely be falling apart and still have only two digital sound equipped screens instead being an all-DTS site. Still, this theater has some challenges --the main one of which is pretty well unfair. The Cache 8 theater (a total dump) wrongly steals half the movies the Carmike could be getting because of the allocation setup. Wallace Theaters is doing absolutely NOTHING to maintain that old place, much less do anything to improve it. Their four stereo auditoriums have problems and can only play sound in mono now. Projection is by Braille (it is about that dim). And their dilapidated sign is coming up on the two year mark since it fell into disrepair. Anyone who pays to see movies there is an idiot. Any movie studio who books films to play there needs their collective heads examined. The Carmike 8 in Lawton probably would have been upgraded to a 14-plex with some or all of the auditoriums converted to stadium seating by now if it weren't for that piece-of- down the road. With half of all film product being booked down there and watering down the Carmike's potential earning numbers, there is no justification for expanding the theater. Carmike couldn't justify doing it even if they were doing great financially. I'm just hoping with the lack of maintenance given to the Cache 8 that the roof falls in or it burns up in an electrical fire.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-27-2003 07:29 PM                     The one thing I will say publicaly against Carmike is that they don't know how to book a theatre. It seems unless a theatre isn't competing for product they have a hard time doing a decent job booking their theatres. I can't count the number of times the local independant has murdered us on bookings. And, contrary to the commonly held belief here on Film-Tech, not all independants are better than chains. These guys blow. They schedule their movies back to back, leaving as little as five minutes between the time the previous show drops and the next one starts. They set up their cues so that the lights come all the way up at the beginning of the credits, more or less telling everyone in the audience "Get the hell out." They have shitty top masking (you know, the crap that makes scope images SMALLER than flat images) that often times isn't adjusted properly..... *stops and counts to 10* Maybe if Carmike had more than half a dozen or so people working in their booking office they wouldn't put themselves in this situation.  |  IP: Logged Katie Smith Film Handler Posts: 9 From: Aberdeen, OH, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 02-27-2003 10:57 PM                     I currently work at a small carmike. This theatre is about 20 years old, with projectors being even older, so i am told. Let me first say I dont think carmike sucks.I am an employee for goodness sakes! In response to the question about getting technical service when requried, we are in the midst of that exact problem now. You see about sometime in january a brain in one of our platters stopped working and our technitian was called immediately. I still havent heard back, and its been about a month and a half. As if this werent bad enough, to show you the big picture: Of our 4 projectors with 3 platter systems, 2 have platters down. Now i cant blame this all on the technician because maybe some of our problems could be solved by employees. i will be the first to tell you that i will never expect to know nearly as much as any of you, so maybe the problem is in hiring. j/k Also about the times of shows, well the best explanatoin i have gotten for our shows playing at 700, 705, 715, and 720, is that its easier on projectionist, but harder on the usher. [ 02-28-2003, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: Katie Smith ]  |  IP: Logged Mark Maxwell Film Handler Posts: 55 From: Tyler, TX, USA Registered: Jul 2002 posted 02-28-2003 12:28 AM                     Finally, a Crmike employee. The night I first posted this thread I thoght the next day I shouldn't have done that. But I have an actual career that is separate from the industrie, so it's not like I need to use my part time job as a reference. Just remember that I onced worked for a guy with the same name and don't know if he's still with the company. If you report to the higher ups it's Mark Jason Maxwell who started this thread. That's why I didn't use any names unless I was giving a compliment like I did with Jack Conner. I said something About Michael Patrick, but he's not going to fire himself. I just got started this to vent because I quit and finally had a chance to do so without reprocussion. Let's be honest, I can't go to my other job as a social worker and make complaints like "Some threw away all of the clear leader." and get any response other than,"What the hell are you talking about?"  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-28-2003 08:10 AM                        Mark, By making the comments you made in your last post (I quit, yada yada yada) you make yourself out to be a disgruntled employee. Instead of "lashing" out here, in a public forum after the fact, why did you not try and get any issues you held resolved beforehand? Local level management should be on your side, to an extent. You have knowledge of a division manager. The information for his/her offcie should be displayed in your lobby. Why did you not call and dicsuss isssues with them? I'm not bashing you, I'm just trying to figure out WHY you'd come here and want to kick someone around and then claim, Oh I quit.. I'm a social worker... blah blah blah.... I don't get it... How long did you work for Carmike? 6 months, a year? FWIW, I know of about 6 Carmike employees who frequent this site.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 02-28-2003 02:02 PM                       quote: Jack Connor, the manager of the Carmike theater here in Lawton is THE reason JACKSON! Yes, Jack remains one of my good friends from that area. He's the salt of the earth.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-28-2003 11:57 PM                        quote: FWIW, I know of about 6 Carmike employees who frequent this site. And they have over 2500 locations... That's a pretty good explanation for a lot of the crappy film circulating the country right there!  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-01-2003 12:02 AM                     Over 200 locations, though I think you meant screens which kind puts across the same point.  |  IP: Logged Mark Maxwell Film Handler Posts: 55 From: Tyler, TX, USA Registered: Jul 2002 posted 03-01-2003 01:20 AM                     Yes I am disgruntled. I had to quit because of things that couldn't even be avoided by my D.M.. I did alot of work off the clock to get things done that should have been done by the other assistant. Some things wern't done by him because he said I was coming in to do it and i wasn't even around. The manager didn't know better because she knew I would do it and for payback some of my friends could come watch a movie during the week. Eventually it looked bad for me so they let me choose to quit even though I could have gotten the other guy fired. As far as my experience, I got hired on in May 1995. I've left a couple of times for a few months, but I'm not a six month to a year employee.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-01-2003 10:35 AM                     Mark -- Sounds like you became a doormat in an effort to do a good job. You should never, ever, ever, ever work off the clock, and give anyone that tells you to do so the ol' Then get on the phone with an agency that will make sure to rectify the situation of the company stealing your labor. I had a manager a long while back that would actually take VOLUNTEERS who wanted to work off the clock, and "pay" them with coupons and gift certificates to local restaurats. Pathetic. =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-01-2003 12:24 PM                        Dustin - Yes, sorry, I did mean screens. (I was not sure of how many locations they have.)  |  IP: Logged

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