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Topic: rant on stupid customers

Chris Slycord
Film God

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

posted 06-11-2008 09:58 PM

I concur with Carey. What he's saying was true at the AMC I worked at in the Seattle area and now here in Houston.

And with the PG13 horror films it doesn't matter if the part of the movie is actually scary or not; those teenagers scream randomly.

I even remember a long time ago someone coming out of a movie complaining that we hadn't checked IDs for the R-rated movie. We had to point out to him that at the last minute they changed it to PG13 by cutting out 15-20 mins of material (it was even getting out early because the runtime we were given was from before the re-rating).

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 06-11-2008 11:30 PM

quote: Carey Barber
Our biggest "Silence is Golden" issue is the KIDS THAT ARE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER!!! The 14-17 year old range is horrible for us. They cause disturbances in the theater and crowd control issues. Any PG-13 horror flick is a nightmare for our floor staff.

There is so much truth in that statement. In fact, on the opening night of something like Prom Night, or even things like Epic Movie, I'll often warn off adults because there are so many junior high age kids that it would be virtually impossible to regulate. I usually warn them that there are a lot of junior high age kids and I'll happily give them a refund or exchange if it gets too distracting.

The worst is when you get a movie that has actors who appeal to that young teen audience, but the movie is not for them. Stranger than Fiction is a perfect example of this.

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Jeremy Weigel
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1062
From: Edmond, OK, USA
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 06-12-2008 12:11 AM

quote: Dustin Mitchell
I seem to recall hearing somewhere that the R rating was given the power of law in Tennessee too, could be wrong I suppose.

I had heard this too when I worked for Regal. I was told by several different higher ups that the state had random audits of the auditoriums to make sure there were no unaccompanied minors in R rated films. If minors were found, the theatre could be fined, if it turned out that the staff had knowingly allowed an unaccompanied minor into an R-rated film. If this was or still on the books I have no idea. Oklahoma tried to pass a law just a few years that would have made the R rating a law, but luckily it failed miserably.

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Robert Crabtree
Film Handler

Posts: 91
From: Largo, FL
Registered: May 2008

posted 06-12-2008 01:49 AM

quote: Chris Slycord
What makes one movie R and another PG-13 is many times murky at best.

Right on- there have been some cases where I'm surprised that a movie didn't get a more mature rating. One example is Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (yes, I admit I saw the damned thing), which was PG despite a girl very aggressively pursuing a guy, the ensuing statutory rape, and the off-screen suicide of the girl's mother.

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Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 06-12-2008 01:52 PM

quote: Jeremy Weigel
the state had random audits of the auditoriums to make sure there were no unaccompanied minors in R rated films.

what a bunch of busybodies. so the state sends bullies to enforce a very questionable interpretation of the law and nobody has the balls to challenge it. that's wonderful.

quote: Robert Crabtree
a girl very aggressively pursuing a guy, the ensuing statutory rape

statutory rape? oh please.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 06-12-2008 02:26 PM

quote: Carl Martin
the state sends bullies to enforce a very questionable interpretation of the law

Carl - he didn't say the state sent people in. He said he WAS TOLD by higher-ups that the state sent people in. In other words, they bullshitted him.

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Mike Sellars
Film Handler

Posts: 34
From: Robertsdale, AL., USA
Registered: Oct 2006

posted 06-12-2008 09:11 PM

I remember the opening Friday of "Orange County", prime show... it sold out an hour before start and 98% of them were teens, so I put an usher on the door and instructed him and the box people to try to gently dissuade adults from buying tickets to that show instead of trying to keep the noise down, as we were vastly outnumbered. Worked great - the adults appreciated being informed that there most definitely WAS going to be a talking issue in that show, and we didn't have to roust a bunch of kids who were just trying to have a good time. We checked the show every so often for temperature, sound level, lighting and onscreen presentation, as well as any inappropriate conduct by the kids and that was that.

[thumbsup]

Mike

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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 06-13-2008 01:26 PM

If I'm going to a silly comedy movie, I don't mind loud laughing teenagers, because it actually is more fun to be around a lively, laughing crowd if a movie is a comedy, but if it's a quiet, dialogue-driven movie, I wouldn't want that.

The neatest experience with a teenage audience for me was "Napoleon Dynamite". I was probably the only person in the auditorium over 19. Everyone in there was teen age except me. I enjoyed the movie and so did the teenagers, and they were all extremely well-behaved. All I can figure is that movie lured most of the "good ones" as its audience. When I saw "Fantasia 2000", there were many high school band members there who were well-behaved and great to talk to.

All teenagers aren't bad but if you see a movie on Friday or Saturday night and it's something like "Freddie Got Fingered", expect a rowdy bunch.

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Eric Rice
Film Handler

Posts: 15
From: Buffalo, MN, USA
Registered: Feb 2008

posted 06-21-2008 07:58 PM

I recently started as projectionist at a Marcus theatre in MN and just had my first stupid customer experience today. Happened while doing auditorium checks after I'd gotten all the afternoon shows going. I walked in to one of the auditoriums that had two entrances. Everything checked out fine so I headed out to check the next one. When I walked out, there was a guy standing in the corner by the opposite entrance urinating. I pointed him to the bathrooms and went to get a manager. That's the last time that guy will be allowed in our theatre. Unfortunately I had to leave before my manager confronted him.

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Galen Murphy-Fahlgren
Master Film Handler

Posts: 405
From: Canton, MI, USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 06-22-2008 12:19 AM

In Michigan, public urination can qualify you as a sex offender and require that you register and all that good stuff. Over the top and draconian? Yes, but you better believe if I saw someone taking a piss in an auditorium, we'd ask for a proverbial book throwing.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 06-25-2008 04:23 PM

So, the other day some guy buys a 'block' of about 20 tickets so that he could bring his young son and all his friends to see "Kung-Fu Panda" on his birthday.
(the kid's birthday- - not the dads! [Roll Eyes]

)

Prior to showing up for the movie, they apparantly had a birthday party at a big 'family-friendly' restaurant down the street from the theater.

The restaurant gave each kid a helium balloon.

Since they didn't have reserved seats and arrived just before trailer-time, they wound up sitting way up in the back of the theater so they could all get seats together.

You guessed it- - the helium balloon crowd wound up right under the projection ports.

I didn't realize this at first, but couldn't figure out why I had this dark blob at the bottom of the screen when I started the trailers. I thought I had a big dead moth or beetle stuck in the lens barrel. (It's happened before!)
But then I saw the top of the balloon.

I went out and politely mentioned the problem to the dad, who was absoloutely clueless. So by the time I got back in the booth he had moved several of the kids around in their seats and the kid now sitting under the port window had a balloon on a longer string that blocked even more of the port.

The dad was still clueless.

It took a couple of trips and a lot of audience participation to get him to realize that NONE of the kids with balloons could sit under the projection ports.

I'll admit I spent several minutes looking around the booth for a sharp pin. I was either going to start popping balloons or jab the clueless dad with it. The kids were really too young to know any better and most of them had probably never been in a movie theater before, so I don't really fault them.

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Patrick Dunn
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 120
From: newark, DE, United states
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 06-26-2008 03:50 PM

I love stadium seating, but hate the fact that the projector is so close to customers.

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Edwin Schwing
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 116
From: Las Vegas NV
Registered: May 2002

posted 06-27-2008 12:22 AM

I think this last post (well the one before the reply) should be posted under "Rant on Stupid Doormen"

Who let's Helium balloons in a theatre????

Outside food and drink is one thing, but Helium Balloons???

??????

E

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Ed Alvarado
Film Handler

Posts: 60
From: Fort Worth, TX,usa
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 07-02-2008 01:47 AM

hmm I've had alot of stupid people come to the theater but the one time I have burned in my head is when I used to work for this crappy company called regal and they used to have these free family film festivals and the point of this thing is from 9am-11am customers come in for free to watch a kid film. now the whole point of this thing is because the company payed little money for the old kid film But its all about banking on the popcorn and drinks.
now for 3 weeks this bus load of kids that look to be from a daycare showed up and they would watch a movie but all of a sudden during the showing of the films one of the daycare employee would walk out into the bus and start pulling out bags of food. now at first I was not informed about this because I was the only manager on duty and I was getting all the films ready to be shown. until one day I went downstairs because an employee informed me about a guy with alot of brown bags. so I walked up to him and asked what he's doing and he said im getting ready to feed the kids. and I just looked at him with a grin and I told him "NOT WITH THAT FOOD BUDDY im going to have to ask you to remove all the food from my counter and take it back to your bus"
and the guy got all huffy puffy and he tried to step up to me and said that the kids are hungry. and I told the guy that it doesnt work that way and that the whole point of the free movie is that family's come in for free but its all about selling our food and not for you to bring your own food. now im being nice because first you didnt call in to let us know your bringing 30 kids and second this is a family film festival not for companies such as your daycare.
the customer got mad and walked into the theater and got a female worker to talk to me and I told her the same thing and all she can say is "I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR LETTING THESE KIDS STARVE" and she tried being loud and pointing the finger at me as if i'm the bad guy. and all I can do is have a grin and just stare at how stupid they are and how they cant grasp the concept of this situation. and for three weeks and two days out of the week they showed up and did the exact same thing over and over until I banned them from going to our theater. they even went as far as getting the parents of the child to call me and ask why I'm not giving her kid the food they payed for. and I told the parents the exact same thing and they get mad because they say im trying to take there money and its a rip off.

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Robert Crabtree
Film Handler

Posts: 91
From: Largo, FL
Registered: May 2008

posted 07-02-2008 02:09 AM

The CEO of that company once said something to the effect of "It's a seven dollar tub of popcorn so we don't have to charge 20 dollars per ticket." That'd be my response, in a world where directness can supplant customer service.

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