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Topic: rant on stupid customers

Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 07-18-2017 08:37 PM

quote: Leslie Hartmier
The first one was me watching this couple walk up, stare at the marquee, look at the poster, read the showtimes/rating sheet we always put in front of the poster, go back to look at the marquee which contained everything on the sheet minus the rating, wander up to the poster, re-read everything again, then open the door and ask me what was playing, and what time.

We get several of these a year. My only explanation is, we have two "coming soon" poster cases on either side of the front entrance, which have our next two movies displayed...I think people see those in addition to the current posters in the front doors, think we are a "tri plex" and then get confused because there's only one title on the marquee.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 07-18-2017 10:09 PM

Or people just don't believe it. I see lots of people call my answering machine to hear what's playing, then immediately after listening to the message they call my "office number" and say "What's playing?"

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 08-03-2017 06:28 AM

quote: Frank Cox
This hasn't happened in several years now, but I used to get the odd person who apparently thought they had a scheme to get free popcorn. They would buy a popcorn and eat about half of it, then come back twenty minutes later and say that it was cold and they want me to replace it with the fresh batch that I just finished making. My response was always to say "I'm sorry that you don't like our popcorn", and take their container away and give them their money back. At that point I had some say, "But I want a fresh one!" My response was, "The popcorn is all the same so it would be pointless to replace it" and I simply won't sell them another popcorn that night.

Unfortunately I have on more than one occasion needed to do almost what is described here when my popcorn turned out to have 1" of good popped kernels on top only to be little bottom of the popper kernels for the balance of the container, which are not just annoying but almost impossible to eat.

I've yet to find a theater that hasn't been happy to swap it out for freshly popped kernels.

It's not a scam, but there's no way of knowing you have a container full of the mini kernels until you get there. [Frown]

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 08-03-2017 12:11 PM

That's why there's a grill at the bottom of the popcorn machine. You (the person serving the popcorn) scrape the popped kernels back and forth over the grill and the bits and pieces drop through the grill into a drawer underneath. Never take popcorn off of the bottom of the machine without scraping it across that grill a few times first. Otherwise scoop it such that the scoop stays an inch or two off of the bottom of the machine because those scrappy bits always go to the bottom of the pile of popcorn.

If you serve the popcorn properly, there's no reason why anything other than good and nicely popped kernels should end up in a customer's popcorn bucket.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 08-03-2017 01:50 PM

In our Manley popcorn machine instruction manual it said to sweep the popcorn over the grill to sift out the old maids... but it also says to never "dig" the scoop into the kernels, because that breaks kernels up.

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 08-03-2017 08:10 PM

quote:
If you serve the popcorn properly, there's no reason why anything other than good and nicely popped kernels should end up in a customer's popcorn bucket.

Emboldening above mine. [Smile]

I'm talking about several AMC and Regal locations, so you can see where your description and mine differ. [Big Grin]

quote: Mike Blakesley
In our Manley popcorn machine instruction manual it said to sweep the popcorn over the grill to sift out the old maids... but it also says to never "dig" the scoop into the kernels, because that breaks kernels up.

Old maids are unpopped kernels; I suspect the scoop "digging" breaking up kernels is what results in the cruft that ends up in my bag most often.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-22-2017 08:04 AM

quote: Frank Cox
If you serve the popcorn properly, there's no reason why anything other than good and nicely popped kernels should end up in a customer's popcorn bucket.

In that case, you wouldn't think much of the theater I visited a few years ago. Waiting in the lobby while my wife was in the bathroom, I overheard one concessionist tell his manager that, "We've really gotta figure out how to get those spiders out of the popcorn cabinet. I've been lucky so far - I've managed to shovel more popcorn over them before any customers saw them. But it's just a matter of time..."

Reverting to topic, I was leaving a suburban 'plex after a planned maintenance visit recently: mom and two kids (boy aged 7ish, girl aged 5ish) were in line for tickets.

Boy: "But I don't wanna see that fucking Emoji shit! Why can't we go see Spiderman?"

Mom: "Because you got to pick the movie last time. It's Sarah's turn today."

My immediate reaction was shock that the mother seemingly had no problem with her son using that language so casually. But actually she was probably playing the long game: once the kid realizes that he's not going to get a rise out of anyone by using language like that, he'll probably get bored of doing so, and move on.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 08-24-2017 11:28 PM

There's an older lady who's been one of the cashiers at the Coop grocery store here for a few years.

She came to the show tonight with her husband for the first time ever and said, "We didn't know there was a theatre in town!"

I asked how long they have lived in town and she said six years.

Uh-huh. This is a town of 5000 people and the "downtown" isn't that big.

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Clint Koch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1435
From: San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-25-2017 09:15 PM

I am sorry Frank but I find that funny. Nothing you have done wrong I am sure but some people are just so.... so.....umm....hell I can't even think of a good word to describe that......

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 08-25-2017 09:43 PM

Disconnected? Disinterested?

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-25-2017 10:01 PM

Our theatre has been in continual operation since 1941. We get people who tell us they haven't been here since they were a kid and didn't know we were still open.
Back in 1987 I was doing a debate at the college literally two blocks up the street. After the debate a bunch of the kids came up to me and said "We've been looking all over for a theatre like yours, where is it?"
I feel your pain.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 08-25-2017 11:57 PM

Our balcony has been restricted to adults 21 and over for at least the past 45 years (longer than I've been here). We've had the same explanatory sign in place since 1979 saying "Reserved for Adults 21 and Over." Yet I hear regular comments from 18 and 19 year olds claiming the age cutoff "used to be" 18.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 08-26-2017 07:52 PM

Just wait until somebody claims it to be another "proof" of the Mandela Effect.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

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

posted 08-26-2017 08:01 PM

Our drive-in has been open since 1975. Every year we get people stopping into our indoor to see if that drive-in is still open.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 08-26-2017 08:09 PM

What I find funny is the number of people who ask (at my day job) how to get back to the freeway.

This is a town of 1800 people. You can literally see the freeway from many places in town. Jeez, just drive down Main Street, it will lead to a sign pointing to the freeway.

I've been driving for over 40 years and I've never once had to ask "how to get back to the freeway" anywhere. They tend to be well marked.

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