In 1956, the Centre Theatre, Peterborough closed and my dad was out of a job. He got a job erecting t.v. antennas for a local furniture store during the day, and doing whatever relief projection work was available at night.

He had just got home from his day job when the business agent phoned. "The man at the Paramount showed up drunk. Get the hell down there right away!"

Having not had supper yet, dad decided to stop in at the convenience store next to the theatre for something to take to the booth to eat.

He decided on a can of pork and beans.

He got to the booth, convinced the guy there to go back to the beverage room, and took over the shift. The can of beans was put in the Peerless Magnarc to warm up.

They were running some feature in four-track magnetic (35MM) stereo at the time, and he was studying the threading and sound system to make sure he had the switching right in his mind.

He forgot about the beans.

All of a sudden, with a BOOM, the side doors of the Peerless Magnarc flew open, and closed again. Beans all across the booth floor.

The manager of the theatre, hearing the explosion, ran upstairs, looked into the booth, and walked away, shaking his head.

11 years later, after I became a projectionist, we cleaned out those E-7's and still found traces of beans in the shutter housing.

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We have a small refrigerator and microwave and allow operators to eat at a table in the operations area away from equipment. Everyone cooperates and they wash up afterwards.

We also have a Nathan's Restaurant and Ben & Jerrys as part of our complex. Our projection staff gets a 25% discount. They also get all the coffee and soda they want during their shift, but it is kept at the op center desk. If you work a mid shift (ten hours) you get a meal voucher from me.

However, I do have my rules in the booth:
-clean up food areas after eating
-throw out trash daily
-remain IN THE BOOTH AT ALL TIMES during the shift
-absolutely NO smoking

I look at it this way- if you do your job responsibly, you get the perks. Do it any other way and you're toast. I've burned a few since we opened almost two years ago, but those who do it my way are great people and I treat them with respect.

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I used to eat in the booth all the time, and I suspect if you asked the direct question of John P. he would admit to it as well. There are times when the owners don't allow sufficient break time to eat proper meals.

FWIW, I never had a problem as a DM with operators eating in the booth. Some things are important, some things are petty.

Note that I said:
"Ideally, food, drink, and smokes should be kept OUT of the projection room.",

followed immediately by:
"Practically, keep it away from film handling areas or sound/electronic/computer equipment to avoid the risk of a spill, crumbs, or grease getting on the film or equipment. Wash and dry your hands after eating or smoking, and before handling film."

"Film Done Right" doesn't require a "neat-nick" saint or starving martyr in the projection room, but messy slobs don't belong there either.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

"John, I'm curious, have you ever made a mistake?"

Well why "toast" a trainee who made a mistake while training?
What about the person who was supposed to be training them?
Did they suffer the consequences of not catching the mishap?
Or did it happen when in such a fashion that the trainer couldnt catch the mistake (like doing something after the show had started that caused it that the trainer didnt see until later)?

Dont take this the wrong way and think that Im attacking you for the way you run your booth, but I think that people should be able to learn from their mistakes and be given the chance to improve so that they dont happen again.
I hate scratched prints as much as anyone else, and if someone makes that mistake, I think some form of diciplinary action should be taken, but they should also be given the chance to not make that mistake again.
For example, if someone works for a year and does everything right and one day lets their guard down and a print gets scratched, then works for the rest of their life and never scratches another, Id say it was best to keep that person around that to have fired that person for that one mistake.
However, if it becomes a trend and happens frequently (or a second time in a predetermined timespan), I would then have no problem with letting that person go.