This is topic Some times we are cheaper than baby sitters. in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 06-27-2001, 08:05 PM:
I am sure that this happens more around the holidays, but how often does everyone have parents that drop off their kids (and I am talking in the 7 to 10 year old range) and come back usually late to pick them up. I remember that this was a problem when I was working at a discount theater. Where else can parents pay 99 cents for someone to watch their little brats for 2 hours while they go shopping?
Posted by Joe Grace (Member # 341) on 06-27-2001, 10:05 PM:
I know exactly what you are talking about. This happends at my theater every Friday and Saterday night where kids in the range of 9 to 15 year olds get droped off and for the most part they almost outnumber the older people that come to the theater. The do not behave themselves. What really gets the parents mad is when we kick most of the kids out of the theater and the parents come, and the children whine because they were out side the whole time. Then the parents whine to us because we kicked them out and they are standing in the parking lot being "exposed to drugs" and say that "My kid is never coming to this theater again" but, we see the same group of kids come again, again, and again. Its like a cycle.
Joe
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 06-27-2001, 11:59 PM:
One of the main reasons i opened an art house theater was years of being an inexpensive babysitter for lazy and cheap parents. we recently had a group of early teens show up for PG-13 film. My partner asked who would be watching them. The adult dropping them off said the movie wasn't an R, so they'd be fine alone. This adult was promtly given directions to the nearest Regal Cinema and told if she wanted to deposit a group of unsupervised teenagers on someone's doorstep, that was were to take them (Kerin had just spent 5 days doing workshops for teenaged mom's and had had it with teenagers). Normally, when the help (even if i live with them) is being that "firm," i interviene. The group left in a huff. But, other customers thanked her for doing that when they came up and bought their ticket. We do have a group of early to mid teens -- that look like something left over from a bombing at a rave -- that come in regularly. the difference is, they love film and sit thru "The Widow of St. Pierre" without a sound except to weep at the end. The night goes much smoother if you like your customers.
Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 06-28-2001, 08:34 AM:
Next door to our theatre is an off-track betting facility that in the past had done awsome buisness. I'd always feel bad for the kids of the addicted gamblers because they would show up around 2:00 PM, and leave about 9:00. When I worked the box office, the parents would bring them in, give them $50 dollars, then say to me, "I'm going to the track". Most of the time gamblers' children are good. It is the asshole suburbanites whose kids pull the wool over their eyes who can't understand why we "target" their little bastards.
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 06-28-2001, 04:37 PM:
I ran a theater for 9 years that was a block from three bars. Parents dropping their kids off before going next door to drink was very hard to watch. Many times the kids had little or no money. Ahhh, the stories i could tell . . . . But, the worst part is when the parents got 86ed from the bar and wanted to come in the theater and get their kids from the auditorium. As you can guess, it didn't involve quietly standing in the auditrium until their eyes adjusted. Many times kids were not picked up after the show, then the parents would get pissed because i didn't want to watch their kids until closing time at the bar.
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 06-29-2001, 04:39 AM:
Well... If mom and dad leave their kids too much past closing time at the theatre, you can always phone local PD and have them come get the kids.. Parents might learn if they have to put up with social services checking up on their "children in need of care" for several months.And just think, in most cities you have to have a license to have a dog, but any idiot can breed...