Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Carmike Sucks

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Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 02-24-2003, 12:59 AM:

Carmike sucks. I worked there off and on for several years and my devotion never changed my mind about that fact. Let me know what you all think. It can't compare to being on the inside.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 02-24-2003, 09:03 AM:

Um, any specific policies you didn't like? Certain people? It would be kind of nice if you gave more info to back up your opinion.

Your opinion may or may not be shared by many people that post here, however, you won't get many people that currently work for Carmike agreeing with you out in the open like this because, well, they want to keep working for Carmike (a job is a job, after all).

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-24-2003, 09:53 AM:

There are things I like and dislike about Carmike. There are two Carmike theatres in my area. One is terrific and the other is terrible. It is possible that in your city, the Carmike locations are not well maintained.

In Huntsville, there is the Carmike 10, which opened in 1998. It was built as the only theatre with stadium seating, digital sound, and adjustable screen masking in all auditoriums and the presentation quality has remained high (actually, it's better now than it was 2 to 3 years ago). However, there are some little things that bug me. Since August of 2001 in auditorium 6, when a scope movie is shown, when the changeover is made from flat to scope, the aperture plate lands in a position projecting the soundtrack and DTS time code to the left of the screen, with about 4 feet of the right side of the screen being black, until someone moves it. This happened last week in the same way, so it had been going on for a year and a half. They should get this fixed. This theatre has had small problems that have gone unfixed for long periods of time, but their overall quality has been very good.

The Carmike Century Cinema 8 in Decatur is another story. It was built by Fairlane/Litchfield in June 1982 (as a 4-plex) and went through a shift in management to United Artists around 1987 and then to Carmike in 1990 Carmike added 4 screens to the location in 1992. I began going to this theatre in 1997 and the images have always seemed too dim and contrast is generally poor. In addition to this, there are typically several defects in the presentation for each showing. There is typically some sort of alignment problem, shutter ghosting problem, or misframing problem. It definately has the worst presentation quality record of any theatre in my area.

From these two extreme Carmike examples, I'd say that whether "Carmike sucks" depends on which city you choose to do your evaluation. I'd be willing to bet that the older theatres in smaller areas (like Decatur, Cullman, and Florence, AL) get neglected while the newer ones in larger cities (Huntsville and Birmingham, AL, and Nashville, TN) get maintained better.

The Carmike Century Cinema 8 in Decatur hasn't had any noticeable upgrades since I started going there in early 1997. There is still only one auditorium with DTS, with many of the others having poorly maintained audio systems that often have a lot of noticeable distortion. Theatres like the Carmike in Decatur really give the company a bad name. After an article in the December 6, 2001 Decatur Daily about the poor quality, there were fewer problems the next year, but nothing was improved, and I'm noticing that some of the old problems are coming back. Carmike is not willing to put any money into that facility, which is in poor cosmetic and operating condition.

I have heard similar stories about the Carmike locations in Florence (Capri 4 [originally Martin, 1978], Hickory Hills 6 [originally Fairlane/Litchfield, 1978], and Cullman, AL [Town Square Triple [appears to have been a Martin theatre]).

Do any of you work for Carmike locations in towns with less than 100000? How are the Carmike theatres doing with regard to maintenance? For example, let's say something breaks. How long does it typically take to get fixed, especially if the problem isn't one that totally stops a show?

Posted by John Spooner (Member # 1565) on 02-24-2003, 10:09 AM:

Over here in Adelaide, we do not have any knowlege of Carmike, but going by extrapulation of the subject, they are obviously a chain.
What is the main concern, is it corporate or maintenance ineptitude?
The part that Evans noted re the misaligned aperture is incredible, in that the operator did not correct it as it occured on the format changes each time until rectified.
If I could be appraised as to whom Carmike are, this Antipodean down under would be obliged. John Spooner.

Posted by Jim Casterioto (Member # 1155) on 02-24-2003, 10:29 AM:

I don't work at a Carmike, or have ever been to a Carmike theater, however I have made one observation of the local Carmike in the area. The Carmike 14, generally has multiple features having the same exact showtimes, for example, last Saturday 4 movies started at 7:00, 4 at 7:05, 3 at 7:10 and 3 at 7:20........what is the logic of this? [Confused]

Is this a common practice of all Carmike theatres?

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-24-2003, 10:33 AM:

They're a chain, based in Columbus, GA, USA. A few years ago, they were the largest theatre chain in the country. Around 1991, in north Alabama, most of the Carmike theatres were theatres originally built by Martin Theatres, Fairlane/Litchfield theatres, and Consolidated Theatres. In the mid to late 90s, Carmike went on a building spree and in the larger cities, most of the older theatres closed, with most of the remaining Carmike's being their own newer cookie cutter designs. In smaller cities, the older theatres remain with very few of them being original Carmike locations.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 02-24-2003, 12:41 PM:

I have had Carmike as competition and I have seen a few shows at a few of their locations. Nothing spectacular. One note though:

I heard that one year either Carl or Mike Patrick (get the CarMike part? -the brothers that run the company) sent out Christmas cards with a picture of their son sitting in a Ferrari (supposedly the car belonged to the underaged child). If that was a true story - I consider it truely tasteless.

Anyways........

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 02-24-2003, 01:06 PM:

Carl is Micheal's father, not brother. Mike's son is named Wynn, I don't know if the Christmas card story is true or not.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-24-2003, 03:24 PM:

Carl must be getting pretty old. Anyway, is the Carl L. Patrick, Jr. that was one of the original owners of Carmike the same Carl L. Patrick of Martin Theatres in its early days, or was that Carl Sr. ? It wasn't until now that I realized there were two Carl Patricks involved.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 02-24-2003, 04:49 PM:

As to the Christmas cards, yes, Wynn was sitting in/on a Ferrari that is, in fact, owned by the Patrick family. This year the cards showed M/M Patrick, along with Wynn, amongst lavish gifts with Saks logo, etc... and Mr. Patrick holding what appears to be the credit card statement, if I recall correctly.

Tasteless. You bet! Especially given the fact that the mean income of a Carmike manager falls where it does.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-24-2003, 07:38 PM:

Especially tasteless, given the condition of the Carmike 8 in Decatur, AL (and other smaller, older ones), and their unwillingness to spend a dime on these theatres that so desperately need improvement.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-24-2003, 08:30 PM:

The Carmike theater in my town is pretty nice and it is operated pretty well. The theater was built in 1994 and it still looks new. It has DTS on all 8 screens and was originally built with two screens THX certified (although only one continues to get recertified). IMHO, it ranks as one of the best theaters in Oklahoma (although I don't think that is a very hard thing to accomplish considering the competition).

Most movie theater circuits have their good and bad theaters. A lot of it has to do with the particular location's manager caring or not about the place. I suspect some managers at certain bad theaters are not film fans at all. They're just there to get a paycheck. Most managers at good theaters are fans of film and take pride in putting on a good show.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-24-2003, 10:35 PM:

Carmike has about half of the movie screens in Montana. In Billings, they have 3 locations: a 10-screen "Wynnsong" that is pretty nice (built in 1999, all DTS, with 2 THX that also have Dolby Digital), a 7-screen "Carmike Cinemas" that is showing its age (only one DTS screen), and a 7-screen dollar house that is an absolute hell-hole...even the HVAC fails regularly there. I've heard some pretty funny screwup stories from all three locations, actually.

When talking to just about anyone from Montana, just mention "The Carmike Experience" and they'll know exactly what you mean...film done wrong.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 02-25-2003, 01:44 AM:

You all brought up good points. Being an insider, this is what I can tell you. They started out by buying out a theater chain that wasn't making any money. After that they strted buying closed theaters in midsized towns. After they got bog enough, they started building new theaters on credit.Nice theaters. If you want an example, go to carmike.com, hot showtimes, hot Kentucky, and check out the 20 screen they have there. They got to far in debt. the reason they have nice theaters and just flat out crappy ones is because they go too far in debt, so they focused their' spending on the nice ones that they were still paying for. My 20 year old theater that I had worked for went 2 winters without heat. The district manager drives a company Cadilac, and has a company credit card that he spends lavisouly on. We had a girl work there for 2 years before she got a raise from minimum wage. And because they are based in Goeria where there is no overtime for people in the entertainment industrie, the employees could work 60 hours a week, and have, with no overtime. As far as Michael Patrics son being on Christmas Cards in a Ferrari, it does not suprise me. His kid's birthdays are hollidays for home office, and it sucks when one of those birthdays falls on a monday because the payroll office is closed, so you can't call in the payroll so the checks can come in late. You wanted my reasons, but I'm just scratching the surface. And I had a friend that I worked with with that had the same name as I do so I don't want backlash towards him. My real name is Mark Maxwell, but I go by my middle name Jason. So if anyone on her is from carmike, the guy to talk to is Mark Jason Maxwell from Tyler Tx. I don't don't know if he still works for the company, and if so, I don't want to get him fired.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-25-2003, 09:39 AM:

After what I've read on this thread, I think if your company is too far in debt and has gone through chapter 11 reorganization, it is in extremely bad taste to send out Christmas cards showing how you can afford to buy your son the best, most expensive gifts, and flaunt it with the Cadillacs, etc. Can someone send me an image of these cards that were mentioned? About that company credit card you mentioned -- does the district manager put personal expenses on it without getting in any hot water for it? If so, I see Carmike as a corrupt company that needs a lot of cleaning up.

These things send the message "We're rich, we're arrogant, and we don't give a damn about 'Film Done Right' except for our flagship theatres in larger cities."

Which theatre chain did you refer to that wasn't making any money? Martin? In my area, they seem to have taken over all of the Consolidated and Fairlane/Litchfield (later United Artists) theatres as well. Were any of these chains doing well when their theatres were taken over by Carmike?

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 02-25-2003, 06:11 PM:

Mark,
You may want to rethink your ideas. I'll grant you that your Division Manager may drive a Cadillac, but I'll also inform you that that will be no longer. The Caddy he drives is most likely pre-'98 (not as if it matters to the minimum wage employee) with 150,000+ miles on it.

As for the credit card, yes, he has one. Spending laviuosly? I doubt it. There are no personal expenses that are NOT repaid by the holder. Everything is itemized on an expense sheet regularly, just as is done in most major companies.

As for being based in Georgia and not paying overtime, the Home Office location has NOTHING to do with the overtime policy. The wages are governed on a state by state basis. While I dont' particularly agree with the non payment of overtime wages, I also can understand, from a company stance, why one would opt not to pay if not mandated to do so. I don't agree with it, but I understand the (so-called) logic.

As for a 20 year old theatre having no heat for two winters.. I'd bet that it had as much to do with the non-persistence of local management as it did with upper level management. I, myself, ran a theatre that was nearly 20 years old, and there were several times that the HVAC unit(s) would die, but they never stayed that way for more than a couple days time.

Evans:
From what I have seen, the problems with smaller markets and teh lack of 'Film Done Right' directly relates to the fact that the managers don't know any better. They do what they were shown/trained to do by the person before them, who was, in turn, trained by the person before them and so on. Bear in mind, this isn't what I deem to be the best method, as there are SOOO many variables in this business, but it seems to be the norm. Unfortunately, there are no routine training classes or seminars for us to attend. There are outlined policies in place, but not all occurences are outlined in a general polcy format. It takes a level head and experience, neither of which can be "trained" rather, they are "learned".

As to the chains bought out by Carmike, Excellence seemed to be ok, at best, as far as monies were concerned, or so I have been told. I truly don't know. Martin theatres seemed to have been in an expansion process when they were bought out, so they were either debt laden and wanted out, or tthe offer was too good to pass up. The Odeon theatres were, from what I saw, in a bad state to begin with. The Floyd chain was close to the same. Like what I consider to be the norm, some locations were good, soem were OK, and some, well, they were total [bs]

holes.

At any rate, I thought I'd help 'celar the air' a little on Carmike's behalf. Yes, some of the things they do make no sense whatsoever, but, it is, after all, a job that you (used in loose terms for those who it applies), the employee, accepted. Should you not like what you see, you have the option of leaving, just as you came. That's why I find it a little difficult at times bad mouthing the company myself. I choose to stay, regardless of all the [bs]

one has to put up with, but, in the end, I simply love what I do. This business is either in your blood or it's not. I don't a single person who is in the business for the money... Sadly.. [Frown]

Anyone else want this box I'm standing on? [Eek!]

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-25-2003, 09:36 PM:

Local managers can make a big difference, but only so much of a difference if they can't get improvements made and get problems fixed when things break.

Observations:

1. The Carmike 8 in Decatur had at least 10 managers during the 1997-2001 time period. That alone made me wonder if that theatre used to be a "pergatory for bad managers". I'm very surprised that the current manager has been there for nearly two years (longer than any I've seen there before).

2. No noticeable upgrades have been made to the facility since I started going there in 1997. Every other theatre in the area has had upgrades made (or was built recently enough to not need upgrades). This theatre needs upgrades worse than any theatre in the area.

3. Some of the seats in the back 4 auditoriums (the newest ones that Carmike added in 1992) are in terrible shape. The old seats in the Litchfield auditoriums are holding up much better.

4. The audio systems in auditoriums 1, 7, and 8 (3 of the 4 original Litchfield auditoriums) are in very poor condition and often deliver very low fidelity sound with distracting distortion. Auditorium 8 is still mono.

5. Only 6 of the 61 movies I've seen there have been worthy of being considered "deduction free" using my rating system. Some of those were generous, since the images are typically too dim. This is an extremely low percentage in comparison to other theatres in my area.

6. 45 of the 61 movies have had noticeable alignment problems (fuzzy or jagged aperture shadows visible [often drastically so] or image going onto drapes beyond black masking).

7. 15 of the flat movies seen have not had the masking pulled in to the "flat" setting, but were shown with the masking set for scope with jagged and/or fuzzy edges on the left and right.

8. 13 of the 61 movies have had very noticeable brightness nonuniformities across the image. This is the only theatre that has ever had this deduction, I think.

9. 11 of the 61 movies have had noticeable misframing problems.

10. 8 of the 61 movies have had trailers shown in the wrong format (flat trailers in front of scope films, with everything run for scope, stretching the trailers).

We've had 10 different local managers, without a lot of change in the presentation quality, so I say that the "local manager" theory is not valid here. I'll bet if the best manager that participates here on film-tech ran this theatre, things would improve, then he'd give up after a while, unless he wanted to spend his personal money on the theatre.

There have been two managers that have made a measurable differece in the theatre. One of them now works at a theatre in Florence and the other is the one that is there now. Of course, the one that is there now didn't try to improve things until the Decatur Daily ran a story about the poor condition of the place.

Note: I do not work for Carmike or any theatre company. I attempt to be scientific and unbiased in the way I collect and report the presentation quality data. I've been tempted to try writing some letters about the Decatur Carmike 8 to various people, such as district managers or to headquarters, but never have. I feel that if the negative press from Decatur Daily article of December 6, 2001 (which supposedly went all the way up to the vice president of the company) did not get any improvements made to the facility, then nothing will. So, I'll keep going there (spreading my visits relatively evenly among the theatres, as I should) and keep objectively reporting what I see. [Smile]

Carmike 8, Decatur, AL specific data

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 02-26-2003, 12:09 AM:

It's nothing against the District manager because I have known him for years. He knows what he's alowed on his credit card. He's not breaking any rules. His Cadilac is pre 98, but he's due up for a Tahoe. I just hate seeing my old theater become delapidated because they have to reduce costs. That would always be understandable, but so much money is spent in areas that don't improve the experience for the customer. The large manager turnover is because they don't pay well so they get someone who will work their ass off for little pay when you compare salary to hours worked. Eventually they get tired off all of the crapp that comes frome home office. The theater they bought out in my home town was a Plitt. As far as other theaters, I don't know. Carmike.com has a link to corporate history that gives it's story from the begining.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 02-26-2003, 12:48 AM:

Bobby,
The theater in Lawton OK. is run by Jack Connor if I'm correct. He is a great manager and is the guy you paige if you are in the central time zone and have a computer problem. He runs his theater, and doubles as tech support for Carmike's computer system in several states. I do have alot of compliments to give Carmike for some things, and he is one of them. He's top notch.

Posted by Kristin Wahlund (Member # 922) on 02-26-2003, 02:33 AM:

The Carmike 15 near me in Apple Valley just has one thing that bothers me. they have ONE very large screen and 14 tiny ones. Then what is really annoying is our customers always say things like "well the carmike sold out of it" like thats a good thing?! We have 2 very large auditoriums and then they decrease in size, but all of the carmike screens are tiny, they are smaller than our smallest one. Our theatre is set up more logically, its cleaner, and its only 5 minustes away from the Carmike! Personally I would rather watch a movie on a bigger screen and with less people, but apparently some people in the area actually like to smushed and pay the same price for a smaller auditorium!

Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 02-26-2003, 03:28 AM:

(kinda off topic)

quote:
apparently some people in the area actually like to smushed and pay the same price for a smaller auditorium!

Hey Kristen, my first stomping ground, the Mann Eagan Cinema 9, was doing great smushing people in small crappy auditoriums. That is until you moved into town! Our business dropped by 50% once Regal came to Eagan! [Big Grin]

I didn't realize that Carmike existed in MN still!

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-26-2003, 09:28 AM:

Another thing I noticed about the high manager turnover at Carmike theatres here: it seems that most of the managers weren't leaving, but being moved around to other Carmike locations. To me, it seems it would be hard on people having to move around every couple of years.

As I said before, the Carmike 8 in Decatur had 10 managers from 1997-1992, while the Carmike 10 in Huntsville had 5. Oddly enough, both of these theatres have now had the same mangers for nearly two whole years.

The Regal theatres in my area (all 3 of them) have had the same managers since 1997. The Regal environment strikes me as much more stable.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 02-26-2003, 11:53 AM:

quote:
I didn't realize that Carmike existed in MN still!

In Minneapolis/St. Paul Carmike operates three theatres-the Wynnsong 15 in Moundsview, the Carmike 15 in Apple Valley, and the Oakdale Stadium 20 in Oakdale. The 20 plex in Oakdale is the only other 20 screen theatre besides the one in Kentucky. These places make money hand over fist.

There are also several smaller theatres throughout the state.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-26-2003, 01:47 PM:

Just out of curiosity where is the 20 screen theater in Kentucky?

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 02-26-2003, 03:06 PM:

Dustin probably means the Thoroughbred 20 in Franklin TN (Nashville metro).

FWIW, I wouldn't have started this topic -- you never know if anyone in the home office might be lurking.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-26-2003, 03:44 PM:

Since I don't work for Carmike, I don't mind if someone from the home office lurks. They need to know, from a customer's viewpoint, what is going on in their theatres. As for employees, it's usually never a good idea to criticise one's employer too much in a public forum. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone from the home office lurks here. I used to get an occasional hit from the carmike.com domain on my hsvmovies.com site, but haven't noticed any such hits in a long time. If this thread (with one of my posts having a link to the site) did not generate a hit from that domain, I'd say that nobody fromt he home office is lurking, or if they are, they're not doing it from work.

Of course, Brad could grep the film-tech logs to see if any carmike.com domain hits are appearing.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 02-26-2003, 03:51 PM:

Nonsense, Vi would be much better for searching log files. [Wink]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-26-2003, 04:03 PM:

Brad loves vi! :razz:

Actually, grepping for "carmike" in the access logs wouldn't be terribly helpful, since it would only indicate that anyone from the janitor to the company president could be reading this thread. And if the only Carmike person reading this thread is the company president, but he is doing it from his home DSL connection, we wouldn't have any way of knowing.

In any case, I've never worked for Carmike, but I can say that both of their Williamsburg, VA. locations (one of which is now closed) definitely suck. They are typical '80s shoebox-plex houses where no one knows or cares about "film done right" or "showmanship done right," but customers keep coming anyway since the only other mainstream theatres are 20+ minutes away.

As of spring 1999, the Williamsburg Crossing 7 was a dump. The kind of place where the advertising slides are out of focus and the floors are sticky and the experience just goes downhill from there. One house had a DTS unit [thumbsup]

slapped onto a cheesy Kintek system [thumbsdown]

. They had mono up front with split surrounds. [puke]

Their lenses are horrible and their operators were lousy, too, mostly because anyone who cared about "film done right" would stay the hell away from the Williamsburg Crossing 7. I suppose that it is possible that things have improved since then, but I wouldn't bet on it. The Carmike 4 in town was the same way, except worse in every respect.

I'm sure that Carmike has some great locations which are well designed, well maintained, and well managed, and I am sure that they have many dedicated employees (some of whom post here). I just haven't personally seen any evidence of any of these.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-26-2003, 04:14 PM:

I love vi also. I've been editing C code with it quite a bit today.

Searching for "carmike" in the web logs (using the -i option) may not be too useful, but it's better than nothing. If you get a hit, you know someone in the domain hit the site (if it's the correct field being matched from the log).

As for operators that do a good job for Carmike, I can honestly say that the ones at Carmike 10 here at Huntsville have done a very good job since the theatre opened in 1998. I know that the job has changed hands over time, but quality has been maintained quite well. I'm impressed by any theatre that can maintain an "A" grade over time using my rating system. The only theatre that outperforms the local Carmike 10 is the Regal River Oaks 8 in Decatur, which has a very high "A+". It's amusing and amazing to see the contrast in quality between the Huntsvile and Decatur Carmike locations. The Carmike 8 in Decatur now has a "C" rating, up from the "D" they had last year. Since Regal has fixed nearly all of the nonadjustable screens in their Huntsville locations, their scores have improved drastically and the Carmike 8 is now in last place.

It's a strange position to be in -- praising one of the company's theatres (and staff), while blasting the other (the company's attitude toward the Carmike 8, not the staff -- I think the problems do not lie with the staff there).

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-26-2003, 08:03 PM:

I used to service Carmike in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle about 10 years ago. A good deal of these locations were little twins and triples from the old Video Independent Theatres circuit.

Let me tell you, I worked harder than I ever have in my life, just keeping all this old crappy equipment up and running. The Carmike-built 6's and 8's (at the time) were somewhat better, but they had their share of emergency calls and not-so-swift equipment rosters.

However, I got to know some of the nicest people I have ever met, dealing with the Carmike circuit. It was a distinct pleasure working with them, and the good nature extended all the way to the home office in Columbus - right down the line. I actually looked forward to emergencies at many theatres, solely because of the individuals I knew I would see. Several acquantainces I made back then are still friends to this day.

I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 02-26-2003, 08:48 PM:

I really wish they would do something to upgrade/fix/improve the Carmike in Orlando/Winter Park. [Smile]

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" [puke]

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. [Roll Eyes]

=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! [Wink]

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 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)

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 02-26-2003, 11:25 PM:

That's why you don't see any log excerpts here. [thumbsup]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 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.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 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- [bs]

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.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 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.

Posted by Katie Smith (Member # 1594) on 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! [Wink]

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 ]

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 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?"

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 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? [Confused]

FWIW, I know of about 6 Carmike employees who frequent this site.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 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.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 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! [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 03-01-2003, 12:02 AM:

Over 200 locations, though I think you meant screens which kind puts across the same point.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 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.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 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' [fu]

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=

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-01-2003, 12:24 PM:

Dustin - Yes, sorry, I did mean screens. (I was not sure of how many locations they have.)

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 03-01-2003, 12:53 PM:

Mark,

Clearly anyone requested or expected to work off the clock is in clear vioaltion of company policy, as well as possible state/federal law. It has always been, to the best of my knowledge, company policy that NO-ONE does ANYTHING in the building, or on the property without being clocked in, thus compensated for their efforts/actions.

You state there were things that could not be avoided by your DM.. if you would, please email me with a further explanation of your statement.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 03-02-2003, 11:32 AM:

Dustin - your comment about booking a theatre is hilarious. When I was in Mankato, MN, the Carmike city manager would call me to find out her bookings before she called her own booking department! And if they conflicted, she took my word over theirs (which was always right).

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 03-02-2003, 12:23 PM:

Mike, we do that with the local independant.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 03-04-2003, 04:20 AM:

OK, I never meant for this thread to last this long. When I began it is was agaiasnt my theater named Caremike. Of cousrse as we have all discussed, it belongs to the Carmike chain. I started out talking bad about my theater, and it turned into a discussion about the chain, and I could go on forever with complaints about it. And alot of you could complaine about who you work for but don't. There is no perfect job. For once I will tell you the whole truth. They forced me into quiting. They as in my manager of two years and the DM who first hired me in 95. At this point I wish I had known the situation before I started this thread. My manager was leaving, and she and her boss knew I would work for her replacement. But not with his attitude. He's 23 and has worked for the company for 6 months. From what I have seen, he's totally competant. My old manager had ten years of experience, and when she came to our theater, she looked up to me to get things done until she cought on. I worked with her for about a year, and it was she who let me go before they let me go. She knew as soon as this guy came in I would get in his face, and she was right. Because even though I don't work there anymore, and only worked there part time, those kids are still who look up to me. And as far as being disgruntled, Ive been disgrunteled for years. I've had way worse jobs, and I've left Carmike a few times. Even though I disagree with alot of their policies, no one can agree with every policy their' company has. I will never regret anytime I ever worked there. I'm not a theater employee for the first time in along time, and it hurts to say so. And again, Carmike, at least a few Camikes suck. And after seven and a halve years of good and bad experences, I got this far and won't forget it. I'm not working with film anymore. So I guess this is it.
This is Mark Jason Maxwell sighning off.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 03-04-2003, 04:34 AM:

Jason,
the guy I worked off the clock for was one of my best friends for along time. That's the only reason I worked off the clock for him. If I got fired, at least I had another jo to go to. I know it got to the point he was taking advantage of that, but I have a fault in my personality that I don't let my friends down. But I should because alot of people let alot of people down.