Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How do you complain about a theater you USED to work at?

This is topic How do you complain about a theater you USED to work at? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=001178

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-14-2004, 12:31 AM:

I took my wife to see Harry Potter today. Though the movie was good, the presentation was less than stellar.

The right screen channel was dead for the entire show. I'm pretty sure that both surround channels were dead. I'm not sure but I think the subs were down too. There were white "tick mark" scratches down the right hand edge of the screen.

I know who the operator was on that shift. I looked up toward the booth when the show started and I saw him. This guy is pretty conscientious. He's pretty much a "clock puncher" but he does NOT make stupid mistakes. He would have checked and rechecked his threading. He would have checked the sound in the booth monitor but, the way this theater is built (A vintage 1995 Cinemark "Tinseltown" that's been retrofitted to stadium) checking sound in person can be difficult. (Especially if you are the only operator on duty!) If he noticed a problem when he started the machine, he would have fixed it or reported it.

While the previews were playing an usher came along to "scoot" us down a couple of chairs. I would not have done it if the people who wanted the seats weren't handicapped. When he was done seating them I called him over and told him that there was a problem with the sound. I said to him, "Call up to the booth and tell Ted that the right channel is dead."

The problem never got fixed.

After the feature I walked up to the booth window and looked in while the credits were running. The film was playing in SDDS. The reader was threaded correctly and the processor was playing. (All the level meters were going and the Bypass button wasn't lit, etc.)

An usher came up to me as I was leaving and asked me if I had any questions. (He saw me looking into the booth.) I told him, "You've got speakers that aren't working." Just as the standard response, "Not all the speakers play..." came out of his mouth I took him down in front of the screen and stood him right under the bad speaker. It was plainly obvious what the problem was. Again, I told him that he needs to call the booth and tell them what the problem is. I said it plain as day: "Call Ted, in the booth, and tell him that Randy said..." As I left I saw him go back to what he was doing and (appearently) ignore what I just told him.

I just said to myself, "Fuck it!" and went home.

Now, I'm ready to register my complaint. If I just call the theater they'll just say, "Oh, that's just Randy being an asshole..." If I e-mail "Front Row Joe", the complaint will get forwarded to the theater but their reply will be just the same. If I anonymize my e-mail, corporate management isn't likely to take it seriously.

One last piece of information: The booth manager who ran the place after I left quit just two weeks ago. He's gone to greener pastures. I know he ran a pretty tight ship. He would regularly get 95-100% on his booth audits. I'm sure this problem has developed in the two weeks since he left. I'm sure the theater manager will think I'm just slamming the place because my buddy isn't in charge anymore.

Should I have my wife register the complaint?! She's a big Harry Potter fan. She has read every book. She didn't seem to notice because she was so involved with the plot. She thinks I'm being nit-picky. If I had gone out to the lobby to complain she would have been pissed off at me for making a ruckuss.

Advice?!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-14-2004, 12:38 AM:

Send someone else out and tell them exactly what to say. And remember, physical violence solves any and every problem. [av=m] [Razz]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-14-2004, 12:44 AM:

I agree with Joe. I have seven, 250-pound guys to take care of "problem" people and boss'! It IS the ONLY way to deal with some people since that's the ONLY language they understand.

BTW: I'm a pussy, that's why I have a support "team". [Smile]

>>> Phil

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 06-16-2004, 10:15 AM:

Phil:

1. Now I know why you wear a patch over your eye.

2. You are not allowed to agree with Joe. It upsets the balance
of the forum.

3. Ian, is watching you!

4. Joe posts so many different photo's..it proves he is in
reality Brad,Dwayne and Adam. [Eek!]

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 06-16-2004, 10:26 AM:

You guys are crazy! Randy I had the same exact experience at the Cinemark I used to work at. I knew the guy upstairs, I pointed out the problem, and still nothing got done. The booth manager was off I believe, and the only other manager that is capable of being the booth manager just quit recently as well. If I had actually paid to see the movie, I would have been pretty upset. It wouldnt do any good to have my wife make a complaint since she works there. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 06-16-2004, 11:10 AM:

Hey Jeremy,

Is Andy Landa still at the Tinseltown 16? IF so just tell him.

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 06-16-2004, 11:59 AM:

Yeah, I told him the next time I saw him.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-16-2004, 02:10 PM:

I paid for my tickets.

It's been a few years since I worked there but I know most of the managers.

I am rather peeved off. I know this place is capable of putting on a good show. What's got me upset the most is not that something went wrong. Hey, shit happens. I'm peeved because something went wrong and nothing was done about it!

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-16-2004, 03:47 PM:

How do you complain about a theater you USED to work at?

Sometimes you can't. Whenever I mention Regal Cinemas on here, there are a few people who work at thier corporate office that get upset. I was actually told a few weeks ago that I 'burned my bridge' with Regal. [Razz]

I will use a quote made famous by Steve Urkel:

"Opps, did I do that?????"

[beer]

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 06-16-2004, 04:32 PM:

Randy-

Write a letter to the theater manager stating your concerns as a PAYING CUSTOMER. Then copy everybody under the sun, including corporate, the Better Business Bureau, PA Division of Consumer Affairs, the local Chamber of Commerce, and anyone else you can think of (except for maybe Phil Hill [Big Grin]

).

That should bring rain. Somebody will be forced to answer you.

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 06-17-2004, 03:05 AM:

Since you used to work there and know your way around the place, perhaps you should have stormed into the booth and fixed the issue yourself since they were incapable. [Wink]

Seriously.

danny

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-17-2004, 09:08 AM:

Dan,

I *HAVE* done that before!

Problem was that it was a Saturday afternoon. Too much traffic through the booth. It would have caused more trouble than it solved. On evenings and weekdays, you can get up there, fix the problem and get out before anybody even knows you were there.

The other problem is that my wife gets *REALLY* peeved off when I do shit like that.

Okay, I gotta' admit that I'm one of those people who can't watch a movie unless I'm the one running the projector. If I notice the slightest thing wrong, I won't be able to sit still in my seat until it's fixed. If I'm running the show, I'll be at the projector about a dozen times throughout the film to make adjustments and tweeks, etc.

I don't do that because I make a lot of mistakes. I do it because I don't think of a movie projector as a "steady state" machine. Movie projectors are "dynamic" machines. You can have the thing PERFECTLY aligned at the start of the show and there will ALWAYS be some adjustment to be made throughout the show. That's just the way they are.

Too many people have the belief that movie projectors are something that you simply turn on and let run. Furthermore, they think they SHOULD BE. When I try to tell people that this is not the case, they think I'm crazy.

How would you like to go to a Broadway play where the curtain goes up then the actors, stagehands and techies all just stood still for two hours? To me, it's the same thing with projectors!

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 06-17-2004, 02:21 PM:

I'm the same exact way Randy. I am constantly tweeking things when running movies up in booth. At our prescreenings, I'm always the one to start the film up because to be honest, I just think I'll notice more problems than anyone else. Framing, focus, digital sound, etc. will be the things that I make sure are absolutely perfect. I'll never forget our prescreening of Die Another Day when the person who ran the film didn't get it to run in SDDS. All it needed was a little tension. The analog track on that film was not very good either. [Mad]

As for going in the booth and fixing the problem yourself, it depends on how you do it. If you slip in and out without being notice, I suppose that's cool. If someone else downstairs that knew more than I and wanted to fix it came to help, by all means I appreciate that. However, when someone who doesn't know what they're doing and comes up in booth and messes with things, I wouldn't like that. Helpful help is always appreciated, especially from people who really know what they're doing. If any Film Techer did that for me, I'm sure I'd have no problems. If Phil came up though, I'd have to lock myself in the office and wait for him to pass. [Eek!]

AJG

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 06-17-2004, 05:49 PM:

Aaron wrote:

quote: Aaron Garman
If Phil came up though, I'd have to lock myself in the office and wait for him to pass.

hahaha! Naw....

btw, where the hell is your member pic? You have 299 posts and still no pic? Get your act together!

danny

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-17-2004, 07:35 PM:

HTF did I get dragged in to this?

Yeah Aaron, post the nude pic of yourself that you sent me. [evil]

>>> Phil

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 06-17-2004, 08:19 PM:

quote:
How would you like to go to a Broadway play where the curtain goes up then the actors, stagehands and techies all just stood still for two hours? To me, it's the same thing with projectors!

As an experienced and seasoned (hold the oregano) stage techie, I can tell you first hand that NOTHING ever goes the same way twice. The stage hands and techies are immaculate about making sure everything is where it needs to be when it needs to be, and half the time the stuff is not where it should be, and we fix that.

In fact when stage managing fiddler on the roof, and for those that are familiar with the show, after the wedding scene the soldiers come in and destroy the place. Same with the stage version, they destroy just about every prop on stage. We have exacly 20 minutes from the time of that scene ending to repair every bit of it, let it set (glue) for the next days show, and get back to work.

It is the same with booth equipment. As a sound engineer I have also notices that not all actors have the same vocal reverberations as the others, and some even vary from minute to minute. It requires constant adjustment to thier eq levels and compression ratios to adjust for variances in tone and volume, position of mouth relative to mic, etc.

Projectors are the same. All that film traveling so damned fast through the gate all the time, and the gate just really doesn't care which part of the film is there, nor does the lense care what part of the film you are on, nor does the sound care how close to the end it is. IT all fails randomly no matter how much you check it, so you have to check it ALL THE DAMNED TIME, and with todays wonderfully low paid high school jocks running the booths these days, its a wonder that any film every actually starts at all!

WHEW.... I am out of breath... [Eek!]

Ciao

Dave

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 06-18-2004, 01:55 AM:

Phil said:

quote: Phil Hill
HTF did I get dragged in to this?

Yeah Aaron, post the nude pic of yourself that you sent me.

Well, you're an easy target pirate boy. As for my picture, yeah: I'm just lazy and I don't have a scanner or digital camera. Trust me, I want to get one on here so I can show off my stunningly good looks. Phil, I thought that picture was a secret between you, Jenna, and I? [sex]

AJG

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-18-2004, 04:12 PM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
Whenever I mention Regal Cinemas on here, there are a few people who work at thier corporate office that get upset.

Funny. Whenever I mention AMC, another AMC employee who lurks here forwards my comments on to high level people, I suppose in an attempt to get me in trouble, or perhaps to have me educated in proper business conduct or whatever.

Even though I'm much lower on the totem pole, nothing ever happens because my peers and immediate supervisors generally have very little regard for anything this individual says. So usually we all get a chuckle out of the effort, but that's about it. I predict we'll get another chuckle in a few days. [Razz]

[ 06-18-2004, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: Mark J. Marshall ]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-18-2004, 04:19 PM:

quote: Aaron Garman
Phil, I thought that picture was a secret between you, Jenna, and I?

Cool! Another 3-way! [evil]

(BTW: "Pirate Boy"? Hahhahaah... that's hilarious!)

Mark: More power to ya! We've all met those "type" of people! Hang in there! [beer]

>>> Phil

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-21-2004, 01:38 PM:

Too bad the higher-ups apparently don't notice the posts about specific problems at their theaters and have them FIXED!