This is topic The Sickest thing ever encountered in the theater in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 08-24-2004, 08:17 AM:
 
What is the sickest thing you have had to deal with at a theater?

Here is mine

The other day a retarded (yes he was really retarded) guy went into the bathroom and then started to puke, we could here it in the lobby for what seemed like 5 min or so. He came out, wiped his face with his shirt and then told us that he puked in the restroom. The lady working the concession stand at the time asked the man if he got it in the toilet and he said most of it, the went back and watched the rest of his movie. Well I went to take a look to see the damage (bad idea) he did not get most of it in the toilet and I think there was blood in it, I about puked my self just from the smell. I could not clean it up because the smell was that bad, some one else that could actually stand it had to do it.

[Edit]
It was the assistant manager that volunteered to clean it up

[ 09-02-2004, 07:04 PM: Message edited by: Jason M Miller ]
 

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Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 08-24-2004, 11:15 AM:
 
That's nasty ya'all have to deal with that. I would have hired a janitorial service...
 

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Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 08-24-2004, 11:43 AM:
 
I know there is at least one other thread with the title subject here, I just can't get it to come up in a search...
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-24-2004, 01:38 PM:
 

quote: Jason M Miller

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toilet and I think there was blood in it

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I would not have cleaned it up or gone anywhere near it if there was blood. You never know what these weirdos are walking around with now adays. Spend the money and have someone come in that can clean it professionally. Sure your customers need the restroom but it isn't worth your health for.
 

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Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-24-2004, 02:32 PM:
 
I was given the message that there was a "mess" in the men's room, so I went to go check it out. I opened our first stall, and there was just an unflushed toilet full of fecal matter and toilet paper. No biggie...so I flush and continue to check the rest of the stalls. Second one was fine, as was the third. Then, when I got to the fourth, I saw something I'll never forget. There, in the toilet bowl, floated a piece of the size of a loaf of bread. No, I am not kidding, the log was a more or less a REAL log of poopie. My first reaction was laughter because I cannot imagine any human dispensing such a monstrosity. Obviously, it was so big that it wouldn't fit down the hole in the toilet, so I grabbed a plunger to break it. I finally broke it up, the smell filled the room (icky) and got rid of the loaf of poop. It was a day long remembered...

AJG
 

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Posted by Kyle Watkins (Member # 986) on 08-24-2004, 05:18 PM:
 
We had a guy take a in ALL the stand up urinals We had 8 of them i belive. Lucky for us it was during the last set of shows so the cleaning compnay had to take care of it.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-24-2004, 06:39 PM:
 
Now then would you say it was pretty evenly divided? That would take some predictive skills and, um, intestinal fortitude.
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 08-24-2004, 08:52 PM:
 
The World's Worst Job?
 

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Posted by Fred Georges (Member # 505) on 08-24-2004, 09:13 PM:
 
Years ago at the Music Box in Chicago we would occasionally have a certain Female patron give us an Ebert review and aim Her Ass directly at the wall behind the Bowl and let fly with explosive diarrhea. The Janitor lived about a block away and would charge an extra $20.00 to come in & do the clean up. He would then,immediately take the $20 & get stoned. Can't say I blame Him. It was N-A-S-T-Y!!!
 

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 08-24-2004, 09:29 PM:
 
Fred,

We've had the very same thing happen at my location, numerous times, always in the womens restroom. I just dont' get it... I've never shit myself before but somehow I've always made it to the toilet.

Puking all over the place is one thing... and again, I've been lucky enough to make it to either a toilet, sink, trash can or outside on the ground...

Last night there were piles in TWO different theatres during the same show set! The Notebook and Princess Diaries II.

Speaking of , what do you guys use to 'soak' it up? Kitty litter? Absorb All? Spill Magic?
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 08-24-2004, 10:16 PM:
 
At one of my theaters in the men's room (which is actually a big surprise) a man wiped his feces all over the bathroom (it was a small 2 stall, 3 urinal) including the walls, the mirror, the sinks, and the urinals. I paid one of the boys that worked for me $25 bucks from petty cash to clean it up. He deserved it!
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-24-2004, 10:58 PM:
 
A few gross things...

1. A man stopped me in the lobby and told me there was a problem in the men's room. The problem was that "someone smeared it all over the floor." I asked him what "it" was and he just went "you know...it." So I went in there and there were footprints all over the floor. That's not the worst I've seen, though. #2 is.
2. Someone puked in one of the sinks in the women's restroom. I was still working as floor staff when this happened. There were no female employees on duty, so me and another guy had to go clean it up. The puke had plugged up the drain and there was no way to get it out. So we put about a dozen gloves on each hand and proceeded to scoop the vomit out of the sink with our hands and throw it into a mop bucket, which we then threw in the dumpster.
3. Our booth tech told us that at one of the theatres he used to work at, a woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in a bathroom stall and left it there, bloody mess and all. They had to call the cops and the coroner and try to track her down.
 

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Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 08-24-2004, 11:30 PM:
 
As teenagers (long ago) my friends and I worked in a variety of service stations .. when they were service stations.

Anyway, the women's 'rest room' was always the most disgusting .. always. I've never understood why, but it doesn't sound like much has changed.

Ron Yost
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-25-2004, 02:02 AM:
 
For the last several years, almost all the custodial workers who clean restrooms, pickup trash in assembly areas, etc. I've seen have been wearing latex or vinyl gloves. I don't know if it's local health regulations or specified by employers (whether the business or a temp agency), but it seems pretty much essential.

There are a lot of diseases transferred not just from fluids like blood & vomit, but especially from feces, airborne or oral. Oral contact is usually through some intermediate agency: some very small (even just a part of a virus) material is transferred to some object, that object is touched, then when eating it's ingested. Viruses, worms, etc., enjoy the gross-out.

I really wish that those folks whose obligations inculde some restroom cleanup would wear some kind of gloves. Just call the local health department, tell them what you do, ask if the job requires gloves by law, & then tell your employer who will have to provide them. Or be even lower-key, & ask the health department to send a general notice of the specifics of the law's requirements to the management of the theater. Otherwise, please get the glovesyourself. Latex & vinyl gloves are CHEAP from medical supply stores, online is probably uselessly inconvenient, but there's likely a local medical supply or home healthcare store where you can quickly run by & get them. If not, check for a local janitorial supply store, it seems likely they'd have them, & who knows, maybe Wal-Mart will.

Latex & vinyl gloves artfully photograped & sold online

They turn inside out when you take them off, isolating the surface which contacted any nastiness. Throw them away, put on a new pair next time, because you will touch the exterior when putting them on.

Be aware of latex allergy. Many people are allergic to latex, & it gets worse the more they're in contact with it. It's got a broad range of symptoms, from skin reaction to respiratory difficulty to cardiac failure. Some people react just when latex is nearby. If you notice something, switch to vinyl immediately. The powder used on latex gloves makes it worse, since particles of latex attach to the powder & become airborne.

I had noticed when talking to folks who have to clean restrooms at theaters that they always DREAD the ladies' room. It seemed strange, since statistically women seem to be more concerned with being tidy than men. I finally asked a guy why that is, & he said: it's because they won't sit down on the seats. They just stand straddling over the toilet, not even touching the lid to lift it with a shoe, & let go. Stuff goes everywhere, all over, it's horrible.

Today, we have considered comparative pooping mechanics. Somebody bright needs to analyze the process & come up with a practical system to get rid of the problem. I really doubt those paper seat covers dispensed in some restrooms would be used much at all because of all the manual intervention required.

If you've got to function in an environment with a nasty smell which we've developed a strong repellent reaction to for self-preservation reasons (poop, vomitus, decaying tissue, etc.) & must battle nausea, faintness, dangerous distraction, etc., an old trick is to overwhelm your nose with a strong, non-revolting smell - like putting a dab of Vick's Vap-O-Rub under each nostril.
 

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Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 08-25-2004, 02:02 AM:
 

quote: Brandon Willis

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a woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in a bathroom stall and left it there, bloody mess and all.

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DING DING DING!!! I think we have a winner!

In other news, about 8 years ago, someone unloaded a huge in the ELEVATOR at the Sebastopol Cinemas...
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-25-2004, 07:57 AM:
 
A couple years ago we had somebody in a seat during a show. Everybody dreads movies that bring in a lot of little kids, parents fill 'em up with soda and candy then they puke. Many of the midnighters are drugged and or drunk too with the same results.
 

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Posted by Fred Georges (Member # 505) on 08-25-2004, 09:31 AM:
 
Just as an aside. Our Janitor used to earn extra dough cleaning up after Rocky Horror. One Saturday night as He was starting a massive cleanup We told Him of our intention of booking in another audience participation Movie that, as it's finale approached, had the audiences crapping on the seats. The manager & I kept our poker faces as He thought about it for a moment. Finally, a disgusted look came over Him. He looked at both of us, shaked His Head & said "MAAAAAAN!!...I AIN'T WORKIN NO SHIT SHOW!!!!" At which point We lost it. We laughed for weeks about that one!
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 08-26-2004, 09:30 AM:
 
We have free family shows every sat and sun at 10:00 and 11:00 for nine weeks starting sept 11, so I know its going to be bad......Will post here if anything happens
 

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Posted by Matt Close (Member # 996) on 08-27-2004, 01:11 AM:
 
A few people have been busted 'rubbing uglies' in the cinemas, but I am sure most of you have had that happen.

One day this guy was the only one in a movie...... and must have been enjoying the movie so much that he simply could not miss any of it ...... so much so that he couldn't even leave to take a p!$$ ... so he did in his empty drink cup and left if there for us to pick up!!
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-27-2004, 07:46 AM:
 
Better in the cup than on the floor. The last masturbator we caught got 14 months with 90 days suspended, mamdatory legal and pyschological counciling. He had 2 priors in NYC.
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 08-27-2004, 08:21 AM:
 
'rubbing uglies' ???
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-27-2004, 10:57 AM:
 
Well yeah, if it wasn't so ugly he wouldn't need to be rubbing it himself.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-27-2004, 04:41 PM:
 
I used to work in a furniture store.

Every so often, I'd meet some little old lady walking around with a pained look on her face. I'd ask her if I could help her. She'd say, "I'm just looking at this easy chair/cushy sofa."

I'd go away and stand in a corner to wait the next customer and I'd see her sit down for about a 1/2 minute. Then the look of, "Aaahh!!", came across her face.

Usually, these old people only sat down to let off a big, stinky fart but there'd be the occasional wet spot after they left.

Now you know why the floor samples are sold off at such discounts!

My theater just spent $2,000 to have all the seats cleaned. All 825 of them. Most of them were just dirty from 5 years of the usual "Ass dirt" that people track in but there were more than just a few that had big "Pee-Pee" stains.

The nastiest thing I know about is at the department store where my mother works. It's one of the May Company stores.

She tells me many stories of people shitting all over the floors and walls in the fitting rooms. We don't know exactly why people do this. We can only guess that they had to go but couldn't find the rest room in time. They either went in there for cover while they took a shit or else they went in to clean the shit out of their underwear.

Doesn't matter WHY people do it. My mother just takes a broomstick to reach over the top of the door and locks it from the inside. Then she calls housekeeping. It's always one of the new guys who get to do the job.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-27-2004, 05:41 PM:
 
Yeah, my wife works a J.C. Penney, people relieving themselves in fitting rooms is very common, she says at least a couple times a month.
 

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Posted by Edwin Graf Diemer (Member # 545) on 08-27-2004, 07:59 PM:
 
I used to be projectionist at the Eric [United Artists] Concordville 4, PA, which is long gone. It was a 1000+ single screener that the chain naturally felt had to be twinned. So they put a cement wall left-of-center, which left a 737-seat house on the right. They threw a curtain over the cement and let it drop into a little wooden tray which came up about 4-6 inches from the floor-cheaper that way! They also installed home-type thermostates in the middle of the walls, and patrons couldn't keep their hands off them. During "Home Alone", it would get so hot that patrons would be throwing up constantly, and of course somebody threw up in the curtain tray. It took weeks to find it, and until I did one night, the stench was disgusting-almost as bad as cleaning it up! We dumped bleach water in the tray and hoped for the best-it didn't hurt much, since the front of the auditoriums were usually flooded anyway because they were below the water table!
 

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Posted by Mike Pennell (Member # 1692) on 08-27-2004, 09:21 PM:
 
Everyone has found the occasional chew/spit cup or the condom while cleaning theatres. But my worst has to be the empty douche bottle sitting in a tub of popcorn.
 

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Posted by Wolff King Morrow (Member # 2226) on 08-27-2004, 09:55 PM:
 
At an old UA theater I once worked for years ago, a man caughed up blood and lung tissue all over the floor in an auditorium. The man died and customers were actually pissed when the show had to be stopped to clean up the mess!
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-27-2004, 10:23 PM:
 
How about the random used tampon in a popcorn bucket. Saw that only once thank god.
 

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Posted by Cory Isemann (Member # 2517) on 08-28-2004, 01:48 AM:
 
Bill, would that be the Regency Square store by any chance? I used to work there, I may know her. What a small world.
 

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Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 08-28-2004, 02:09 AM:
 
Hell, I've got all y'all beat. When I first started in this business I was working with my mom in an old down-town single screen cleaning up. This is a good time to note that in all of my time in a theatre, I've always had more trouble out of the ladies room. A Ladie left about ten minutes early from a show one evening. She was a big woman in a big hurry.

Well, didn't take long for the first complaint to come and the reason for the big hurry to be revealed. She had on the walls, floor, ceiling and the toilet paper holders. She had also stopped up the toilet and cracked it as well. It was leaking in two places.

Took two hours, a gallon of bleach and odor-ban to fix this mess and a tube of clear silicone caulk.
 

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Posted by Jason Miller (Member # 2341) on 08-28-2004, 04:30 AM:
 
on the ceiling? cracked the toilet? are you sure the woman left the theatre and didn't EXPLODE in the bathroom?

I would have been looking for body parts...
 

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Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 08-28-2004, 10:12 AM:
 
Yeah, funny you should mention that. I said the same thing. <Intercom on>Beep, "Special assistance needed in the Ladies restroom, special assistance..."

Well, if that was her, she lost about ten pounds that night, as she exploded on our clean kamode.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 08-28-2004, 11:02 AM:
 
I once found a bloody Maxi-Pad stuck to the back of a seat.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-28-2004, 12:44 PM:
 
Just think if aliens caught a few humans and caged them up in their zoo for awhile, all the substances (of varying degrees of disgustingness) humans give off. Oil, sweat, tears, phlegm, saliva, urine, feces, semen or vaginal secretions, menses, milk. And if you accidentally break one you better clean it up because then there's blood, bile, gastric juices and who knows what else.
 

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Posted by Fred Georges (Member # 505) on 08-28-2004, 01:39 PM:
 
"Everyone has found the occasional chew/spit cup or the condom while cleaning theatres. But my worst has to be the empty douche bottle sitting in a tub of popcorn."


I"ll never eat "Buttered" Popcorn again!!
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-28-2004, 02:13 PM:
 
I was behind the concession one day, running for the cashiers, fetching their popcorn and nachos and changing the syrup and such. I had an ink pen in my shirt pocket. When I got the popcorn, I had to lean over the popper to get the fresh stuff. At one point, I looked down to find that the ink pen was no longer there. Right about that time, I heard a popcorn tub slam on the counter, and at the same time a woman cleared her throat 2 feet away from me. I looked up, and saw her, with a furious look on her face, holding a tub of popcorn with my ink pen sticking out of the top. The pen had fallen into her popcorn and exploded.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 08-28-2004, 05:13 PM:
 
Brandon, that is pretty funny, I have seen tubs come back with dead bugs in them.
 

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Posted by Bill Carter (Member # 156) on 08-28-2004, 11:12 PM:
 
One of our customers once found an employee's name badge in the middle of their bucket of popcorn. At least I knew exactly who was responsible.
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-02-2004, 10:58 AM:
 
Although I've never encountered this where I work, I heard a rumor that ants in the nacho trays are a common problem at some Regals.
Also, little black specks in the Sprite / Mello Yello. I have seen this a few times.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-02-2004, 04:05 PM:
 

quote: Brandon Willis

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I heard a rumor that ants in the nacho trays are a common problem at some Regals.
Also, little black specks in the Sprite / Mello Yello. I have seen this a few times.

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Don't you think that is a very unfair generalization, especially for a "rumor"?

Regardless of the theatre, ants can be attracted to food, expecially sweet food. One of my daughter's friends had a drink served at a bar that had tiny ants in the sweet whipped cream topping. Drop a piece of sweet or greasy food on the ground and see how fast an army of ants appears.
 

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Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 09-02-2004, 04:27 PM:
 
All of our nachos are 100% Certified Ant-Free.
 

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Posted by Kyle Watkins (Member # 986) on 09-02-2004, 05:08 PM:
 
At one of the theater i work for we had a very bad roach problem, they had to bomb the place, it suck we had to take all the candy and soda boxes out of the building. Most of them lived in the wooden arm rest. They said we had severl thousands roachs in the building.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 09-03-2004, 03:20 AM:
 
Roaches are disgusting creatures. However, over the summer I've come to HATE crickets.
The way our booth stairs are aligned it's a straight shoft from the electical room door to the break room, to the stairs. The crickets in Los Banos were out in full force through the summer and they found their way into the electrical room and subsequently into the booth.
The most frightening part of it was when I started to thread up Spidey and found a cricket fell out of the brain.

The reason it was scarry is because of the true story of when the place opened a couple summers ago...Durring a show a suicidal cricket said goodbye cruel world in a brain and caused a brainwrap...I'm just glad I'm not the poor projectionist who had to clear the damn thing cause that would make me angry.

And in gross stories...When I was an usher a guest came up and complained that someone was ralphing in the bathroom. So me and a manager went in and found this guy who had barfed in a sink and tried to wash it down but it clogged the drain! So he's got a sink full of barf and water with soggy paper towels all around it and a wad of them in his hand just stirring the soup...Oh it was terribly smelly to clean up.
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-03-2004, 08:19 AM:
 
A customer complained about a cricket the other night and wanted me to stop the movie and turn on all the lights, locate and remove the cricket, and then start the movie again.
 

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Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 09-04-2004, 10:30 PM:
 

quote: Brandon Willis

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Also, little black specks in the Sprite / Mello Yello. I have seen this a few times.

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that happens when theatres don't clean their nozzles very well. There are probably black specks in the pepsi/coke too at those theatres, but you just can't see them. I've heard that the specks are actually pieces of mold or fungus that feed off of the syrup. Yummy.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 09-06-2004, 02:39 PM:
 
the black specks could also be from the Ice, if the Ice machine is not ran through a fillter system.....we just got a new Ice machine and we are running it through a filter now and WOW, the filter went from white to brown really quickly.
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-09-2004, 11:09 AM:
 
I try to have the concessionists clean the nozzles with a toothbrush once a week when possible. If they don't do it, I write them up.
 

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Posted by John Hegel (Member # 628) on 09-10-2004, 02:44 AM:
 
Once a week???... Ewwww

We do it every night or every eight hours depending on what schedule we are running. We also soak them in sanitizer over night.

All food surfaces are sanitized whenever possible or at least once a day.
 

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Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 09-10-2004, 02:05 PM:
 
Yeah, Brandon. Seen this before at a theatre when I first took over management. If you are in fact having them cleaned by "in-duh-viduals" , the inside part is not getting cleaned properly. The fungal black plaque is loosened up by the incomplete cleaning and discharged with every drink.
The theatre's heads i mentioned were so bad I had to use pipe cleaners (the small hobby-type), and then i ordered new ones from coke, just as a precaution. Some people are extremely alergic to mold. Mold causes health problems in everyone, though. If those heads are bad enough, you may never get the spores out of the microscopic crevices in the plastic. Remember how Tuperware gets if you leave something in it too long and you can't get the odor out?

Also, it is important to remember to clean the fountain valves and the head itself. If required it is possible to remove these for further cleaning individually. (Hopefully, this is never required) The mixing tips are just the begining of the what needs to stay clean. A lot of people forget this.

And remember: If you want it done right you have to do it yourself!
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-10-2004, 04:54 PM:
 

quote:

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And remember: If you want it done right you have to do it yourself!

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Wow, management at its finest!
 

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Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 09-10-2004, 11:06 PM:
 
The last theatre I worked at some chick probably early 20's maybe younger throw up on the floor in one of the smaller auditoriums. Some of the other ushers almost got sick themselves from the smell. I was so glad my shift was over, I would have had to clean it up. It continued to smell in that theatre for a couple of days after.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-11-2004, 12:25 AM:
 
One time there was a toilet in the Ladies room that got stopped up pretty good with shit and wads of T.P.

A couple of ushers were standing around saying, "I'm not going to do it! YOU do it!." I grabbed one of them and told him to get me a pair of rubber gloves. I told the other one to get me the big plunger out of the closet down the hall. I gave that shitter a good old fashioned plunger job while the two kids watched.

Does anybody remember the old TV show, "Quincy"? Do you remember the scene in the opening credits where Jack Klugman is demonstrating an autopsy to a bunch of police cadets? The scene where the guys are buckling at the knees and dropping like flies. These two kids were standing there, wretching at the sight, just about ready to pass out!

I finished the job then gave it one final flush. It went down, clean as a whistle. I handed the one kid back his plunger... "Here, rinse this off in the slop sink and put it back in the closet." I stripped off the gloves and gave them back to the other one. Nonchalantly stepping over to the sink to wash up with plenty of soap and hot water, I said to them, "What's the matter?! It's just SHIT. It washes off!"

"You might want to get a mop and clean up that water on the floor before you let people back in here...", I said over my shoulder as I strolled out the door.

The look on these guys' faces was priceless!
 

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Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 09-13-2004, 03:17 AM:
 
[QUOTE] [Wow, management at its finest!
/QUOTE]

Well, what can I say, I'm an addict. I'm a stickler for certain things. There are certain things (especially in this industry) that you can't teach or force someone to love, learn, or do. So, you swallow your pride (title) and do things the way you like them to be done everywhere, and hope to set an example.
 

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Posted by Greg Davis (Member # 2687) on 09-13-2004, 06:10 PM:
 
Way back in the day when I used to clean theatres as an usher, I found a can of Dr. Pepper that was half full and drank it. Little did i know it had 2 cigarette stubs in it, which I also drank.

I took a risk. What can I say, I like Dr. Pepper.
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 09-13-2004, 08:36 PM:
 
Eww.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 09-13-2004, 10:07 PM:
 
Wow Greg, that is NASTY, you must really like your Dr. Pepper but couldn't you have gotten some from the concesion stand if you wanted it so much? I have only eaten one thing from a theater and that was a bag of nacho chips that was not open(we can not eat these for free).
 

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Posted by Greg Davis (Member # 2687) on 09-14-2004, 12:31 AM:
 
Phhsh. Ultrastar is Pepsi .

A lesson lived is a lesson learned.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-14-2004, 07:20 PM:
 
There was this one usher who wasn't exactly retarded but he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, either. He would clean a theater by wheeling the trash cart to the front of the theater then he would go over and pick up ONE piece of trash. Then he would walk back to the trash cart and drop it in. (Repeat until done.)

Me and a buddy were standing by a projector, looking at a small problem when we happened to look out the window into the theater. There was "Scottie" doing his little routine. All of a sudden, he knelt down behind a seat and came up a second later with a half-eaten candy bar in his hand. He looked around to see if there was anybody looking (Didn't bother to look up... not the sharpest guy, remember?) then he scarfed it down like a starving wolf!

It was pretty gross!
Several times after that I saw the same thing happen with half-drunk cups of soda and bags of stale popcorn!

Sometimes I wondered if he got any food except for what he ate off the floor... Or, maybe, he's got one of those psychological diseases where he's compelled to do gross things like that.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 09-14-2004, 09:33 PM:
 
Dude, now that is gross
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-14-2004, 10:41 PM:
 
It was one of those "Reaction Formation" funny things.

Do you know the scene in the movie, Caddyshack, where a bunch of guys are hiding behind a bush making bets: "$50 says the kid picks his nose!... $50 says he eats it!"

We were standing there watching and saying, "He's going to eat it!... He's going to eat it!... OOOH! He really ate it!"

Funny at the time but gross and sad after you think about it for a minute. Especially after you see him do it a couple more times!
 

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Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 09-15-2004, 09:22 AM:
 
John, nozzles are not supposed to be exposed to sanitizer or bleach. I believe it destroys the o-ring.

I would do as others suggested and used a pipe cleaner to clean the gunk out.
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-15-2004, 07:12 PM:
 
Hot water and a tooth brush work well.
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-16-2004, 11:15 AM:
 
Has anyone ever heard of disposable nozzles?
 

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Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 09-18-2004, 04:24 AM:
 
Soak them in soda water before cleaning them.
 

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Posted by Cory Isemann (Member # 2517) on 10-18-2004, 10:29 AM:
 
Well, it finally happened. I caught a couple having sex last night when I started one of the last shows.

<full body shiver>

Yet another thing to make me want to drink when I get home!
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-18-2004, 05:56 PM:
 
Don't be scared, Cory. They won't hurt you. I promise.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 10-18-2004, 10:53 PM:
 
So Cory... sex happens... it's cool...HONEST! YOU should try it sometime.

Ummm... so, what's yur drink?

>>> Phil
 

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Posted by Cory Isemann (Member # 2517) on 10-19-2004, 10:05 AM:
 
I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch.
 

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Posted by Don Cross (Member # 2980) on 01-31-2005, 11:53 PM:
 
Time to revive another thread from a number of weeks ago...

On the downside of some of the above mentioned topics...

What terribly interesting (or terribly disturbing) is to know exactly how many people know how to PROPERLY clean food equipment. There are even very few upper level managers and even owners who still don't quite know how to do this type of work properly. Examples are: popcorn poppers, warmers, soda equipment, etc... By far the best examples are the ice machines and/or the ice storage units if needed.

By improperly cleaning the ice units one can cause a considerable amount of damage very rapidly. It can be a very serious threat to ones health. It can also cause civil complaints and also whats refered to as "automatic" citations by ones health department, and even fines for first violations in some states.

Also note that in some states- these citations are not considered to be appealable.

Want a better example of what happens in cases such as these: Talk to people in Pennsylvania who have dealt with Sheetz (very large convenience chain), or with one of the large Mexican chain restraunts in Beaver county (either Chili's or ChiChi's).
 

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Posted by Chris Brown (Member # 2800) on 02-01-2005, 12:05 AM:
 
When I was home over break we had something really disgusting in one of our men's rooms. One of the ushers came out into the lobby saying I "just had to see this". Fearing the worst, I went in and saw...

In one of the stalls, on the wall above the toilet, sombody had written O- WRITTEN IN ! What do you say to that?

The hardest part was finding someone who would clean it up. This was around 6:00 so we couldnt just leave it for the cleaning crew. The first few ushers we asked said no...they even said they'd take the write up, they wouldn't do it. Finally one of them volunteered. We gave the guy a few random gift certificates as I recall. That was probably the weirdest thing I'd ever seen though!
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 02-01-2005, 12:33 AM:
 
A short list:

USED tampons and pads on theater floor, USED condoms on theater floor, poopy diapers turned upside down on the theater floor, urine on the theater CHAIR, chewing tobacco spit on floor and also in cups, poo smeared anywhere and everywhere in the bathrooms, projectile vomit all over the walls when we played the first Men in Black movie, used bandaids on floor by concession (not in back of concession thank god), sewer water dripping from a pipe leak that ran just a tad bit too close to the concession area.... need I say more. I could go on and on with my stories but will leave it at that

quote:

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Brandon Willis
a woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in a bathroom stall and left it there, bloody mess and all.

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Two years before I started working a theater, this happened at mine as well. In the sink of the womens restroom so I have been told by the ex-district manager .... oh yeah and he had to clean it up
 

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Posted by John Hegel (Member # 628) on 02-01-2005, 11:10 PM:
 
Recommended and properly cleaning equipment that comes into contact with food are two different things. Every thing that has a NSF sticker on it should be able to withstand sanitize.

At my job, the USDA is in house at all times. If someone was caught not sanitizing equipment, utensils, or work areas they would shut us down in a heart beat.
 

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Posted by Don Cross (Member # 2980) on 02-02-2005, 12:44 AM:
 
John is right about recommended versus whats the proper way.

As for some of the theaters I've seem; theres quite a few people asleep at the helm to miss that much. Its a terribly bad case of improperly trained employees, poorly trained (or simply doesn't care) management, etc.. The same goes for the regulatory agencies.

One would think that it would be both inspected and enforced on a more regular basis because of the dangers to the general publics safety. In some of the theaters I've seen its an accident waiting to happen; or an ambulance chaiser waiting to discover.
 

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Posted by Justin West (Member # 920) on 02-02-2005, 01:30 PM:
 
Oh gosh! There was the time I paid a vist to a drive-in theatre, during the day. As the owner was giving me a tour of his fine establishment, his 4 or 5-year-old daughter and her doggy went wandering around the grounds. When the owner and I were done touring, we paused outside to chat and while we were talking, his daughter is heading our way...and in here hands were 3 different colored "balloons" (as she called them) and she could not understand why her daddy told her to drop them (and took her to wash her hands...geez)!
 

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Posted by Cory Isemann (Member # 2517) on 02-03-2005, 08:39 AM:
 
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

That's as bad as when I caught an older couple doing the nasty in a showing of Friday Night Lights.
 

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Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 02-21-2005, 08:01 AM:
 
I guess we can't all be model citizens , but some of us are down right gross , I think most of us have been under the weather or had a bad gut , but we try to make it out to safety.

This topic takes me back to the drive in days, I , like Aaron also encountered a very large log in the mens toilet I was sure it was a medical impossibility to this to occurr !!! and I also wondered how hard the guys eyes watered during the process

Over the years I rekon we were very lucky with the drive in , being outside most accidents do happen there , however we the cleaner did find a on the men toilet floor , he was not sure if he should clean it up or arrange for a new toilet to be built.

During the final years I did the grounds cleaning myself , one instance I found 8 used condoms in one spot! I also was not sure if I should be disgusted or jealous!

It was only a few months back I had my first experience of puke in this cinema , one lady puked in the auditorium , then 3 times in the lobby before wall papering the toilets , asnd then leaving ........ , I was amazed at the amount one can throw up!!! also amazed at how well the entire duty crew could hide

I generally find the ladies toilet to be in a far worse condition and the nights end than the mens, I am curious if anyone else has also discovered this ?

PS I am not on a pick on gals mission here , just curious.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-21-2005, 01:44 PM:
 
Girls "hover". That's why the womens' room is often dirtier. More collateral damage.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 02-21-2005, 04:40 PM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

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Girls "hover"

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quote: Allison Parsons

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No way in Gods green earth am I putting my butt on a public toliet seat.

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But you'll casually reach up and grab the handle to the stall door with hardly a second thought!

Some fat-assed old woman who just shat over half the county and hastily wiped her derrierre with a piece of paper the size of a postage stamp reached up and grabbed that handle with her shit-laden fingers! Now, YOU are grabbing the same handle she just wiped HER hand on?!

It MAY be remotely possible to catch an infection from a public toilet seat but it's been proven that many people who claimed to have caught an infection that way ACTUALLY caught it because they didn't wipe themselves correctly! ("Back to front" instead of the other way around.)

99.9% of the problem is psychological. The solution to that is simple. Before going to the stall go to the sink and get a piece of paper towel and wet it with hot water from the sink. Use it to wipe the seat. Viola! You can sit with virtual impunity!

If you STILL don't like the idea you can carry a few packages of alcohol-based "Wet Wipes" in your pocket or purse. Next time you eat at a restaurant that serves ribs, etc., grab a bunch of them off the table. Use one of them to wipe the seat. There ain't NOTHING that can live through that!

In some public restrooms around here they have little soap dispensers on the wall INSIDE the stalls. Instead of the usual soap, they dispense an alcohol-based sanitizing solution. The user pulls off a piece of toilet paper and gets a squirt of sanitizer on it then wipes the seat.

I wish MORE places would have sanitizer! It would prevent people from hovering. If people didn't hover there would be no "collateral damage". If there was no collateral damage people wouldn't WANT to hover anymore. Restrooms would stay cleaner in the long run. A little bit of money spent in the short term saves long-term payroll for people who have to clean those shitty restrooms.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 02-22-2005, 12:30 AM:
 

quote:

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But you'll casually reach up and grab the handle to the stall door with hardly a second thought!

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quote: Chris Hipp

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Plus, the girl toilets tend to be used more, guys only use them if it is an emergency, for the most part.

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quote:

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I then proceed to the register where I am handling money that has all kinds of nasty crap on it!

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quote: Randy Stankey

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Some joker used to get his jollies by spanking-off on a dollar bill then leaving it on the floor

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Maybe Pee-Wee just ran out of tissue?!
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-23-2005, 12:11 AM:
 
When "Striptease" with Demi Moore was in theaters it was common for men to go out of the theater to the concession stand and grab a hand full of napkins from the dispenser then quickly head back to the theater.

That's when we started advising our ushers to get a handfull of those plastic gloves that are used to handle the hot dogs with and distribute them, strategically, throughout the usher's closets.

They were then instructed never to pick up anything off the floors unless they were wearing a glove. Ushers were also trained in how to remove the gloves using "aseptic technique" to prevent any "contamination" from getting onto their hands when they took off the gloves.

Y'Know, it's gross enough to think what people leave on the floors in theaters but it really bothers me to think of the diseases people can catch from coming into contact with that stuff!
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 03-03-2005, 10:23 AM:
 
we had a girl drop her cell phone in the toilet after..um...well you know
 

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Posted by Justin West (Member # 920) on 03-03-2005, 10:47 AM:
 
Dean: I suppose you told her to...reach in and pull it out! And she probably replied, EEEE-WWWWWWWW! That's where the tongs from the deep-fryer could come in handy!

Eee-www!
 

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Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 03-04-2005, 10:08 PM:
 
I think I may have the ace to trump all good hands dealt so far. And it almost saddens me to mention this in public.

On the opening day of Star Wars Ep. I, a man was caught sexually molesting a small boy, in the Auditorium...during the show.

This did happen.
 

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 03-04-2005, 11:29 PM:
 
I hope that someone had the forethought to BEAT HIS ASS before the police arrived on scene.

We had a 'spanker' who liked to enter the show late, find some unsuspecting kids who were generally in the theater unsupervised, or seated away from their parents, and have a seat. Within a few minutes, he would be there, spanking away..

I tried, for many years, to determine WHO this guy was. I swore to myself that if he ran, and he was caught, outside the building, I would beat his ass. The night in jail would be worth it. The ONLY reason I would NOT do this is due to having litigation against the company for F'ng up this pervert.

I draw issue with a lot of things, but I draw a complete line when it comes to sexual perversions involving minors. Sometimes, the legal system just isn't good enough for these type situations.

Oh, it's been about 8 months or more since 'spanky' has been around.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-05-2005, 09:54 AM:
 
If you can find a person who is just old enough (16-18 years old, depending on what your state laws are) but who still LOOKS young enough you could post him/her as bait.

Have them sit with a digital camera handy. When "Ol' Spanky" starts up, snap his picture! I'm sure those customers who might be bothered by the flash would gladly put up with the momentary inconvenience to get rid of this guy.

The only real problem is knowing when/where he'll strike next. I bet you could make some educated guesses. What's the next kid's movie? What's his favorite time(s) of day? Etc.

I wonder if he hasn't showed up lately because he got himself arrested somewhere or has been otherwise "detained".
 

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Posted by Cory Isemann (Member # 2517) on 03-05-2005, 05:59 PM:
 
I just remembered this recently, back when "Girl Next Door" was playing, one weeknight a young man went into the theater and came out shortly after and went to the bathroom. He emerged shortly and was wearing very baggy sweatpants and a loose shirt. He was "excited" as he went back into the auditorium. I don't want to think about what he was doing. Yet one more reason why I throw a platter cover over the seat before sitting down to screen a movie.
 

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 03-08-2005, 01:06 PM:
 
"Mr. Willis, it looks like someone stepped on a snickers bar in #14."
 

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Posted by Lee Michael Breese (Member # 3056) on 03-24-2005, 11:38 PM:
 
I have a couple of storys for you. The first one was it was a little after the 7:00 set of shows and I had gotten the deposit done taken to the bank all concessions was restocked and everything was running smooth. I went out side for a quick cancer stick and one of my other employees came out with me. Not more then two mintues after we were outside and we took out our garbage he started to all over the dumpster area after he was finnished we started to walk back to the theatre to tell the GM to send him home. Then he decided he was not yet finnished and started in the flower bed. Now the thing that sucked was my GM made me clean it because I was the one who asked if he could go outside with me so as I was cleaning the first mess I right next to it and finally got it all cleaned before anyone got out of there feature.

Story #2

I was doing theatre checks on a friday night during the last run of shows and I opened the door for our #4 auditorium heard someone and watched it fall infront of me and land in the walk way. I just turned around went into the bathroom threw up and came back got the GM who was closing with me and told her what happened. As a good GM she was she did not clean it or warn people as they left and left a note for the Janitor.

Story 3 (by far the best encounter)

I was in my box office draining the drawers when I looked back and saw a old man walking as fast as he could towards the bathroom. When you see that everyone knows it is nothing but trouble because that man is on a mission. Well about five minutes later the mans son came up to me and asked for towels because his father had an accident in the bathroom. I pretend once in my life I am a man and I could handle this so I told the man it was no problem I would take care of it and gave him and his father a pass to come back because they had to leave. Well as I walked back to the bathroom I started seeing little puddles (Not Chunks Puddles) of already I am thinking this is not going to be a good thing. When I reached the stale the old man attempted and accomplished dominating. I stood there and pulled a Bob Sagget from Dumb and Dumberer. I got it all cleaned up but there was enough there to make a person. The best part of the story was the puddles I found lead all the way to the entrance ramp of the theatre he was watching the movie in. Convently enough the auditorium was on the opposite side of where the restrooms where.

Story 4

Once again I was closing one night doing a film check on all the movies that were still running. I looked through the window inside the auditorium and looked at the screen I noticed there was movement in the seats but did'nt think anything of it at the time because there were only two people in there a couple because I sold them the tickets. Well as I walked away the hampster in my head started spining the wheel and I realized what I saw so I went back to the glass looked in sure enough the couple were in the theatre just when I thought I have seen it all. Well I was so baffled at it I heard about it but never though people were stupid enough to do it so I walked down to the auditorum walked in looked up waved said hello and asked them if they could do that at home. It is not really a sick story more of a good bar story when I am old enough to drink. Anywho I have typed a bunch and problay way to much you all have a good one.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 04-09-2005, 03:16 PM:
 
Last saturday night I was doing my show checks and found an opened Trojan "Twisted Pleasure" wrapper sitting on the end of the bannister in the auditorium.
I checked with floor and apparantly that theater didn't get cleaned the previous show. So I told the new girl, who was supposed to have cleaned it anyway to come with me. We collected the wrapper (gloved with a poly bag of course) and went on a hunt for the rest of the "package" with a flashlight.
I'd hate to have some find it durring the 7's...
We look and hunt, high and low, and still nothing. In the back corner of the last row however, I found the rest of the wrapper...It was discarded.
The very next day, after the first show got out, the same girl flipped up an armrest and was greeted with a sticky surprise.
I checked the computer that night. Only 1 ticket was sold for the show that originated the "package"...

To make matters worse the same worker found a nice nugget on the floor in the restroom durring a routine bathroom check that same night.
 

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Posted by Alan Dallas (Member # 2537) on 05-01-2005, 12:03 PM:
 
Hmm sickest thing I ever ran across myself in an auditorium. Had to be when I doing a seat maintenance shift (I live in the booth, what am I doing re-upolstering cut and torn seats?) and at the time we had a bit of a Mouse Problem in House 13 and 14. I remember hearing about complaints of "bad smells" from both customers and ushers alike in #13 coming from the bottom of Stadium seating area. The smell was never located. That is until I removed a torn Seat Stantion cover and found a bloated and decayed dead mouse. It fell apart when I touched it with gloved hand to remove it from the metal frame of the seat stantion. I couldn't get that smell out of my nose for hours. bleeeh!

On a funnier note in house #14 there lived a Mouse who got rather BIG and bold. I saw him from the booth a couple times when the ushers came in and turned the cleaning lights on. Well during a showing we got a complaint about that mouse. Appearntly it jumped into someones mostly eaten try of Nacho's and hauled one out. The little bugger went to the opposite end of the row and was sitting on the steps of the stadium seating munching away and apearently watching the movie(Ice Princess). Well a couple of our brave male ushers went to investigate for the rather attractive young female that made the complaint. Me upon hearing the chatter on the radio went over to projector 14 to see what they could possibly do about a mouse in a darkened house just in time to look out and see one of the ushers raise his broom up and WACK!!! Scooped him in his butler, paused to say something and then leave. I kinda felt bad for the mouse. Later I heard that the something said was "He didn't have a ticket."
 

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Posted by Daniel Seal (Member # 3026) on 06-04-2005, 05:29 AM:
 
i once saw a dildo just rattlin around on one of the seats , jesus !
 

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Posted by Dieter Depypere (Member # 3184) on 06-06-2005, 07:23 AM:
 
When I was learning for projectionist (might be some time ago) I had a guy as "teacher" who always built up 2 reels on a house reel (there doesn't fit a 3rd reel on it anyway). I said, I would prefer playing reel after reel (change-over). So, some time later I had to return a film - he built it up - 2 reels per house reel. When I came up the booth (he was not there) I noticed the cans were already open. Then I noticed there were a lot of tiny post-its with step by step instructions how to tear down the film. There were post-its on the head and tail leaders, on the cans, even on the splicer.

I couldn't believe my !

Besides: He didn't know that I was able to handle this splicer. So I threw every single post-it away and did my work. Didn't have any problems.

Bottom line: Never underestimate the power of a young projectionist!
 

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