Sneaking in Candy

[Sean Falk]

In light of all the WB news, here's some annoying customer stuff. Why does it always seem like the people who sneak candy and snacks are the most likely to leave trash all over the place. I was just cleaning and a bunch of candy wrappers were stuffed into a cup holder, once I found a jar of Icing in a cup holder!

Maybe its just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or maybe it's just the ven diagram of folks who leave a ton of trash and folk who sneak stuff in overlaps a lot.

Either way if you're gonna sneak stuff in at least pick up after yourself!

[Martin McCaffery]

Wait until you find beer, wine and alcohol refuse.

[John Thomas]

Sunflower seed leavings and chewing tobacco spittle.

[Frank Cox]

Many years ago (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I was cleaning up after the show and found a case of 24 beer. Case and all.

How they managed to sneak that in past me remains a mystery to this day.

[Sean Falk]

We have a big (for the size of our town) festival every summer for Amelia Earhart. Last year this couple walked in off the street sat down in one of our theaters right next to the rear entrance of the building, watched like ten minutes of a movie, and left a bud lite behind before I even noticed them.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Many years ago (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I was cleaning up after the show and found a case of 24 beer. Case and all.

How they managed to sneak that in past me remains a mystery to this day.

Maybe someone opened the emergency exit for one of their friends. I've seen similar stuff happen in the past. Not all exits are equipped with alarms and even if it goes of, you can't always be there just in time to check if they're letting in some folks without paying (which is what usually happens).

[Nathan McLaughlin]

We opened back up in June and lost money as many did, but when everyone around us closed back down we got sponsors to at least help out. So we started having free admission hoping that the concessions would help keep the doors open. And we seen folks we had never seen before, on one occasion 2 ladies bring in 9 kids for our free movie and bypass the concessions. And as soon as the movie starts they bring out can pop and snacks for everyone, thanks to our cameras we told them buying concessions isn't mandatory but no outside concessions. Well we never seen them before or since. And I'm sure we are very bad people in their opinion.

[Martin McCaffery]

There are always people who expect a free show to mean free everything.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I serviced a location in Jackson Hole where people sneaking in candy was just ludicrous. The gas station across the street was always having sales on different candies and people stopped there to get it before going to the movie. And the Movie theaters candy prices were reasonable. Buncha cheap bastards in Jackson!

[Randy Stankey]

It would be cool if there could be snack detectors that work like the anti-shoplifting gates at retail stores.

What a scene there would be when the alarm goes off!

How about building a fake snack detector that's just a light bulb on a remote switch.
It would have a sign that says, "Unauthorized Snacks Detected!"

When somebody comes along that you know is sneaking in snacks, press the button and set off the "detector" then stand back and watch the fun!

[Harold Hallikainen]

How about building a fake snack detector that's just a light bulb on a remote switch.
It would have a sign that says, "Unauthorized Snacks Detected!"

Clever idea! You could even have staff members sneak in snacks and have the alarm go off. They'd get pulled aside and have their snacks confiscated.

Harold

[Mark Lane]

We are a small family run business. We work most all positions. When my brother is working the floor, welcoming people, tell new people about the history of the theater, etc. I wait till after the movie and while he is thanking people for coming out, I place old large pizza boxes, donut boxes, cereal boxes, McDonald's bags and wrappers... pretty much anything I can get and place them in the theater under the seats so we will find them when we clean up.. It really upsets him that people are able to get those things by him. He can't figure out how someone can sneak in a huge family size pizza and sheet cake without him noticing. We all tease him about being the worse guard against people sneaking in food.

[Martin Brooks]

People in the U.S. are slobs. And when they pay for something, they believe that gives them license to do anything, including being even bigger slobs. People who break one rule think they can break all the rules (which is the valid concept of broken window policing), so people who sneak in snacks will leave all their crap. And this isn't a matter of socio-economic status. I remember attending the U.S. Open (a company paid) and at the end of the match, I was picking up my trash and a co-worker said, "oh, we have to pick up the trash?" and I looked around and the people left the stadium in a disgusting state.

I never saw this back in the days of roadshows, although many of those theaters had no concessions. Even in the 70's, the hippies left the Fillmore East pretty clean between shows, as I recall.

Having said that, I will confess to very occasionally sneaking in some sucking candies, but that's because I already had them on me and because NYC theaters charge such ridiculous prices for snacks. A box of candy can easily cost $5-$6. I don't mind paying more to a theater because I know that's where the profit is, but I don't appreciate getting completely ripped off. Besides, I don't understand the concept that Americans can't go 2 1/2 hours without consuming crap.

[Randy Stankey]

You could even have staff members sneak in snacks and have the alarm go off.

Set the whole thing up and create a scene right in your own lobby where other people can see it.

Repeat the act about once a week. After a while, nobody would dare to sneak in snacks!

Well... Maybe... Maybe not.

But it would be funny as hell!

[Sean Falk]

Martin

Yeah it's also like, you snuck something in and I didn't catch you? Fine, you got me, but just please don't leave the trash!