I've decided to call it quits at the theater at the end of August. That means that soon I won't be able to inform and entertain you on this blog. I know the world will be deeply disappointed...all 14 of you who view my blog on a regular basis:).
I started this blog as a commentary on people who come to be entertained at my theater. At first I was horrified that so many people hadn't been raised to clean up after themselves. Then I became incensed as I understood that many people today have this entitlement attitude that simply because you pay to see a movie, you've got the right to desecrate property that doesn't belong to you. I especially resented hearing people say to their partners that it was ok to leave their trash because we (ushers) get paid to clean up their mess.
Last night I watched "Last Vacation" on TV with one of my daughters. In the movie, Queen Latifa played a woman who worked in the retail business serving the customers. She was really good at her job, even if she wasn't appreciated by her manager. After finding out that she had a terminal disease and had only three weeks to live, Queen withdrew her life savings and decided to go out with a bang, flying to Europe to stay at a ritzy hotel she'd only dreamed about in her 'possibilities' scrapbook. While there, Queen attracted the admiration of both guests and staff by her gracious manner. When she observed hotel employees being verbally abused by a guest, she confronted that guest and told her that she had no right to curse and abuse the person who was trying to make her stay as nice as possible; that just because someone is paid to serve you doesn't mean that they aren't human too, or that they don't have dreams just as big as your own, or that their circumstances may not be as favorable as your own and they're doing the best they can for those they love.
I don't know how many more 'reviews' I'll do in the remaining month I'm working at the theater. It really does become tiring to write the same stuff over and over; and it can become depressing to see so many who have so little regard for others. It's been nine months, longer than I thought I'd last; and I can't say it's been fun. But I do have more respect for those who are 'beneath' my social status. Whether it's students who are just learning what it is like to earn their own money, or disabled but functional people who need to feel productive, to people like myself who needed to earn extra money because we're taking care of sick children or paying off Uncle Sam for taxes we didn't know we owed; theater employees, waiters/ waitresses, people in retail, customer support, and all service industries are deserving of respect and kindness. There is no amount of money that justifies bad behaviour. More importantly, treating others with respect and kindness makes you a better person. You might not see yourself as an ungrateful, unappreciative, and slovenly pig; but what you do and what you fail to do speaks volumes about your character...even if it's just taking your trash with you when you leave the theater; or standing a little closer to the urinal and squatting a little closer to the toilet seat.
Whether or not Hollywood continues to turn out drivel disguised as entertainment, I hope that you will be mindful of those who do their best to make your experience the best it can be. It's OK to complain about a messy bathroom or that the auditorium is too cold or too loud, but please do so in a pleasant way. You'll see a vast difference in the response you get when you treat that usher or concession employee with respect. You'll make their job more enjoyable and they will try harder and everyone wins.
I guess the thing I'll miss most, other than my political discussions with my Muslim friend, are the free movie passes. I don't think I'll pay to see as many movies as I did before I became an employee - there just aren't that many good movies worth the time and expense. But if they'll continue to turn out movies like The Bucket List, The Dark Knight, Mama Mia, and stories that inspire and make me want to be a better person, I'll plop down the $9.00 for a ticket and I'll spend $11 on concessions to help the theater meet their payroll. And I'll always take my trash with me when I leave.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Mama Mia! - 5 Tubs
I hated cleaning this auditorium, but the movie was fantastic! But first, the down and dirty: women, for the most part middle-aged and overweight, trashed my theater and rest rooms last weekend as they flocked to see this movie starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and others in a big-screen adaptation of the Broadway play Mama Mia!
Large tubs of popcorn and plastic Dasani bottles littered the floors, while both trash receptacles overflowed (which is a good thing because many people did take their trash with them). Perhaps the amount of overturned popcorn could be attributed to the laughter and the clapping at the end of the movie - well deserved applause for one of the best feel-good movies of the year.
If there was anything I didn't enjoy about the movie, it was Pierce Brosnan. I can only assume that he was cast in his role because he ages well and needed the work. He certainly can't sing, and Simon would have embarrassed him had he tried out for American Idol. Despite the painful croaks emmitted by Brosnan, the rest of the cast did a great job. The location was beautiful, and the music perfect. I had to listen to my Abba CD on the way to work this morning.
I hate to admit this, but there was a moment when Meryl Streep was reminiscing about her daughter growing up that a tear rolled down my cheek too as my daughter is a rising senior this year and will be off on her great adventures sooner than I'm ready to let her go. Fortunately, I sat near the front and there was no one close enough to see me swipe away the tear. Any movie that can bring me to tears or to burst out laughing as I did in Mama Mia! is worth the price of the ticket, even if I didn't have to pay to see this movie.
Large tubs of popcorn and plastic Dasani bottles littered the floors, while both trash receptacles overflowed (which is a good thing because many people did take their trash with them). Perhaps the amount of overturned popcorn could be attributed to the laughter and the clapping at the end of the movie - well deserved applause for one of the best feel-good movies of the year.
If there was anything I didn't enjoy about the movie, it was Pierce Brosnan. I can only assume that he was cast in his role because he ages well and needed the work. He certainly can't sing, and Simon would have embarrassed him had he tried out for American Idol. Despite the painful croaks emmitted by Brosnan, the rest of the cast did a great job. The location was beautiful, and the music perfect. I had to listen to my Abba CD on the way to work this morning.
I hate to admit this, but there was a moment when Meryl Streep was reminiscing about her daughter growing up that a tear rolled down my cheek too as my daughter is a rising senior this year and will be off on her great adventures sooner than I'm ready to let her go. Fortunately, I sat near the front and there was no one close enough to see me swipe away the tear. Any movie that can bring me to tears or to burst out laughing as I did in Mama Mia! is worth the price of the ticket, even if I didn't have to pay to see this movie.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Dark Knight - 6 Tubs
Normally I would limit the filthiness of a theater auditorium to 5 tubs, but with the crowds that The Dark Knight are drawing, I must bump it up there with the biggest landfill you can find.
I loved the movie; it was better than Batman Begins, and yes, Heath Ledger does deserve an Oscar for his role as the Joker. It did push the envelope for destruction for destruction's sake, but compared to what they turn out now for 'horror movies', Batman was realistic. I liked Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne, and I couldn't hate the Joker and kind of regret that Ledger can't bring him back in a future movie...but to be honest, what I experienced from the movie wasn't so much the film itself, but the evil hoards who flocked to see it and trashed my theater in the process. After all, this blog is about how theater patrons leave the theater, not about the movies themselves.
I won't go into gruesome detail about how many tubs of popcorn, cups of soda, chicken bones, watermelon rinds, and condoms were left in the theater. It was terrible and we filled four dumpters in one day on the refuse from this movie. What I want to talk about is the movie fans.
A few months ago I would have been able to find $2-5 under the seats at the end of the movie. The most I've found in one day was $13 in quarters after "Step Up To The Streets 2". But since gas prices have risen and the way that it has affected everything else, the theater business is starting to feel the affects too. You, as a customer might see an increase in ticket or concession prices. As an usher, I've found that most theater goers are paying for their entertainment with plastic. Granted, many might be using a debit card to pay for their movies and concessions, but some are charging the cost and making payments month after month. And although The Dark Knight was sold out almost every show, I was unable to come up with more than $.57 for the entire weekend.
Let me make my point a little better. The Dark Knight did over $150Million on opening weekend. People are still coming to the movies when there is something worth watching (which isn't often). And people are still buying the big tub of popcorn, the large sodas, and they're still allowing the concessionists to upsell them candy and ice cream; but they're paying for it with credit cards. People are feeling the crunch, but they're not quite ready to alter their lifestyles...at least until they've maxed out their credit cards.
If I were a theater owner, and if I believed that oil prices were going to continue to climb and that it is only a matter of time before people started cutting back on unnecessary things like movies and dining out, then I would be worried about the upcoming holiday season when the second round of 'block-busters' are due out. The Dark Knight is an anomaly as far as movies in 2008. The money the theater is going to make on this movie is rapidly dwindling, so I really hope Hollywood has something else big coming up soon or you're going to see some theater sell-offs or start seeing theaters keep movies longer and not show every new release that comes their way.
I know none of this gives you an idea of what The Dark Knight is like; just go see the movie - it's worth the money. But if the only way you can afford to see the movie is to use your credit card, cut that thing up and wait for it to come to TV in three or four years. Maybe by then we'll have drilled and refined some oil and you won't have to mortgage your house to take the family out to a movie.
I loved the movie; it was better than Batman Begins, and yes, Heath Ledger does deserve an Oscar for his role as the Joker. It did push the envelope for destruction for destruction's sake, but compared to what they turn out now for 'horror movies', Batman was realistic. I liked Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne, and I couldn't hate the Joker and kind of regret that Ledger can't bring him back in a future movie...but to be honest, what I experienced from the movie wasn't so much the film itself, but the evil hoards who flocked to see it and trashed my theater in the process. After all, this blog is about how theater patrons leave the theater, not about the movies themselves.
I won't go into gruesome detail about how many tubs of popcorn, cups of soda, chicken bones, watermelon rinds, and condoms were left in the theater. It was terrible and we filled four dumpters in one day on the refuse from this movie. What I want to talk about is the movie fans.
A few months ago I would have been able to find $2-5 under the seats at the end of the movie. The most I've found in one day was $13 in quarters after "Step Up To The Streets 2". But since gas prices have risen and the way that it has affected everything else, the theater business is starting to feel the affects too. You, as a customer might see an increase in ticket or concession prices. As an usher, I've found that most theater goers are paying for their entertainment with plastic. Granted, many might be using a debit card to pay for their movies and concessions, but some are charging the cost and making payments month after month. And although The Dark Knight was sold out almost every show, I was unable to come up with more than $.57 for the entire weekend.
Let me make my point a little better. The Dark Knight did over $150Million on opening weekend. People are still coming to the movies when there is something worth watching (which isn't often). And people are still buying the big tub of popcorn, the large sodas, and they're still allowing the concessionists to upsell them candy and ice cream; but they're paying for it with credit cards. People are feeling the crunch, but they're not quite ready to alter their lifestyles...at least until they've maxed out their credit cards.
If I were a theater owner, and if I believed that oil prices were going to continue to climb and that it is only a matter of time before people started cutting back on unnecessary things like movies and dining out, then I would be worried about the upcoming holiday season when the second round of 'block-busters' are due out. The Dark Knight is an anomaly as far as movies in 2008. The money the theater is going to make on this movie is rapidly dwindling, so I really hope Hollywood has something else big coming up soon or you're going to see some theater sell-offs or start seeing theaters keep movies longer and not show every new release that comes their way.
I know none of this gives you an idea of what The Dark Knight is like; just go see the movie - it's worth the money. But if the only way you can afford to see the movie is to use your credit card, cut that thing up and wait for it to come to TV in three or four years. Maybe by then we'll have drilled and refined some oil and you won't have to mortgage your house to take the family out to a movie.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Hancock - 5 Tubs
OK, same old story: large tubs of popcorn and large cups of soda are barely touched and end up left in and under the seats. There's a growing trend at our theater. Patrons are putting so much butter on their popcorn that it leaks through the bags and the tub onto their pants/dresses. What happens next is that they will place said soggy paper products on the floor where the buttery topping (not real butter) soaks into the concrete making the aisle a dangerous place to walk. Again, parents are trying to drown their kids in buttery topping. The new seasoned salt containers aren't selling that well, and that's OK with us - less to sweep up. Hancock is one of the summer blockbusters, so it's going to be filthy. Be patient, when we're done cleaning it you'll see us exit with a 400 gallon trash container filled from the previous patrons.
Hancock is a great movie in that it addresses what most of us would like to see in a super hero: someone who doesn't give a shit about how other people think of him. I particularly enjoyed the scene where the boy called Hancock an asshole and got knocked so high he didn't come down for two minutes. Don't you know that a real super hero gets tired of people who can't do what he does telling him how to do it? I mean, do you take health advice from an auto mechanic? I'd like to have seen Hancock toss Congress into outer space, along with Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, George Soros and other evil entities that plague our world. And if I were a super hero, I'd not be sleeping on a park bench. I'd sleep anywhere I wanted, eat when and what I wanted, choose who I helped and who I screwed around with, and just have a great old time. I missed my calling in life:
Go see the movie, have fun, and please take your trash with you.
Hancock is a great movie in that it addresses what most of us would like to see in a super hero: someone who doesn't give a shit about how other people think of him. I particularly enjoyed the scene where the boy called Hancock an asshole and got knocked so high he didn't come down for two minutes. Don't you know that a real super hero gets tired of people who can't do what he does telling him how to do it? I mean, do you take health advice from an auto mechanic? I'd like to have seen Hancock toss Congress into outer space, along with Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, George Soros and other evil entities that plague our world. And if I were a super hero, I'd not be sleeping on a park bench. I'd sleep anywhere I wanted, eat when and what I wanted, choose who I helped and who I screwed around with, and just have a great old time. I missed my calling in life:
Go see the movie, have fun, and please take your trash with you.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Created by OnePlusYou
Some people think I'm too cynical and irreverant. They're probably right, but it's more fun than writing boring reviews about something as stupid as movies. Still, it's not like I'm vulgar or anything. I just rate a 'Darn-It', not even an 'Asshole' - something I've been called numerous times.
Of course, this doesn't make me a saint. It just means that there are a lot of filthy people on the Internet and that I'm a wus compared to some of the jerk-offs here.
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