From: a0s5108@titan.ucs.umass.edu (Neal and Mara Priestly)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: PEEVES at MOVIE THEATERS !
Date: 28 Jan 93 13:49:21 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucs.umass.edu

[deletia...accidentally got the attributions, Termdef for my apple is hosed]

>
>Spencer, your condescension is showing (once again).
>
>Yes, there *are* some stupid people out there, but your example
>is a bad one.  

There are an astounding number of stupid people out there.  Look at how
well the 'Rambo' films did :)  Or how many people went to see Highlander 2.

>>Besides those people, there are also the people who think that
>>"Everything applies to everyone else except me/us."  

This is inconsideration.  That is the sort of thing that is going to 
bend me out of shape.

>
>Oh, so now you expect members of the paying public to do your
>job for you?  It's not the responsibility or obligation of
>the patrons to tell another patron when you are cleaning.

No, it's not their job, but I would expect those waiting patiently to
mention it in the hopes of not having someone take the exact pair of
seats they are hoping to get after waiting.  I learned how lines work
in kindergarten.

The same applies to those people who try to join the head of the line
after buying their tickets when the ticket holders line stretches half
way down the mall.  I know why they do it, they want good seats.  But
the arrogance of wanting to come late and get the benefits of coming 
early (at the expense of someone who DID come earlier) bothers me.  I
knew long before I started working for the theatre that if I wanted to
see a good film on Friday or Saturday night on opening weekend to come
early.  It's not something that I've been exposed to so often that it 
has become zen to me.

I feel that the things that have become zen to us are the sort of things
that we can want to write off as stupidity.  This in no way diminishes
the amount of true stupidity in the general public.

>
>What you fail to see, for some reason, is that many of the
>actions of the paying public which you find objectionable
>are actions that we have developed over time to deal with the
>lack of consideration of theatre personnel.  

I think you might be in the market for a new theatre....

If that many people are doing that sort of thing solely due to
boneheaded inconsiderate staffing, they deserve to go out of
business.

[deletia]

>Condescension again.  I think you're mis-reading the
>situation.

Maybe I'm mis-reading Bruce.  Maybe he is mis-reading Spencer.  I
think this is due to arrogance and rudeness.  There was a time 
when a line would prompt people to ask of those in line what was
holding everyone up.  And then joining the line.  But most people
now expect incompetance on the theatres part and stupidity on the
other patrons part.

>
>When I used to run a retail store that opened at 6:00
>there was almost always someone waiting to go come in
>at 6:00.  When it was time to open up I would 
>turn on the lights and unlock the door.
>
>The regulars knew this routine, and as soon as I would unlock
>the door then they would open it and come in.  But sometimes
>people who weren't regulars were there first.  When I unlocked
>the door and turned around to head off to the cash register
>I would notice that no-one opened the door behind me.  

And how many people stood and shook the door even though there
were people waiting and hours posted on the door.  How many
gave you THE LOOK because you were not ready to serve them when
they were ready to be served.  You make it sound as if this 
former job happened some time ago, so maybe the rudeness wasn't
up to today's levels....

[deletia]

>If the door is 
>closed we open it because more often than not theatre 
>personnel won't do it for us.

That is what the crowd control rope is for.  And we can't leave
the theatre until that rope comes down.  There are days I wonder
if Disney has their ropes magically treated to get the high level
of compliance with their roping things off.  And who does it for
them so I can send my ropes there.  I almost never use them for
anything other than stringing across the front of the lobby where
it meets the mall for a reason.  I want them to clearly shout
that something is different and maybe you shouldn't go any further.
my regulars know this and will quite often mention it to rope jumpers.
Some just look at my regulars and continue on, sneering.  *Shrug*
They get sent back to the right side of the rope and scowl because 
they realize they were wrong and we did have a reason for the ropes.

>Sorry to go on for so long, but your attitude *really*
>bothers me.  I got out of retail because I found my
>attitude beginning to approach yours, and I felt that
>both the customers and I deserved better than that.

I just hope that when you have a complaint at the theatre you go on
as long.  Decring the evil of inconsiderate theatre personel to this
group (who will for the most part agree that there are a lot of
useless theatre staffs out there) is one thing, but the manager of
a theatre which helps cement these views should know about your 
feelings.  If it's happening when he isn't looking he now knows to
look.  If he never really thought of it, he knows it's important to
someone who pays his salary now.  If he doesn't care, you know to
choose another theatre whenever that option exists.

Any of you who have a peeve that could be cast as a 'why don't they do
this' question, ask your theatre manager sometime when they have the
time to see the whole question through.  I know I just spend 15k at
my location when a customer brought up a suggestion that we loved.
We also bought him movies for three months, his idea was so good.  I'm
not saying your theatre manager will, or even should, pay your way in
as a thank you.  I'm not even saying  that the idea will be used.  But
I know that most of the people (but not all) would welcome any
suggestion that would make going to the movies easier/more enjoyable.

I fear that if those theatres that are as bad as some of you indicate
continue poisoning the public attitude about movie going that the
exhibition side of this industry will die.  And if it dies before I
finish my degree (at one class at a time/four classes a year) then
I am in for a bad time.  So I do my best to listen to concerns, 
eliminate problems before they start and serve them better than I
am required to.  If the industry dies, I want my theatre to die last.

-Neal who was more long winded than he meant to be.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies