fumanstan

I leave my trash under the seat. It's always been normal just like at a sporting event for me. I don't leave a mess or spill popcorn or soda everywhere; everything's usually just in a tidy box.

RagingBull80

To get a little off track here...

Theatre's do rip customers off...

I never leave a mess because there's never anything for me to leave behind because I refuse to pay an assload of money on concessions. They really are way too expensive. I understand that most of the theatre's profits come from the concession stand but I mean there has to be a limit. Charging 50 cents or a dollar extra for something is understandable but the price if fucking double or triple what it is everywhere else. Depending on which theatre I go to, it costs me $7.50-9.00. That's a lot IMO but I'm willing to pay it. I would get a drink and candy or nachos or whatever every single time I went to the theatre if their prices weren't so high.

All I'm saying is if they had reasonable prices I think they would end up making more in the long run.

But to go back to the original point, People are slobs but I can see both sides of the argument.

Cosmic Bus

I usually come from having dinner somewhere before a movie, so I don't often have any trash to throw out in the first place. If I've got gum to spit out or whatever, the wrapper is in my pocket; the gum'll be wadded up in that and tossed out later.

Amen to that. After some of the embarassingly smug replies in the retail thread earlier this year, comments like KillerCannibal's don't surprise me much. As you said, many people these days have no interest whatsoever in personal responsibility or even so-called "common" decency in their behaviors. The eye-rolling "job security" justification is always a favorite, too.

lukewarmwater

I've worked at a theater for a few years and held all positions there and leaving trash on the floor isn't a big deal. SUNFLOWER SEEDS ARE. If you eat sunflower seeds and spit them on the floor of a theater you are the biggest asshole on the planet. Or the ever annoying fat ass who refuses to use his hands to eat popcorn, but just burys his face into the bag, walks away from the concession stand to the theater leaving a trail of popcorn along the way, like fucking hanzel and gretel.


The difference between a retail store enviorment and theater is that a theater actually has employees whose sole job is to clean the theater, most retail stores at the jobs I've had, make cashiers and department clerks clean up after the customers, theaters have there very own cleaning crew, so I think it's fine if people are slobs. Resturants hire dishwashers and bussers, theaters have ushers, you pay for it. Like I will clean up after myself at starbucks, I will not clean up after myself at olive garden.

But on a more social and personal responisibilty level, I think cleaning up after customers is bad in general. I don't think the customer is always right, I don't think businesses should have that goal. The desperation of corporations for getting the extra dollar has let customers and people get away with lots of shit that ruins the experience for all the other customers. Cell phones in the theater, talking, sneaking in smelling food, general rude behavior, treating employees like shit, etc.

And when I look at some of the replys in this thread I kinda wonder if they're not also the ones who talk and txt and have the "I paid 12 bucks to see it, it's my day off, I don't care if I'm bothing you" attitude.

ardathbey

I 2nd the notion someone mentioned about as film people we should understand what's going on behind the scenes. Theaters are being held hostage by the movie companies who charge them an arm and a leg to show their films. The price of concessions is the only way theaters stay in business. If they don't make money off them they can't rent the films and then there is no movie theater. Its not just something they feel like and are being dicks about. If they can't stay in business they are not open for you to throw your trash wherever you like.

matome

chuckd21

Why not turn to a life of crime? Help keep cops employed...

cultshock

Theatre food prices, cleaning people, etc. are irrelevant to me. I just automatically throw my trash in the garbage can without thinking about it because I wasn't brought up as a fucking slob. And no one is forcing anyone to buy overpriced theatre food. If you think the prices are too high, it's not overly difficult to smuggle something in.

cdollaz

Yeah, where are these theaters that are forcing people to buy their food?

cdollaz

They pay people to clean toilets at pretty much every business, but I don't piss on the floor or smear shit on the walls just because they happen to have someone who will clean it up.

chuckd21

This.

I don't think the OP was lamenting about people who leave their empty drink cup sitting upright on the floor at the end of a movie. I know when I responded I was thinking of the assholes who just dump popcorn everywhere, knock shit over, etc. Most of whom do so with the idea in their head of "So what? The kid will clean it up."

cdollaz

These are probably the same assholes who do not return their carts to the cart returns at grocery stores.

Giles

ugh, I can't stand "those" people either

takingchase

Retails stores do hire people whos sole job is to clean. Every retail store I worked for hires a night cleaning crew to come in.

On the subject of theaters. People are assholes and slobs. I never have a chance to leave trash because I refuse to pay rediculous prices on concessions in the first place.

And don't even get me started on people leaving their carts in the parking lot. These are the same people that will bitch when a gust of window picks up a shopping cart and slams it into their car. When I see people leaving their cart next to their car I walk over to it and push it right in front of their car so they can't leave until they move it.

I've even seen one lady leave her cart in the parking lot when she was right fucking next to a cart return. She left her purse in the cart, I saw this could have said something but I just let her drive away. It may be mean spirited but I hope someone stole her purse, thats what she deserves for being so god damn lazy.

I just can't understand how people have such an easy time passing the buck to everyone else just because they are paid to do it. Have some decency.

fumanstan

Having done cart duty at Target when I worked there, I never really cared if carts weren't all in the cart return. There's plenty of curbs and islands around the plazas I go to where carts can be left out of the way, so I never really gave it a second thought since it was pretty normal. Of course, I never really thought about the areas where it's all pavement. That would suck.

Troy Stiffler

I worked at an AMC 'multiplex' for three years. And I would have considered myself a 'workaholic' at the time (35-45hr weeks, while in high school). Enjoyed the heck out of it.

I had to actually clean shit up for someone who missed the toilet once. I have a feeling that the guy didn't want to leave the movie - and let his bowels move a bit too much before getting up to go to the bathroom. By the time his pants were down, he missed the toilet completely. I personally ALMOST did this once (though my situation was that I was on a long walk home through the suburbs and didn't have anywhere, 'cept maybe a bush, to stop).

But, meh', it was my job. More than anything, I ENJOYED cleaning up the shit, as it made for a good story, and furthermore showed my superiors that I'm a professional. It made cleaning up vomit feel like nothing.

Eating at restaurants, going into retail shops, etc., I can always spot employees who care about what they're doing. There's always this unspoken respect for the guy who can provide good service and keep the line moving fast. For instance, I stop at Wendy's - every single day - and get my morning coffee. There's two people there who know exactly how to do it. And everyone else always hands me a cup with coffee dripping down the side, or someone obviously put far too much syrup in it, or they fumble with my simple order - stuff like that. There's a lady at the grocery store, too, who just seems to be enoying herself, in providing good service.

People simply don't care about their jobs anymore. We're currently in a generation of piece-of-shit parents who raised piece-of-shit, lazy-ass kids. Kids who were taught by their peice-of-shit parents to act like slobs, roll their eyes all of time and go to work just to make a few bucks and stuff. The goal has gone from 'being a team and enjoying the workplace' to 'get in get done and go home'. From all of the people I know, I swear that my parents are the only ones who don't have that bitter resent towards their job.

To quote one of my favorite songs...

You brush it, you rag it, and voila, your work is done
And that's it, you treat each shoe like it's special
Care about your work, and be a professional
There's a right way to go about your job and a wrong one
I find this way is much better in the long run
It ain't about the dollar or trying to go fast
Unless you take pride in what you're doing, it won't last
Craftsmanship is a quality that some lack
You got to give people a reason for them to come back

And, regarding theater economics... Blah blah blah. I'm not going to look for my old posts. And I've written a lot more about this crap before. Theaters DO NOT overreach. They just try to stay in business. They support lots of people (mostly kids). Check AMC's stock. It's not exactly shooting through the roof. After all employees are paid and checks are written, there's not much left. It ain't cheap running a 24-screen, 5100 seat, 60,000sq/ft theater. Anywho who is going to complain about the concessions is just careless, uninformed and/or ignorant; without any understanding of how a business operates.

I actually own my own business now. And I had a guy who bought something for $850 this morning and said something like 'I bet that you only paid $50 for this'. While we were just kiddin' around, it is true. I might have paid even less for it. But I also run a business. The warehouse alone is around $300/day (plus two employees, utilities, taxes, etc. etc. etc.). That's before I even make a penny.

If you want to complain about the prices, stay out of the megaplexes. You go to the little old cramped $1 theaters. And be sure to see little indie flicks only, with those old-school $5-$15mil budgets. It's just like the old days when seeing a movie was cheap. Yipee. Otherwise, quit bein' such a bunch of whiney little bitches.

Giles

talking about AMC concession folk, I was recently over at Tyson's and I wanted some popcorn that was hot and a poppin' (which the Rio over in Gaithersburg they are quite accomodating) the lady blatantly rolled her eyes and did what I asked her but I sooo wanted to slug her in the nose.

Troy Stiffler

Like I said, a current POS workfoce raised by POS parents.

Maybe we should just get some Chinese people to do the work! (that's fact-based sarcasm right there)

Regardless of the line, I wouldn't have cared in the least about your request. I would've just done it. That girl probably wasted too much time worrying about her idiosyncratic, petty attitude problem, and lost time that she could have been getting it done.

lukewarmwater

Having worked concession most theaters had us make popcorn every 30 minutes so, making "fresh popcorn" can take a couple minutes and can hold up the line, and a lot of times customers want fresh popcorn even if the stuff already in the popper was made recently, so it is kind of a pain in the ass. And if some customer went up to me and told me they wanted their popcorn "hot and poppin" I'd probably sock them in the nose. Unless they were like a really old lady.

DeanoBKN

Well said, and your shit cleaning story was good for a laugh

RagingBull80

<----Coming from someone (me) who works at a gas station and has to clean up after assholes everyday.


Another thing to take into account though is that most people that work in places like that or other minimum wage jobs are the kind of people that get shit on constantly. There are all kinds of people out there who will treat anyone who works behind a counter as less than human. People always expect the people doing the shit jobs for them to have a smile on their face and have sunshine coming out of their ass but that just isn't so.

Josh-da-man

Oh, shit... you mean we're not supposed to leave our trash on the seats and floor?

Giles

regardless if I want to be an asshole or not, I learned when I worked in retail, that the customer is always right, if I were to incite a confrontation with an atitude - I wouldn't roll my eyes in front of a customer, regardless if I wanted to inflict bodily harm.

cdollaz

Yep. I think the correct approach to that would be to say "we just made a new batch" and serve them. I don't think it is unreasonable for a customer to inquire as to whether the current batch is fresh.

spainlinx0

There are only a few movie chains left from what I can tell. If they don't want to overcharge for concessions, they should band together and refuse to pay new movie prices. It's their fault for letting the studios dictate to them. Ask for a bigger cut, so you don't have to rape the customers on the other end. Why is it OK to say "well the studios are raping us, so now we want to rape you."