Enjoy The Film

“I really don’t understand why people have a problem with me just because I ‘close’ so late. Baby, that’s the least of your problems. Yes, making people wait – yes wait around doing nothing – or do stuff that can be done in daylight not 1am in the morning, like count popcorn bags – is the most direct way to make oneself not popular. When the operational manager howled with laughter at finding out you were managing my last shift does that not tell you all you need to know? No one likes you.

The Deputy Manager is actually really nice. Attractive, pretty smile, stuff like that. But when she switches on in cinema mode she’s someone else. Patronising, belittling. And then some. Combine the two and you have one helluva dominatrix. I’ll miss her. Watching her count money with that contented grin did it for me.

No one liked her but she didn’t care. She was respected and things happened with her. The job got done and that’s what mattered. And she had a lovely smile. You make close friends in work. And a lot of us bonded around our mutual dislike of her methods. So now I am leaving what will I miss and what will I not miss?

Leaving the job ain’t easy. The sheer intensity of the work leaves a mark on you. The sense of having done so much, in the operation of the place is quite satisfying. Being part of something, the event: the arrival of the Dark Knight, with its long queues, brings with it a feeling of being there. It became like a drug you were addicted to. But also a rash you wanted to keep itching. The role was always a little too close to serf-like with its scummy uniform and bodged title. Multifunctional at what? Counting popcorn bags?

I will not miss the throb in my legs from chasing around the place, the screwed up body clock and the exhaustion that never completely went away. I will not miss the shirkers, the warped personalities. But I will miss the those that put their back into the job and are now burnt out like me. A big Hi-5 to those that deserve better than the treatment they got from the management, the customers, and the wasters on the floor. Was it really worth it to see free films, and eat discounted popcorn?

Yeh. ‘Course it was.