It’s a Thursday night so it should be relatively busy. Fools Gold is on the main screen which is not a good sign. The weather is warming up, so crowd pullers are needed to keep the profits coming in. In Bruges is all we have tonight.

I find out that the day has been appalling with even the shift managers joining the mulitfunctionals for a chat. This is not good. Already they are not showing late night films and Concessions had only one rush all evening. The Sales Per Person is holding up compared to other sites but, as I check the screens, the numbers are poor. One screen has no one in it. It usually takes at least two multifunctionals to clean a screen but I manage on my own even with a rush of change overs. It’s a slow night all round.

After three weeks’ training and then a stern effort to impose those standards it appears the rule book is being thrown out of the window to hold on to customers at any cost. On the floor I am presented with a customer with a ticket to see the wrong film. The rules are he needs to exchange it for a correct one so the system has an accurate record of attendances for films. Bollocks to that, the manager says just let him in.

I’m on the floor tonight which means cleaning screens between films. The manager’s job is to construct the screenings for the night. Oh look, in one screen the film finishes after the next one starts! Luckily ( or not for the company) no one is actually watching the earlier screening so projection cuts the film early in time to start the next film. Projection diplomatically point out to me that the times for another screen are completely wrong. It’s not clear at all that the duty manager tonight has any idea of this.

A lot of staff have left already and another batch will go when University finishes for the Summer and there will be no one here to train the new crew. So far only one multifunctional has been appointed to supervisor. But will they cull the establishment numbers to keep costs down?

The films on tonight may bedesultory (21, Fools Gold, Pathology…..) but it’s busy. Very busy.  On Box Office the two of us pull in high takings as the queue never dies down.  Curiously, with the high traffic the management have stopped showing films after 10pm.  This may be because of low attendance (except for staff) and the cost of keeping staff on site through the night.

There are lots of rules in the Box Office and how these are applied is largely down the discretion of firstly the multifunctional on the box, secondly, the manager on duty that night, and thirdly how the rule is recorded.  Rules on Box Office are very important to give backbone to the authority of the Multifunctional but needs to applied with a liberal dose of common sense and consistency from the duty managers.  Sadly, the latter is badly missing in this building.

The queues are long and yet customers still turn up after a film has actually started.  That’s half an hour after the programme time allowing for up to 20 minutes of previews and trailors.  Now everyone knows the beginning of film not only sets the scene: the plot, the characters and the mood, notably it gives the viewer basic information for the rest of the film, in particular the characters.  So why on earth do people think it is okay turning up late?  Company policy is very simple: turn up late and you piss off the rest of the audience so, no, you not going to be let in.  After a lengthy wait this older middle class and rather short-tempered gentleman attempts to see a film that has already started and is indignent when refused. After a tour of other films on offer, unfortunately including what has already started, he storms off in a huff.

To my disbelief the dour Scottish Duty Manager then ticks us off on the radio.  Yes we can let that horrible man in to a film late as long as we inform him of the times.  I expect the overworked manager has backed down for a quiet life.

It seems the world is a student and aged 14 years old.  The student rate is for students and if you are a student then you will have proof.  Yes there is a grey area for 15-16 year olds at secondary school who are technically students but schools don’t provide ID like further education institutions do so the child is technically an adult in our view.  But the point is practically every young person tries it on. And I mean almost all of them.  It’s a badge of honour to the point that the young women with these have-a-goers (and they are typically young men) get very pissed off with them.  The rules of the house are very simple: no ID no student rate.  No Buts.  No ignorant looks.  No coy smiles from the girls.  Well, maybe.