Enjoy The Film

It’s VIP day, the third of three dry runs before the official launch. Already the managers have been given a full dressing down. They may talk the talk with the kids on the floor but really they are making it up as they go along. The supervisor – only one on the payroll – is pulling her hair out. The conflicting decisions from the operational managers gives unclear instructions to the kids what to do. My fear is if the deputy manager lets rip on the managers they will take it on the kids. Not that that will do some of them any harm; one rolled in three hours late today, another decided to take his tea break in an auditorium with the customers.

There is only so far down you can go with having rules. There are color coded gloves depending on which room you are in; color-coded cleaning paper depending on whether you are in the toilets or auditoriums. Toilets are checked and signed off every 10 minutes. This is not going to teach me anything about running a cinema but it sure does create more administration than common sense dictates.

Only four of the twelve screens were open today. Once all of them are open the whole operation needs to be taken to a higher level. That’s tomorrow and that’s when the fun really starts. It’s the day before and the site deputy manager is not happy. While she reads the riot act to her operational managers and sorts out the cash the kids get to grips with life on the floor. There are no sheets for us with the complete film times so we are working half blind when films end. There are no previews or adverts so everyone is confused until one person finally sounds convincing when he says he knows they are not showing them until launch day. There are no keys for the toilet roll holders in the cubicles until one manager finds one on his fob at the end of the night. The beer pourers on the bar breaks down. These are minor niggles we are told as we assist with adding the final touches to the site. We are still waiting for that real fire alert we have been told will happen.

There is fun all over the place – children screen jumping and hiding in emergency exits to watch the movies, other children putting up the tensil barriers to close all the men’s toilets. More popcorn is on the floor than in their mouths. We watch a group more interested in checking out the other teens in the cinema than actual watching the movie.

The highlight of the evening is a messy fight outside the site in the shopping mall. We watch from the first floor above as two drunks are literally thrown down the escalators and pushed out of the mall. The police are being quite restrained as the idiots attempt to fight back. Most onlookers would like to see them decked. The one saving grace about the mall is that there are no bars in the immediate vicinity other than within the bowling alley. Somehow anti-social behaviour looks likely to be a regular late night weekend feature right here by the bowling alley. Safety for multifunctionals is a concern with the cinema entrance next to the bowling alley and the box office outside the entrance to the right. The staff were left for a long time on their own tonight with groups of youths teasing them.

The managers have to get it right before the cinema (and the mall) gains a reputation. Once they stop chasing their own tails and working with the multifunctionals as a team they might make a difference. The kids still don’t feel it’s their cinema, it’s still all about rules and regulations. And common sense is not coming through with consistent direction. Until they do there will be this drain of staff leaving.