Popcorn is the food of the Devil 3 April, 2008
Posted by Drop Box Junky in Entertainment, Movies.Tags: bar, Box Office, coke, concessions, drop box, Meet the Spartans, Pick n Mix, popcorn, Step Up 2
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What is it about popcorn? Today I followed a customer who left a trail of popcorn all the way down the corridor to his screen. Was he bothered? Of course not. Food and drink is not cheap in the cinema yet the wastage is phenomenal. Popcorn is undeniably more-ish but why is it treated so uncaringly. What the heck if so much ends up on the floor? I’ve got so much to eat! So what if I spent a small fortune on it, I knew I would never finish it all. And it’s gets no better with the coke either.
Popcorn is the root of all evil for multifunctionals. They just know where small kids or young teenagers are involved the screen is going to be swimming in the stuff. Have you ever tried sweeping up popcorn off a carpet? Food of the devil.
It’s a Saturday afternoon and Step Up 2 and Meet the Spartans is bringing in the kids and young teenagers. The latter group bring in their own food: Pringles and crisps in general are popular – we don’t sell crisps.
Three weeks in to the job Multifunctionals are being gently pushed into areas they excel at: there are a couple of level headed women on the box office; a couple of men on the bar; one woman regularly on Concessions. The rest are being moved between concessions and the floor. Box Office requires a little knowledge and experience to overcome the wide range of obscure options – it can be off-putting messing about with coupons and cards. Concessions is not popular because the queues build up suddenly and customers, late for their film, get arsey. And the hot dogs are hated. Pick ‘n’ Mix is frankly boring – stood around with few customers hours on end. The bar is also a careful choice – some woman cannot pull a pint.
The Floor is a poisoned chalice, cleaning screens is the worst option in the cinema – but is preferred by some to serving food. Being on the Drop Box is a misunderstood role and many get into deep trouble with the bosses. They think it’s an easy option ripping tickets until they have strips torn off them for dirty screens and crowded corridors.
Let It Snow 28 March, 2008
Posted by Drop Box Junky in Entertainment, Movies.Tags: 10 000 BC, bar, concessions, Horton Hears a Who, Meet the Spartans, Pick n Mix, supervisor, The Other Boleyn Girl
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It may be Sunday but I am still asked to start my shift at 8.30am. I arrive before then as expected and there’s no one around. It’s literally freezing out here and snowing. Some kids in the bus station ask me who I work for and assume I am a manager. An obvious view on the world when you take age and ethnicity into account.
A duty manager appears 10 minutes into my shift to let me in. There is one other multifunctional upstairs but she crept through an open fire door (not that it should have been open). We crack on with the concessions preparing it for the day. A new guy has started and asks what to do. He is brand new and has had no formal training apparently, there is no supervisor to either introduce him or guide him, he’s just there surviving on that initial motivation. I doubt that will last once he sees how things work around here.
A group of kids arrive and go down to the duty manager in the cash office to ask what to do and get sent to us. The concessions is now crowded with half of us trying to set it up and the other half filling time. Eventually the general manager appears and I have someone to alert what we are are low on, in particular popcorn. That concerns him.
We have two members of staff sick on a Sunday. Not good – there is no one on the floor to clean up the screens. I set up my concessions till and immediately get pulled off onto Box Office. I set my till up there and get literally 5 minutes training and a radio for help. The young woman on box office is put on concessions – she has also never worked on box office but would struggle with its complexity of ticket options. I struggle with the ticket options with a steady stream of customers in the morning coming up with many varieties. Consequently the radio is busy with pleas for assistance and I learn by jumping in the deep end. My voids list and refunds list begin to lengthen because the manager rushes through the till screens to fix my problem and then escapes – he has no time to show me what to do.
The fun part of the day is the general voucher from the mall for use in the cinema. It may only be to the value of five pounds but the wording on the back of the voucher is ambiguous and he has managed to get his kids in for free with it. The general relents and I can put through every customer that day for free on this ticket. That’s a lot of lost revenue but luckily the offer runs out soon.
It’s not only snowing outside but there is gale blowing through the automatic doors as they open all they way up to the box office. With a wall mounted heater blowing out lukewarm air it is freezing. Despite being promised fleeces a month ago there are none and we are freezing our nuts off down here
It’s a slow day with the snow outside. Some of the first films of the day are empty. Horten Hears a Who, 10,000 BC and Meet the Spartens attract interest only. The highlight of the afternoon are three teenage travellers causing a commotion in The Other Boleyn Girl, and then frantically asking me for their money back after 25 minutes into the picture because they’ve had a call saying their mom is in hospital having a baby. They get their money back and are asked not to return. They wander into the Bowling Alley and re-appear 10 minutes later arguing with each other. Three older teenage traveller girls turn up dressed up ready for business and go into see the same film until they are ejected for being caught smoking in the toilets.
Out of about fifty multifunctionals the rumour is 15 have already left. Motivation is clearly low as we grasp what we should be doing now the support from managers in other sites have gone and we are on our own. With one manager on duty during the day he is stretched with no supervisors to organise.
During training the management informed us we could apply for supervisory role after a couple of months learning the job and getting some experience behind us. After only two weeks and not yet gained experience in all areas of the job (floor, concessions, pick and mix, VIP lounge, and bar) we are being asked to apply for the supervisory role. With a new group of multifunctionals starting soon, probably without full formal training, they urgently need some leaders in the pack.
