It’s raining again 24 March, 2008
Posted by Drop Box Junky in Entertainment, Movies.Tags: 10 000 BC, Box Office, concessions, popcorn, sales per person, suggestive selling, The Other Boleyn Girl, upselling
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Outside the box office but up on the first floor inside the mall the rain drips steadily onto the marble floor. Its a brand new building and its failed the first rain shower test.
Today I start on concessions. Word is out this is the place not to be: long queues, customer aggravation and ice cream to prepare. But this is where the cinema makes its profits. This is where the upsell (“go large for 50p?”) and suggestive sell (“chocolates with your popcorn?”) must be built in as well as remembering all the food, drink, confectionery, ice cream and coffee. It’s daunting. But the approach is you have done the training (for about an hour as a group in a different cinema a fortnight ago) so you know what to do. The external managers and supervisors from other have no guidance from the internal managers and have been left to run the place. It’s crucial to gradually bed in staff: watch the manager, support the manager and then the manager watches and supports you. But no. No time. Watch me for five minutes and then your on your own. There is no price sheet. I have no idea how to log in and despite being shown by a manager she still fails to get it right herself and I get the blame at the end of the day.
Two staff are missing today. One turns up and the other goes AWOL. So the bar stays shut till more staff arrive at lunchtime. The kid on the checkbox tears his hair out as he has few colleagues to clean the screens and managers are missing. The rain means it’s a slow day until the afternoon. 10,000 BC is popular. Some films such as The Other Boleyn Girl are quiet except for a few women leaving the end of the film crying. The beheading clearly did it for them.
A customer wants some jalapenos on his nachos. But the can opener is missing. Then it’s found but doesn’t work. Eventually it’s sorted out. But the customer has gone, disgruntled, by then. So why is there only one can opener in this place?
Eventually, we run out of popcorn and I am put on the popcorn kettle. The manager reassures it’s okay for another kid to use my float. The kettle may be new but one of the two kettles is still bust. I have never been shown how to boot one up and the poor internal supervisor is as perplexed as me. I figure it out in the end and off we go. It’s noisy, boring and repetitive, and not popular with the kids, but hey, it’s a break from some of the more boring jobs: making up the nachos trays. Now how boring is that?
It’s time to go and a kid has been asked to make popcorn. He calls me over as he and the internal supervisor are struggling – the kettle won’t heat up. I explain he has left the oil switch on and its flooded the kettle. If staff had been properly inducted into the job then there would not be problems like with the popcorn kettle.
It’s busy and I can’t get off my station. I eventually take my float and two external manager decide to escort me down to the cash office – there is no tube available to send it down. I then get told off for not coming down and collecting a tube. I bite my tongue. I have no silver so I get told off again for not having cash changing skills. I want to slap this patronising upstart. I then get told off for letting another kid use my float. I want to let rip but she then praises me on my sales per person.
Building Site 16 March, 2008
Posted by Drop Box Junky in Entertainment, Movies.Tags: Ben and Jerries, Carlsburg, Coffee Republic, ice cream, popcorn, training
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There is only a number of days to go before the site is open to the public. Seven in fact. The first day is for family and friends. The second day is for VIPs. The third day is the soft launch and the fourth day is the media launch. But you’d never guess it from looking around the site. First off is that it’s not all open to us the workers. The builders are still building. Next off the site is quite simply full of stuff. Stock and equipment is everywhere sharing space with the builders tools and rubbish. A consequence of this is that no one knows where anything is or even if it has arrived. Carlsburg, Ben and Jerries, and Coffee Republic are on site to train us but it’s not that easy. The East European trainer for Ben and Jerries is missing equipment. The French coffee trainer is also missing equipment. The Cheshire know-it-alls from Carlsburg have a leaking bar. But they can’t even turn that into a decent joke.
So as we weave round the site dodging various hazardous piles and grinding in the the muck and dust in to the new carpets (not that all the screens have new carpets yet) we suspend our disbelief that this site will really be ready. But, hey, the kids don’t care because they get to line their stomachs with delicious Bohemian Rhapsody ice cream.; the Carlsburg training is a damp squib as they want to drink the beer not the wine (those that do drink – as well as religious reasons some just don’t – good on them); the coffee training (the man spent an hour teaching us what can be reduced to pressing a button, these kids are the internet generation for heavens’ sake) is hilarious as the kids will only drink the hot chocolate.
Popcorn training? Box Office training? Forget it – the popper is stuck in customs and the box office is, well, it just isn’t ok?
Enjoy The Film 1 March, 2008
Posted by Drop Box Junky in Entertainment, Movies.Tags: customer experience, multifunctional, popcorn, suggestive selling, upselling
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Enjoy The Film. That’s what we say. After every sale. After every encounter. Make it special for the customer. We are different because we focus on that customer experience. That way we can improve the spend per person. If they are happy customers they will come back. We can upsell and “suggestive” sell of additional products. They might even treat themselves to the VIP box. Enjoy the film.
Late last year I found myself struggling to afford my mortgage. As well as working as a full-time manager I took a part-time job with a top cinema chain as a multifunctional. By day I manage a budget and negotiate targets; by night I serve popcorn and implore my customers to “enjoy the film” as part of making the customer experience special. That way, at the weekend, I can provide for my son and not need to find the cash to go to the flicks with my mates – because I’ve seen the film already. But the real show goes on “noises off” behind the scenes. As I change my tie for a baseball cap I mix with young people instead of managing them. I adopt a different persona and count the hours till clocking off time.
This blog is a diary of my journey in to new territory: the cinema, a new state of the art venue, a new group of young people entrusted with giving the customer the highest quality experience and the success of the company’s reputation in the town. It’s an adventure for everyone and it’s not going to plan – even before the cinema has opened.
