Oh, the movies. It has always been a great past time where, for two plus hours, you could forget about your problems and immerse yourself into whatever world is presented to you. But in all of your times attending a flick, have you ever thought, "Hey, I wonder what it's like working here and how it works?" Well, that is what I am here for! As a current employee of a movie theater establishment, I am here to present to you what makes this cinema heaven tick as well as some little things that you can do as a customer to make it a better place for future trips.
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Now first off I will just get this one out of the way since it is always what people ask us when we are working and that is why is our food so expensive? Now there, little Johnny, let me tell you. At most/all movie theaters all of the money made from the ticket sales do not go to us. That goes to the production company for whichever movie they paid to see that day. Therefore how must we make our money as an establishment? The concessions. That is why people tend to overpay for a small drink when you don't even feel like getting large (even though it is typically only about two dollars more). And that's another thing I just did right there we do a bunch, we up-sell. When they ask you if you want to upgrade your drink or popcorn like they do it's so we can maximize profit for that day. So at that point you're already paying more than you should for something small, why not pitch in a little bit more for something larger? That is why I say that if a local theater near you has some sort of annual deal like refillable drinks or popcorn then take it because in the long run, you'll be saving more money with those deals instead of spending an arm and a leg at the movies (they might even have good deals to go along with them as well).
Do you how at the end of your movie, there are almost always ushers at the door holding it open for you as you leave and you're like, "Aw, how nice?" Guess why they are really there. No, really. Guess. If you guessed, "To clean up the mess that has been made," you are our winner! No, seriously, after the credits stop or the last person leaves we have about five minutes or less to clean up that theater because nine times out of ten there is already someone in the lobby about to walk in there because they just can't wait to see what's going to happen between Jacob and Bella ("Twilight" reference). Now don't get me wrong, this part of the job isn't that bad especially if you're an introvert. But it gets frustrating sometimes because people will leave trash that is just rude to leave, such as a half-eaten a large bag of popcorn, full drinks and sometimes even food that they bring from home.
You see the amount of seats here, right (left)? That's a lot of cleaning. So you can imagine having to deal with huge movies such as "The Avengers" and half of the people seeing that movie don't like to take their trash out of the theater even though there are trash cans virtually everywhere. It gets tricky to meet that five minute deadline when there is trash that will take longer to clean. So as a friendly PSA at the end of all this, I shall say to take out of the theater whatever you bring in. And to be honest, even though we up-sell what's the point in spending all that money on large items and you don't finish them or just leave them. Would you like it if someone came over to your house, ate all your food and then just left a huge mess? So remember next time you go, pick up whatever you brought. You're helping make someone else's job easier by doing so! Also, if you want to show up early for a movie, show up 30 minutes prior to when the movie is said to start. By then they should be done with cleaning!
The best part about this job, in my opinion, is the interaction between us and the customer. There are so many friendly people who go to see movies because they are all just as excited. So far my favorite kind of people has been families and their children because the kids are always the most excited to see their movies. I also really enjoy people who go to see comic book movies because that is basically my element, and I like to quiz them to see how much they know (no big deal). 
90 percent of the people I serve are great people and are extremely friendly, but that 10 percent are the people I don't usually enjoy meeting at first glance, because they are not as nice. They are usually the ones who know what they are getting and no amount of up-selling is going to change that. Other than that everyone is great — you know, until we run out of stuff — then it gets bad.
One of our biggest fears while working, especially on weekends, is running out of popcorn. My manager always told me that just like Dory's song, to just "keep on poppin'." So because of that, we are constantly popping popcorn just to avoid that but if we have too much and it's slow then we temporarily store it in a warmer to keep it hot. And yes even while it's in the warmer it is still fresh. I've only ever had one experience running out of popcorn and I will say this; the amount of panic going through all of our minds trying to keep up with orders while still making popcorn as quickly as possible could have easily been turned into a parody of a war movie. It was crazy.
Well as far as I know, that's pretty much it. I've been working at *insert cinema company here* for about three months now so I am sure down the road I will have more to share but for now, I will say this: If there are any refillable deals for the year, get them! Remember to pick up any and all trash after your movie is over (seriously, don't be a jerk), and know that we make most of our money on our food. So if you don't feel like getting nachos next time around that's OK, but if you do want to get something just be prepared to spend at least $10. Other than that, I will see you at the movies!
