Remembered from the Movie Theater

[bookishfreak]

"Popcorn smells like hamsters." -Craig Ferguson (I loves him. He's funny!)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Would it be wrong of me to admit I kinda like stale popcorn?

The butter and popcorn flavors are more...intensified that way.

[Mordecai]

Same thing happened to me once. Lady buys a tub of popcorn that had JUST came out of the popper, and after she got out of the movie she told me it was the worst popcorn she ever tasted and asked if she could have a pass. I wasn't as pissed as simply dumbfounded.

[smileyeagle1021]

completely OT... but about the only thing I miss from Logan is that theatres there all had flavored salts... Oh God, the sour cream and onion flavored salt on buttered popcorn... I'd be lying if I didn't say the fact that I got unlimited free popcorn with that gift from God wasn't one of the reasons I applied for a movie theatre job up there.

Back on topic... I despised the concession customers who got all uppity about how fresh the popcorn was... especially on the first show of the day when we had made everything fresh...

[cinema guy]

The <cinema> doesn't make popcorn fresh. It comes ready-made in large bags that we dispense into warmers. Excess is taken out overnight and rebagged and reused. There is no butter either.

[LillFilly]

Ah, I just remembered this: We had free refills on the large popcorn and soda. Now we'd get parents that would buy a large, split it amongst their small children in cups or bags from home, and refill. No problem, cause they paid for it and it's not like we're going to run out of popcorn. But THEN, we'd get the people who would slip a nicely folded large popcorn bag out from under their coat and try to get it refilled. We always refused, because you could tell it hadn't just been served (bag dry and didn't smell like popcorn), and plus being a small theater you'd remember who had bought what. They always denied it though. Makes me wonder if they dug the bag out of the trash from outside....Eeeewwww.

[BowserKoopa1]

I'll bet your manager/supervisor just let them have their "free" refill just to keep them happy. We offered refills only on the large ones, and to make sure they couldn't come back for a 3rd refill, we tore the corner out of the bag. Of course, I'd have a few customers lie and say, "Oh, my kid spilled all the popcorn out onto the ground" and I basically didn't feel like arguing with them and having them complain on me to a manager, so for the sake of my job I gave them their refill.
Once again I say, my friends and I hated concession. But I started as an usher, then I asked to be trained in box. The managers forced us to be trained in concession.
Being an usher at the theatre was the best.... everyone wanted to be an usher. Half the time there was nothing to do except do theatre checks, so you could basically watch movies for a bit. Cleaning up the theatres after messy customers was bad, but I'd rather clean up after them then have to listen to them complain. Plus I always found money lying around at times, and sometimes some unopened candy

[Broomjockey]

Once again I say, my friends and I hated concession. But I started as an usher, then I asked to be trained in box.

A...Are you... are you me?

[Jbball]

Fresh popcorn tastes stale, as it needs time to settle once it comes out of the popper. I worked in many theatres and had the same issue as the OP.

Gosh, I miss my theatre days. Projection is my dream job, but I cannot make a living doing it now. And I hate it. I was exceptional at projection. Flawless prints, sickeningly awesome splices, 20 second thread time, trailer replacements on a 16 screen theatre in between one set, etc etc.

I will always miss those days. Hopefully I can just own my own in the future and get to do it again. There's always the plan in the back of my mind to own my own theatre.

[cinema guy]

Projection is my dream job, but I cannot make a living doing it now.

Mine too. Sadly I only get a few hours in projection and have to spend the rest of my time as a minimum-wage popcorn monkey.

[MadMike]

"Good day sir. Here's your refund for the movie. Get lost. Security!"
O_o

Fuck the refund, just kick his ass out.

[Jbball]

Mine too. Sadly I only get a few hours in projection and have to spend the rest of my time as a minimum-wage popcorn monkey.

I hear ya. After about 3 weeks in my concession life, I was made the supervisor. It still blew. Constant nagging and whining about the dumbest stuff.

I mean, I worked at a theatre that, when a good movie would come out, we'd had like 500 people in a single line waiting to enter the auditorium. We had 16 tils at the concession (10 front, 8 back) full of lines 10-20 deep and we were busting out asses for these people (and this was for just one of our 16 screens).

What thanks do we get? Constant comment cards stating how dirty the concession was during a rush. I mean, really. How can you be expected to keep a spotless stand when you're running through a few thousand a set?

Theatre goers are pathetic. When I go to movies now, I'm beyond curtious, unless the framing is off (happens more than you think, I cannot stand bad presentation in a movie).

Fuck the refund, just kick his ass out.

Technically, you have to refund the guy. If a guy comes in to your theatre and talks the entire time and management throws him out, at least in Texas, you're bound to refund him his ticket as he's not sitting through the movie and you're forcing him out. Not doing so is technically theft. We ran into this more than once at my theatre back in the day.

Don't refund concessions though, as they can take those or have usually ate it all already.

[MadMike]

Technically, you have to refund the guy. If a guy comes in to your theatre and talks the entire time and management throws him out, at least in Texas, you're bound to refund him his ticket as he's not sitting through the movie and you're forcing him out. Not doing so is technically theft. We ran into this more than once at my theatre back in the day.

Interesting. Just about every event I've been to, the policy is that if you misbehave, you'll be removed without a refund.

[tigger222]

I love stale popcorn we always leave it on the kitchen counter and eat out of the bag up to a couple of days later we just keep rolling the top closed until it is gone.

[PepperElf]

personally i prefer my popcorn straight from the air-popper or from a frying pan. frying pan version doesn't need any butter though, not with all the oil it uses