My first few jobs...

[hyperneo]

Long time lurker, I really do enjoy all of these tales. They never fail to make me laugh in my quiet office full of teachers. Anyway I have a few stories about my first few jobs.

First Job + Cleaning:

So my first job was working at a laser tag arena at 15. I would always go and hang out at the laser tag arena when I was younger and I thought since I enjoyed laser tag I would enjoy working there. Oh how wrong I was.

We had parties there every weekend and had a couple of party rooms. Now I wouldn't mind this except the kids left a huge mess. I'm not talking about paper, left over cake and stuff, but I'm talking about vomit thrown up all over the place, pizza on the ground and on the walls, and ice cream on the seats. I mean shit people control your children.

I would also work at the counter to register people. They would decide on a "codename" for themselves and check in. For obvious reasons we didn't allow them to choose swear words, however when they tried one swear word they would probably try it a few times.

Me: Poor Student
SC: Idiot kid

Me: Hello, what would you like your codename to be?
SC: Fucker.
Me: Sorry your codename can't be a swear word.
SC: Then dumbass.
Me: Like I said, your codename can't be a swear word.
SC: Shitface.
Me: Please choose a name that isn't a swear word.
SC: :Ass-
Me: Next!!!! (and put his name down as "Loser")

We also had parties for corporate events which were sometimes worse than the parties with kids because these guys thought they could do whatever they want even if it meant breaking things such as the guns or sensors.

Me: I want to quit this job
SC: Idiot corporate guy

The guy was in the arena thinking it would be funny to act like a monkey and climb on the base walls.

Me: Sir you can't do that as it is a safety hazard.
SC: I am paying you good money, so I should be able to do whatever I want.
Me: (No you aren't paying for it, your company is...) Sir, it is dangerous and you could get hurt.
SC: Oh shut up!
* Guy falls down on this back, breaks the sensors and gun*
Me: How did you like doing whatever you want?
SC: OUCHHHHHHHHHHH
Me: Oh btw those guns and sensors cost $1500, cash or credit?

My next job was working at an Art theater when I was 17. I say art theater as we only showed really niche films like anime films when they weren't popular, but we also showed other ones that were just plain boring and only old folks would walk in.

Me: Why am I here
GC: Some teacher

Me: 2 tickets? That will be $18.00.
GC: Oh I am a student.
Me: Can I see some ID?
GC: Here. *He hands me a faculty ID* Sir you are on the faculty, not a student.
Me: Yeah, but we make about the same as a student.
*Gave him a child rate for that* haha

Me: That'll be $9.00
SC: $9.00!?!?! That's a ripoff, why I remember when I was 15, blah blah blah blah insert movies cost 10 cents story.
Me: That's great sir, that'll be $9.00.

Me: That'll be $27.00.
SC: *Hands me a credit card*
Me: I'm sorry we don't accept credit cards (It's written there in huge letters) But you can use the cash machine behind you.
SC: *Goes to the cash machine* $3.00 fee, WTF!?!?!?!?!? I'd rather not see the movie. You should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of people like this!
Me: (Yes because I make the policies) Have a nice day!

Me: That'll be $18.00.
SC: Oh I'm a senior (now policy says that we can't ask them for ID since it might humiliate them or something). I know I look like I'm under 55, but..(cue boring story about their life).
Me: Ok that'll be $6.00.
SC: $6.00!!!!! Why I remember when going to the movies (cue another boring back in my day story)
Me: Sir the line is getting long.

We got Spirited Away in one day and it was subtitled. Of course this didn't sit well with some parents and customers.

CP: Cranky parent
Me: sigh

CP: Two tickets to Spirited Away, one child (probably was 11) and one adult.
Me: That'll be $15.00.
*Hands me the money and I give her the tickets*
CP: This is dubbed right?
Me: It is presented in subtitles (as I point to the sign right in front of her that reads PRESENTED IN SUBTITLES).
CP: Well my child won't be able to understand it then! I want a refund!
Me: (no wonder children are having a hard time reading, it's the end of the world when they have to read something).




Ok sometimes I have to clean the theater and help the customers there.

*REALLY HOT DAY*
SC: Excuse me can you turn off the air conditioner in the theater, it's blowing directly on me and it's annoying.
Me: *Walks into the theater and she is the only one there sitting right below the air conditioner*
Me: (I'm thinking THEN MOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TO ONE OF THE OTHER 300 SEATS)

So we were closing one day and we started cleaning.

Me
Manager
Female Employee

Other Employee: *Comes running out of the girls bathroom screaming* I just saw the worst thing ever in there.. Come and look!
Me: What is it?
Manager: Oh geez....
*We walk into the bathroom and she throws open a stall* It literally looked like a horse just took a dump on everything except into the toilet. I mean the ceiling, the walls, the floor, the door, the toilet paper, everything except into the toilet.
Manager: Ok who wants to clean it?
Me: If you make me do it I will quit right now.
(They were lacking employees so if I quit then they would have a huge staff problem)
Manager: Fine I will leave it to the morning crew.
*We got yelled at by people in the morning, but it was the worst thing I had every seen*

I also had to work at the concession stand which was just fantastic and we have free refills on large popcorns.

ME
FDP: Fat Dumb person

Me: Hello, can I take your order?
FDP: Yes I would like a large buttered popcorn with extra butter filled to the top.
Me: Would you like anything to drink with that?
FDP: A small diet coke. I'm trying to cut down.
Me: (Really? You think it's the diet coke that's making you pork out?)
*She comes back about 10 minutes after the movie starts and wants a refill..she does this 10 times, count them 10 TIMES during the movie. I'm surprised she didn't die in there...*

Random Story: People bringing their own things I can understand (even though it's not allowed) as prices are expensive, but don't make it look so obvious by chucking your plastic bags full of popcorn on the ground and coke cans all over the theater...it's very annoying you cheapskates. Really...... cold popcorn in a plastic bag?



Hope you liked them! lol

[Sunshine]

10 times....oh.my....thats nutz!

[Freak]

I thought that last one only happened in silly comic strips.

[Eevie]

Good christ.... Just one of those buckets is ridiculous... I've heard it's about the same amount of calories of three cheeseburgers... I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and hope she was with a large group of people....

[jedimaster91]

We got Spirited Away in one day and it was subtitled. Of course this didn't sit well with some parents and customers.

CP: Cranky parent
Me: sigh

CP: Two tickets to Spirited Away, one child (probably was 11) and one adult.
Me: That'll be $15.00.
*Hands me the money and I give her the tickets*
CP: This is dubbed right?
Me: It is presented in subtitles (as I point to the sign right in front of her that reads PRESENTED IN SUBTITLES).
CP: Well my child won't be able to understand it then! I want a refund!
Me: (no wonder children are having a hard time reading, it's the end of the world when they have to read something).

Subbed over dubbed FTW!

Though in all honesty, the English dub for Spirited Away (one of my FAVORITE movies!) is very good. But subbed is better.

[PepperElf]

Me: Oh btw those guns and sensors cost $1500, cash or credit?

Bet it wasn't so much fun for them after that, now was it? How many of them tried to fight the charge? (well tried and failed that is, since IIRC you have to sign waivers before playing)


as for all the bitching about movies... wow. If I can't afford the prices I just ... don't go.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

I worked in a movie theatre during high school and part of college, it's been years and I still can't stand popcorn. As far as the healthiness of the popcorn, well, a large tub (16 cups) contains about 1000 calories worth of popcorn, not really that bad. Of course, most people add butter flavoring. There's where the calories come in. At Star Cinema, we usually gave 10 or more squirts from the dispenser, at 140 calories per squirt, 130 of those being from fat. turns a large popcorn from 1000 calories into 2400, quite easily. Add in a non-diet soda and a box of candy and you're probably pushing the 4000 calorie mark without much trouble.

[taxguykarl]

My next job was working at an Art theater when I was 17. I say art theater as we only showed really niche films like anime films when they weren't popular, but we also showed other ones that were just plain boring and only old folks would walk in....
We got Spirited Away in one day and it was subtitled. Of course this didn't sit well with some parents and customers.

Isn't that a given with a lot of art films? So many come from non-English speaking countries. Never mind, we're talking SC's here.

Good christ.... Just one of those buckets is ridiculous... I've heard it's about the same amount of calories of three cheeseburgers...

Wow. Just one of those is enough for me--as a meal this is.

BTW, welcome to CS, hyperneo.

[Salted Grump]

I'm currently contracted to a theatre; I see people buying a large popcorn (roughly 2500 calories right there) get 5 squirts of butter (another 700 calories), and then ask for 3-5 packs of dill flavoured topping powder; 500 calories per baggie, and 2800 milligrams of sodium. Can we say 'Heart attack'?

[Jay 2K Winger]

Welcome, former veteran of movie theater work! I, too, used to work at a movie theater (my tales of such work comprised my first post on the boards, too), and we had similar issues from folks complaining about ticket prices.

I had people complaining about subtitles on foreign films, too. The only one I recall we had any issues with was "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." But I made sure to warn people going in that it was subbed, not dubbed, since we didn't have any signs to warn people otherwise.

Oh, and since it's one of your first posts on the board, there's something else you need to do.

Surrender your pants.

[hyperneo]

Haha thanks for the warm welcomes. Even after all my complaints about the theater job it was probably one of the better part time jobs I had. There weren't many employees and there was usually a lot of down time.

[shopgirl15]

Subbed over dubbed FTW!

But subbed is better.

Not really - I know a little Japanese and I catch mistranslated words quite a bit. It annoys the heck out of me, that's why i usually go for dubs.

What I don't get is why people seem to think watching a subbed movie isn't translated too. Any time words are translated content and meaning are lost - that applies equally to subtitles and dubs. It's not as if either one can be a perfect translation conveying all the subtext and meaning of the original. You need to speak fluent Japanese for that, no way around it. Besides, I often find that often the subs sound a bit forced in comparison to dubs, and all too often the differences in subtext and meaning are negligible.

As Robert Dillman says, "a show isn't always better because it's in Japanese, and a dub doesn't always suck because it's in English."

[hyperneo]

Not really - I know a little Japanese and I catch mistranslated words quite a bit. It annoys the heck out of me, that's why i usually go for dubs.

What I don't get is why people seem to think watching a subbed movie isn't translated too. Any time words are translated content and meaning are lost - that applies equally to subtitles and dubs. It's not as if either one can be a perfect translation conveying all the subtext and meaning of the original. You need to speak fluent Japanese for that, no way around it. Besides, I often find that often the subs sound a bit forced in comparison to dubs, and all too often the differences in subtext and meaning are negligible.

As Robert Dillman says, "a show isn't always better because it's in Japanese, and a dub doesn't always suck because it's in English."

Well the problem with dubs is they often change the words too much...probably because some Japanese words are hard to pronounce and it sounds dumb coming out of a persons mouth who doesn't know how to pronounce it. In subtitles they used to change words a lot, but they sounded so dumb it didn't make sense.

[EricKei]

Long-time anime fan here, from back in the "VHS tape trading" era ^_^;>

Remember boys and girls, in the VHS days, tapes with subs usually cost MORE than the dubs >_<

As Robert Dillman says, "a show isn't always better because it's in Japanese, and a dub doesn't always suck because it's in English."

This is certainly true -- especially today. It's just that, up until the late 90's at least, many dubs were incredibly bad attempts to make a quick buck on an emerging market, with little or no attention paid to quality nor the original storyline (tho there were cases where the dub team HAD no idea what the original story was) ... Even quality subs were few and far between.

With the exception of companies who actually tried harder to not screw things up, like AnimEigo (not saying they were perfect, just better at it), few places did subs at all. If you wanted reasonably accurate ones, especially before the mid-90's, you often had to wait for fansub groups to do it.

That being said, I give props to companies like Pioneer, who pion...uhm, I mean, went to the effort of at least making their dubs and subs scripts more or less identical, where the timing/lip synching allowed, AND hiring voice actors who could actually act

[wolfie]

I worked in a movie theatre during high school and part of college, it's been years and I still can't stand popcorn. As far as the healthiness of the popcorn, well, a large tub (16 cups) contains about 1000 calories worth of popcorn, not really that bad. Of course, most people add butter flavoring. There's where the calories come in. At Star Cinema, we usually gave 10 or more squirts from the dispenser, at 140 calories per squirt, 130 of those being from fat. turns a large popcorn from 1000 calories into 2400, quite easily. Add in a non-diet soda and a box of candy and you're probably pushing the 4000 calorie mark without much trouble.

About a week ago, I saw a tabloid headline that Kate Middleton had been hospitalized for being severely underweight, and had been put on a 3700 calorie a day diet. Just waiting for a standup comedian to run with that one "or about as much as an average American eats in snacks when they go to a movie".