Working in a movie theater http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524 MayDrei I have a character who is in high school but also has a part time job. I want it to be something laid back, because she is very serious about school and has a lot of homework. I was considering having her work in a movie theater. So if anyone has an experience with working at one, could you tell me what it was like? Are there many responsibilities? Am I wrong with thinking that there isn't much to do? The only theater in my town isn't very busy, and usually the employees looked bored out of their minds. So what duties are there? Selling tickets and working the concession stand, cleaning bathrooms and the theater after movies? What do the people who work the projectors do? Do they sit up in that little room above the theater the entire time, do they have to? Or can you leave and do other things? Would it be reasonable for my character to do her homework and study while the movie is going on? Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:44:49 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088818 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088818 Sarley Well, I worked one summer in a movie theater, though it was a super busy one. I did concession stand exclusively, and most of the people I worked with were high school to college age. Days tended to be quiet, but less so on weekends, and nights could be VERY intense especially Friday and Saturday, and any time a movie was opening for the first time. A few key things - you are expected to ALWAYS look busy. There's always popcorn to pop, or a hotdog heater to clean, or floors to sweep or candy to restock - sometimes I'd just wipe down my counter area every ten minutes or so if there weren't any customers. - Busy nights are INSANE. Also any time a school group shows up (as some schools do that kind of thing...ok, most don't, but it happened once or twice with summer camp groups so there you have it). All of a sudden, there's a massive crowd of people all demanding five large popcorns with butter and two without and like ten sodas no wait six of them want slushies which cost the same but need to be put into the register differently and why can't they have an EXTRA LARGE slushie no they don't see that the cup is a different shape why don't you have kid sized popcorn anymore you used to have kid sized and are there still dark chocolate raisinets no wait never mind I want a pretzel oh there's salty or sweet I don't knoooooowwwwwwwwwww do you have pizza why is there a different line for pizza....and on and on. You wind up running into each other behind the counter getting everything together and getting in each other's way. And since the people rarely form coherent lines you're shouting every two minutes CAN I HELP SOMEONE OVER HERE?!?!? - And just as suddenly everyone's gone. And it looks like a freaking bomb went off. - Closing time for the movie theater is LATE. Not the kind of job I would have been allowed in high school (forget curfew, it was past my bed time!). Since you have to thoroughly clean your area before going home, you didn't leave until at least an hour after the last movie started. So that's easily after midnight even on a week night (and NO qualms about scheduling you for the following morning's first shift as well). - Movie theater has different shift-hours than, say, a store. The movie's busiest hours are between probably 7 and 10 (midnight on weekends) - just as a general ballpark, but this is when they'd need to bring in the extra staf. So your character would be most likely scheduled for something like 6 to 9 or 7:30 to after 11 on a regular basis - there's little call for an after school 3 to 5:30 kind of shift. Note again, though, this is for a super-busy multi-plex at the newest shopping center in the area. At a very small theater, they might be more lax about stuff like doing homework on the slow parts of the shift, but there'd also probably be only one or two concession stand people on at a time - so less chance to sneak into the back and get comfortable while you work (someone NEEDS to be out, and God forbid your register is short at the end of the day!) For sure, though - even though there's a lot of work to do, "Boring" is a word I'd use to describe it, "mind numbing" even. And they're always playing the worst kind of music in the lobby, so the Muzak version of various Disney songs will be stuck in your head all week. On the other hand, there are certain perks for a high schooler - since weekends are the busiest times, you could easily angle to work only Fridays and Saturdays, maybe one other night a week, which is a pretty good schedule for a school job. And there's free movie tickets, meaning more cool stuff to do with your friends (especially with tickets being so expensive now!). And you occasionally get "secret shopper" bonuses - someone comes up and orders some popcorn and a drink; if you serve them quickly and smile and remember to try and upsell them, you get a couple extra bucks in your next pay check, which is pretty sweet. That about sums up my experience. Hope it helps! Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:44:07 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089430 Birdy Edwards I worked at one, and the hours tend to be crazy. I would sometimes not get home until 3 AM on Friday's because I had to wait until after the midnight movies. Other times I would work open to close, from noon to about eleven at night. The above poster is pretty much dead on. And I worked at a smaller theatre, and we got to do homeowrk or read during the two hours between shows. And people leave the weirdest crap in the theatres. We found baby bottles in one theatre after Thor let out. Best part is busting 13-year-old sneaking into R rated movies. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:00:28 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089535 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089535 Lady Absinthe I worked for one for about 2 years. I worked as both Usher and Concession. Ranks in the theatre of positions: 1. General Manager- Rarely seen unless something goes wrong. 2. Managers- Seen on and off most often near concessions,box office or their small office room. 3. Projection-No dealing with customers but lots of expensive equipment. Usually people working up their have technical experience of some nature. 4. Box Office- You have to deal with customers but its not too bad. The temp inside the box gets rather hot or cold though and consistent manager checks aren't fun. 5. Usher- Managers tend to tear down the ushers a lot for things they don't have control over. Sometimes managers get ideas they think will help such as keeping all the users together to clean even though 5 theatre let out at the same time. Ushers have to clean bathrooms, direct customers to places and often deal with customer complaints as managers don't stick around to handle it very often. The person standing on podium tearing tickets could be up there 5-8 hours with no break so often their not very happy campers when they find out next day their back on podium. 6. Restaurant-One step above it's slightly better though more advanced. 7. Concessions-The worst place to be. Kids and parents complain a lot. Your often stuck in a cramped space with anywhere from 3 to 9 other people. You have to juggle bags of popcorn, soda,etc. and not slip on the floor which often is wet or has grease from popcorn,etc on it. Theirs a constant refill of the popcorn machine, the ice, and the syrup boxes. Also, customers always want fresh popcorn which means you get some nasty burns trying to get it as it pops up. I've seen some of these workers with nice red bruises from the popcorn. And when the kids buses come in it is a literal nightmare. The kid meals fly out the door and its far from fun. NO your character would not be allowed to do hw. They would rather you be standing there than that. They get mad if you so much as bring a cup of water to the podium or in box office. Sometimes your made to clean things. From what I know of projection you spend a lot of time running around to make sure the film doesn't get tangled because if that happens and you get a brain wrap its a nightmare to fix. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:09:59 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090888 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090888 MikeHz My daughter started at the local multiplx when she was in high school, and by the time she was 23 managed the place. She loved the job. It was busy at times, but often slow enough that she could get in some reading. The only reason she gave it up was the hours, which--as pointed out--are crazy. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:39:15 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1094338 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1094338 MayDrei Thank you very much! I was completely off track, thank you for clearing that up. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:12:05 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1095056 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1095056 Sayaren If you want her to be able to do homework and the like, I would recommend waitressing. Yeah, the pay is crap, but depending on which restaurant she works at (I worked at a locally owned restaurant not in a chain) she'd have more free time than it seems she would have at a theater. If you want to ask me anything about that, I'd be happy to help. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:34:21 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1096561 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1096561 MayDrei Thank you to everyone who posted. I didn't even think of the hours, that should have been obvious to me that it'd be pretty late. I appreciate all your help. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:31:32 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1115631 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1115631 Lady Absinthe If it helps often I left work around 10 or 11pm. On opening nights especially for big sell outs it could be as late as 2am. Sometimes I would show up at 12:30pm and get asked to stay later as well. Typical shifts for ushers are about 8-9 hours with more people working Friday-Sunday and only one or two ushers Monday-Thurs. excepting holiday's and the summer. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:36:47 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122395 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122395 bandiceet In the projection room alot now depends on the media the cinema uses. Do they use Some sort of Disk (Bluray/DVD/LaserDisk etc) is it all purely software (as in some sort of media file on a computer) or is it still rolls of film that need to be threaded through the projector? Someone I went to school with (in the early to mid 1990's) worked as a projectionist so this was a time of actual film. I remember him telling me of a time he was getting ready for the start of the movie - he was just about to thread the first roll of film onto the projector, when the manager came into the room, causing my friend to turn around at the wrong time, and the center of the film popped out of the canister and several hundred feet of film went steaming down the small flight of stairs. All about 4 minutes before the movie was due to start. Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:48:02 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1155657 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1155657 scheherazade Yeah it can be variable if you're talking about a theater in a small town or an art house theater (something with 1 or 2 screens) but most modern multiplexes would be pretty busy. Not sure about the waitress suggestion above - that is also highly variable depending on the restaurant. I worked at a store restaurant in a mall that was CRAZY busy - literally you couldn't take a bathroom break for 3 hour stretches without your coworkers plotting to murder you. But a small restaurant in a downtown area could be really slow between meals or during a slow season (eg in January, or on a day when the weather is bad). What about something like a museum box office? It could be a museum that plays movies or has an IMAX theater, if that's important, but if it's a small enough museum it might fit your needs - slow periods, sitting at a desk, working a few hours after school and on weekends but not too late at night. My hometown has a car museum that might only get 10 visitors a day, that had a teenager working the front desk on weekends. You could make it a museum to some weird random topic that relates to your story (or is a complete antithesis to the story). Another option is a live theater. I worked as an usher at one, and when the show was on the people in "out of house" positions (ie, positioned at the front door or in the lobby as opposed to the ushers inside the theater) were allowed to read books or do homework, but we had to put it away before/after the show andduring intermission. A box office at one of these might also be a place to do some reading (although big theaters in big cities tend to have full-time box office staff). That said, theaters tend to attract outgoing performer types, so it's sometimes hard to get much reading done if you're positioned in an error with other people (eg, at the front door). Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:35:38 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1157127 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/49524?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1157127