Thursday, July 22, 2004
Never To Return
I've dragged this out long enough, so I will make this quick and to the point, because, quite frankly, what happened that fateful night still makes me a bit angry.
I went to see the highly-anticipated "The Matrix Reloaded" last year on opening night. Actually, it wasn't even opening night, it was a special sneak preview that was held late in the evening the night before. I had bought my ticket weeks in advance and was anxiously looking forward to it.
The movie started, and about 10 minutes in, it was about to happen...the first big fight scene. The instant the three Agents started to converge on Neo....darkness. The film had broke or come off the reel or something, but either way it had stopped. Everybody could clearly see the guy up in the booth struggling to fix it, but he had a clueless expression on his face that was not very comforting. Imagine being grabbed off the street, shoved into an operating room, having a scalpel put into your hand, and being told to perform open-heart surgery on the dying person in front of you immediately. That's what this guy in the booth looked like trying to fix the movie. Fast forward about 5 minutes, during which time not a single soul that worked for the theatre came in to apologize or let anybody know whether or not the movie would start again, and the film started up. Curiously, though, the glorious fight scene we were supposed to have witnessed had just ended. 3 minutes later the film broke again. The entire audience groaned. At this point, knowing full well that the theatre was in possession of two prints of the movie (it was scheduled to start running on 2 screens the next day), one would think that management would make an executive decision to use the OTHER print and fix the broken one later, seeing as how they had a theatre full of angry customers. Instead, we were treated to another sideshow as the joker in the projection booth became more and more flustered. Finally, the movie started again. And promptly broke again. Unbelievably, I was the only one in the entire place who had had enough. I stood up and returned to the lobby, unable and unwilling to tolerate this any longer.
Once in the deserted lobby, I found a lone employee slumped over on the floor by the ticket window. Literally, she looked like she was almost asleep. Displaying all of the customer service skills that had been instilled in her by this theatre (none), she somehow managed the strength to move her eyes in my direction and mumble "Can I help you?" I told her I wanted my money back. "Which movie?" I was dumbfounded. Were the people in the lobby aware at all of the disaster transpiring inside Auditorium #2? I explained what had happened, at which point the lifeless slug in front of me turned her head towards the ticket window for help. It was then that I realized we were not alone. Unseen by me inside the booth was the manager. I heard a faint rustling sound, and an annoyed sigh. The rustling sound was money being counted, and the sigh was from a woman who clearly could not give a shit about what was wrong in her theatre. Her disembodied voice wafted out from beyond the half-open door: "I need his ticket stub," followed by an even more pronounced annoyed sigh. Unbelievably, the only problem she could see was that I was interrupting her count, which would now be $8.50 lighter. Her hand thrust the money out the door and into the slug's hand, who similarly thrust it back at me with barely a glance, mumbling that "It's opening night, it happens." Now, I've never worked at a movie theatre, but I do know for a fact that ALL films are to be set-up and screened beforehand by the appropriate personnel to avoid exactly this problem. Clearly, this had not been done, but the straw that broke the camel's back for me was not that the film had broken, but the shoddy treatment I was subjected to afterwards. Never once did anybody say two simple words: "I'm Sorry."
I am happy to report that, even though I have to drive 45 minutes to get to it, every single movie I have seen since that night has been at the Regal Hamilton Commons 14, on the Black Horse Pike in Mays Landing, NJ. It is always a pleasure to be greeted with a smile and enjoy a movie in a clean, modern atmosphere run by professionals. The fools that run the other place should stop by sometime and see how it's done.
I went to see the highly-anticipated "The Matrix Reloaded" last year on opening night. Actually, it wasn't even opening night, it was a special sneak preview that was held late in the evening the night before. I had bought my ticket weeks in advance and was anxiously looking forward to it.
The movie started, and about 10 minutes in, it was about to happen...the first big fight scene. The instant the three Agents started to converge on Neo....darkness. The film had broke or come off the reel or something, but either way it had stopped. Everybody could clearly see the guy up in the booth struggling to fix it, but he had a clueless expression on his face that was not very comforting. Imagine being grabbed off the street, shoved into an operating room, having a scalpel put into your hand, and being told to perform open-heart surgery on the dying person in front of you immediately. That's what this guy in the booth looked like trying to fix the movie. Fast forward about 5 minutes, during which time not a single soul that worked for the theatre came in to apologize or let anybody know whether or not the movie would start again, and the film started up. Curiously, though, the glorious fight scene we were supposed to have witnessed had just ended. 3 minutes later the film broke again. The entire audience groaned. At this point, knowing full well that the theatre was in possession of two prints of the movie (it was scheduled to start running on 2 screens the next day), one would think that management would make an executive decision to use the OTHER print and fix the broken one later, seeing as how they had a theatre full of angry customers. Instead, we were treated to another sideshow as the joker in the projection booth became more and more flustered. Finally, the movie started again. And promptly broke again. Unbelievably, I was the only one in the entire place who had had enough. I stood up and returned to the lobby, unable and unwilling to tolerate this any longer.
Once in the deserted lobby, I found a lone employee slumped over on the floor by the ticket window. Literally, she looked like she was almost asleep. Displaying all of the customer service skills that had been instilled in her by this theatre (none), she somehow managed the strength to move her eyes in my direction and mumble "Can I help you?" I told her I wanted my money back. "Which movie?" I was dumbfounded. Were the people in the lobby aware at all of the disaster transpiring inside Auditorium #2? I explained what had happened, at which point the lifeless slug in front of me turned her head towards the ticket window for help. It was then that I realized we were not alone. Unseen by me inside the booth was the manager. I heard a faint rustling sound, and an annoyed sigh. The rustling sound was money being counted, and the sigh was from a woman who clearly could not give a shit about what was wrong in her theatre. Her disembodied voice wafted out from beyond the half-open door: "I need his ticket stub," followed by an even more pronounced annoyed sigh. Unbelievably, the only problem she could see was that I was interrupting her count, which would now be $8.50 lighter. Her hand thrust the money out the door and into the slug's hand, who similarly thrust it back at me with barely a glance, mumbling that "It's opening night, it happens." Now, I've never worked at a movie theatre, but I do know for a fact that ALL films are to be set-up and screened beforehand by the appropriate personnel to avoid exactly this problem. Clearly, this had not been done, but the straw that broke the camel's back for me was not that the film had broken, but the shoddy treatment I was subjected to afterwards. Never once did anybody say two simple words: "I'm Sorry."
I am happy to report that, even though I have to drive 45 minutes to get to it, every single movie I have seen since that night has been at the Regal Hamilton Commons 14, on the Black Horse Pike in Mays Landing, NJ. It is always a pleasure to be greeted with a smile and enjoy a movie in a clean, modern atmosphere run by professionals. The fools that run the other place should stop by sometime and see how it's done.
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