For a short amount of time, I worked at a movie theater in my hometown. And let me tell you that I absolutely loved it. I loved the people, I loved the environment, and even though it was a very, very small theater (just 4 screens), it was the only one in our town. It got a lot of gyp for being disgusting and gross, but everyone would go. Everyone, despite how awful they claim it to be, shows up on the weekends and enjoys a feature. After working there this past summer, I stumbled onto a few things that happened to me that I don't think general patrons know about us employees. I'd like to share that with you, hopefully to clear the air.
6. Not Everyone Who Works There Is Into Movies
You would think this is a given. I certainly did. I was a film major hoping to be thrust into a working force of people who shared my passions, able to talk hours upon hours about classics like
Lawrence of Arabia and the new and upcoming like
The Dark Knight Rises. I was ready to talk in nothing but movie quotes, thinking it less of a challenge, and more like a rite of passage necessary to work in a movie theater. Well, I was wrong. Not wrong in the sense that the people I worked with were incredibly interesting and nice, but wrong in the sense that only about four of them were very into film. And not the study of it, but rather just the movies themselves, as they were, shipped to the cinemas and all. So, if you're a cinephile like I am, and you approach someone working at concessions and ask them something along the lines of, "Do you think Martin McDonagh's new film will be as good as his last one?" Don't be surprised if you get a blank stare in return. The fact is, some people chose the movie theater as a last resort, or just thought it would be cool, or just hates that they couldn't be working when the
Harry Potter franchise was still going.