Sure, my job entails me charging ridiculous prices for movie tickets and sub-par food. But guess what! YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY IT!
"GASP! YOU BASTARD!"
No matter how often we tell ourselves that film making is an art (which it is), it is also a business. It is a business that spends millions and millions of dollars on one product. This is why tickets are as expensive as they are.
Theaters rarely see more than a quarter per ticket and the price is set by the studios depending on the company (bigger companies are required to charge more) and the market (cities and places with higher population are required to charge more). This is in an effort to make as much money as they can in what has now become the short silver-screened life span of movies.
Which is why popcorn and soda are so expensive. Concession items are the only place where the theater makes enough money to pay for the electricity that helps project your movie onto a giant screen using state-of-the-art technology. It is the only place where they make enough money to pay the people who are selling you tickets, cleaning your theaters, selling you your Popcorn and soda and who refill your "Butter Flavored Golden Topping".
"Sure, you can blame me for the prices. I'm definitely making those executive decisions.
I just decide to work on minimum wage because I love living in poverty."
I have heard some of the most ridiculous complaints in my ten years with my theater. It's really hard to take someone seriously when they aggressively complain about how they are being asked to open their book bag they day after the shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.
And it's definitely impossible to take someone seriously when they are throwing a tantrum that would give a toddler a run for his money because we have Red Vines instead of Twizzlers in a world where there are children wondering if their houses will be blown up that day.
It's OK, to complain or bring up concerns you may have. That goes for all customer service jobs. That's why we're there, to work. But what people really need to reflect on his just how important what they're complaining about is. No complaint requires yelling and other aggressive behavior. Just be a decent human being.
I know from experience, I'm much more willing to give 150% effort to help someone who is polite and approaches me with a mutual respect than I am someone who approaches me as if I had just shot and killed their dog. Nothing on this planet is worth that type of aggression.
In fact, that type of aggression is what causes all of the world's problems. So if you are mad and yell at a 16-year-old kid because he gave you Coke Zero instead of Diet Coke, just know that you're no better than Kim Jon Un.
And afterwards, when you walk away with your refund and your head held high for your "victory", please know that when I say, "Thank you. Enjoy your show", I'm really saying "Shut up, leave me alone you ingrate!"
