Money Saving Tip at the Movies!

Everyone loves to save a buck at the movies. It is really expensive to see a movie nowadays. I've tried to pass tips before about how to save a bit when you go to the movies, for example buying discount tickets through AAA or your workplace, bringing in your own food, seeing a matinee or earlier show. But what about the big movie that you really want to see. Just came up on a tip that you guys might like to know about:

Buy one movie ticket using your Discover Card and get the second free! Visit Fandango now for your free movie ticket.

That's right people, if you have a Discover Card, you can buy one get one Free for movie tickets. That's not too bad a deal.. you're looking at $5.00 a ticket average! True.. you could visit me and I'd let you in for free, but this is pretty close, right? Plus I can't be everywhere at once. There are gonna be more offers that I'm going to get wind of later this month, so stay tuned for those. I'm sure that they'll be great!

Anyway, onto a disgruntled customer story. Well, it was more of an annoying thing that happened. I had just started my shift and got called over to the concession stand. Now keep in mind this was after a decent rush, and we hadn't had a chance to do anything yet. The staff member points towards me and an older woman looks at me. "He the manager?". My staff member nodded.

What does she say? "This place is filthy. How can you even be open?"

Excuse me? Popcorn on the floor? We didn't drop it. But yes, we'll clean it. Give us maybe a minute? I informed her that while we do try to keep up, it can be tough because we're trying to help guests first, and will clean up as soon as we can. Thought that might make her happy. Nope. She tells me that "obviously you're not trying hard enough."

I had no idea what to say at that point. So I walked away. And had someone sweep up. She acted as if we weren't gonna do it anyway. People drop popcorn, it's a common occurrence. This lady also made it a point to peer OVER the stand and mention that we had too much popcorn on the floor there too. Well, we can avoid that if we don't fill popcorns all the way up to the top. But then we're ripping people off too much! (Image courtesy of JWOD Catalog)

Just an example of how difficult it can be to please people....

That's all for now.. should be busy tonight! Check out that ticket deal if you can, I think it's a great promotion!

Bootlegging.. What do you think about it?

Personally, I think it's wrong to even bring a camera into a movie theatre. As a manager, I've got to keep my eye out for people who bring cameras in because of all the features that they have nowadays. A typical digital camera can record long clips of video with pretty good audio, and before you know it, the clip ends up on Youtube, or some other site that offers free viewing of movies still in theatres. I found this article on the Consumerist, which tell about a girl who got caught recording part of the movie "Transformers" for her brother to watch at home. As a result of what the theatre did, there was this article, also on the Consumerist. I can understand that people think that pursing a case against this girl is rather harsh. However, I have also had to deal with a similar experience. I had a guest who was recording during Star Wars: Episode 3. A concerned guest who was also in the theatre came out and informed management. (Yes, he was snitching). When we approached the guest to talk to him about it, he ignored us, but stopped recording. We needed to see what he managed to record, though. As a result of his non-compliance, we ended up calling the cops. They came just as the movie was ending, and the guy ended up being arrested. What did he have to say for himself?

"I was just testing out the new camera I got."

Unfortunately, it is a felony to do this, as it is mentioned in the article. I don't know if the company pressed charges against him, but it is serious. Cameras are getting smaller and smaller and people are finding ways to bring them in. Please just leave them at home. They cause a disturbance to other people in there. I hate it when teen-age and college kids think its cool to take a picture while they're sitting in their seats. The lighting in a theatre is terrible, wouldn't you rather take one outside?

Anyway, there are some things which may be mistaken for a camera, so please bear with the staff if they come in to check things out. Bluetooth headsets, for example, can flash and can be seen from upstairs, so often a projectionist will call to have us check out something like that. We're just trying to do our job, and its already hard enough to get people into theatres without bootlegging movie sites.

For those of you concerned about the price of movies these days, I found this.

A quick round-up on that. If you're going to AMC there are several bulk ticket buying packages, which may be offered through your corporate office. The types of tickets and coupons available are:

$7.50 Gold Passes - Good for any movie, decent savings (usually about $1 each, can be up to $2.50 savings)
$6.00 Silver Passes - Good once a movie is no longer special engagement (after first 2 weekends generally)
$2.25 Popcorns and Drinks - I would actually suggest these and joining the frequent movie goer program, Moviewatcher. That way you'll get some free popcorn, drinks, and tickets in addition to these savings.

Other companies also offer discount tickets and rewards programs. If you want, leave me a comment and I'll let you know about those also (Gotta support my company first, right?)!

So put some money back into your pockets and go to the movies!