Let's Go to the Movies

How many times have you dropped popcorn in a theater, picked it up, and thrown it away? When was the last time you thanked the usher holding the door for you as you left a movie? After working part-time in a movie theater last summer, I have a new respect for the people who work in movie theaters. Many people overlook these jobs and have no idea how much work is actually involved. I’d like to put a spotlight on these forgotten heroes and give a behind-the-scenes look at what movie theater attendants do.

A Move Theater Attendant is a person who performs a variety of duties involving customer service, maintenance, and sales to enhance the movie-going experience. Imagine going to the movies for a date and seeing trash and popcorn on the ground everywhere, or picture accidentally sitting down on someone’s spilled ICEE. Romantic isn’t it? Most people get caught up in watching the movies themselves that they often forget the people who are making it all happen. I’m not talking about Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlett Johansson. I’m talking about the people selling tickets, greeting you and pointing you in the right direction at the door, selling and preparing your popcorn and soda, and cleaning all the restrooms, concession stands, and auditoriums. The quality of your movie night has a lot to do with the work of theater attendants. Their main goal is to create an enjoyable environment where you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

There are three positions that movie theater attendants regularly rotate through:

• Cashier
• Concessionist
• Usher

Cashier

A cashier’s tasks include the following:

• Selling and refunding movie tickets and gift cards
• Answering outside phone calls
• Setting up assistive listening equipment for people with hearing and vision impairments
• Informing patrons about featured films, release dates and times, and new theater policies

Working as a cashier may sound easy, but this isn’t true. The job requires excellent customer service skills and the ability to work under pressure. Cashiers must handle a lot of money transactions, sometimes involving large sums of cash. They must give the correct change and make refunds as needed. At the end of their shift, cashiers must balance the cash register. This means checking to see that the amount of tickets sold and refunded add up to the amount of money collected. One of the most difficult parts of being a cashier is dealing with angry customers. For example, some people will get frustrated when asked to show their ID for an R-rated film. Cashiers must always keep a positive attitude and explain the theater’s policies in a calm and relaxed way. Since they’re the first employees that most customers come in contact with, cashiers give the first impression of the movie theater.

 

Concessionist

What’s a movie without popcorn? The concession stand is like the supporting actor in a movie. Without it, the movies just wouldn’t be the same. Working in concessions is probably the most demanding out of the three positions. Besides being on their feet the entire time, concessionists are responsible for doing the following:

• Taking food and drink orders and handling money transactions
• Popping popcorn, pouring drinks, and preparing other specialty food items (i.e., hotdogs, pretzel bites, nachos, candy, etc.)
• Recording and moving inventory from the storage room to the concessions area
• Maintaining an overall clean environment, including the cooking equipment, condiments station, counters, and display cases

Much like a cashier, a concessionist must be able to multitask, taking orders and handing off orders all at once. Working in concessions is like working in an assembly line. There are normally six people working behind the counter (This number changes depending on the amount of customers.) – Three at the cash registers and three preparing and making the orders. When there’s a long line of increasingly impatient customers, it can get very hectic, so it’s crucial for concessionists to stay organized and work together. Even among the chaos of flying popcorn, the main thing for concessionists to remember is that they’re there to serve the moviegoers and improve the whole movie-going experience.   

 

Usher

Although this position is sometimes referred to as the low man on the totem pole, ushers have the most important task of creating a fun, distraction-free environment for you to actually watch movies. To do this, ushers are in charge of the following:

• Cleaning auditoriums at the end of every movie and lobbies and bathrooms in between
• Greeting and thanking patrons as they enter and leave
• Helping people find the correct seats they purchased
• Making sure that there are no distractions or disturbances during the movie   

People see ushers all the time in movie theaters, but they surprisingly spend the least amount of time talking to them. Ushers are like the assistant directors in movies. They have the most tasks to do out of everyone and barely have any time to take a break. They make sure that everything runs smoothly, from getting people to the right theater to cleaning up after them once they leave. Ushers have a tight schedule to work on, especially when there’s three movies ending around the same time and three more starting fifteen minutes later. It is important for ushers to work quickly and efficiently to keep the entire theater safe and clean.