Sleazy experiences working in movie theaters

As a teenager in the late 1970’s I worked in several large General Cinema movie theaters. These were modern, large theaters. I found these practices were pretty common. Lots of stealing by management for openers. Theater managers were paid really poorly so to bring in more cash tickets were often sold multiple times. The customer would buy and be given a numbered ticket. The doorman who ripped the ticket would hide a half ticket stub in his hand. When the customer handed the doorman the purchased ticket he’d be handed the hidden stub. The untorn whole ticket would then be resold countless times w the cash pocketed. Another theft involved collecting used popcorn and drink cups from within the theater. As the inventory was done by cups, easy to resell the used cups w the manager and staff pocketing the cash. The theatre company was pretty anal about on time starts to films. When the previous showing was running late the projectionist would slightly speed up the film. I won’t say that at 16 or 17 that I was totally innocent but this stuff really surprised me. Now and then the managers would buy the staff Burger King or beer to keep us quiet. One manager would buy us pot!

 

I went to 42nd street, New York. Early eighties..the cinemas were flea pits. Passed on the popcorn.

 

Used popcorn cups? Bleagh!

 

I went to a local theater whose floors been "cleaned" by some untrained imbecile with undiluted floor cleaner. Or maybe he or she simply overturned a multi-gallon bucket of the stuff. It was like trying to stand on motor oil. Everyone had to put their feet up on the chair in front of them, making an even bigger mess. Then we tracked the goo into the lobby and entrance. Whatta disaster.

 

And drink cups. Hundreds of them at a time. A couple of years later I was driving a cab and stopped by the theater to say hello. Turns out the company raided the place, fired every employee in one shot. But I had seen the same things in multiple theaters.

 

I had a friend who worked in a theater in the 70s, he commented on all the gross trash people would leave behind. The one that sticks with me is KFC buckets filled with bones. I imagine a lot of people sneak in some M&Ms, but a freakin' bucket of chicken???

 

My son worked as an usher and found corn on the cob

 

Back then they didn’t have cellophane on the Milk Duds or Junior Mints (pre-Tylenol poisonings) And I used to open different boxes pulling out a couple for myself behind the counter. Ha ha ha. Had to be careful not to take out too many from the same box. Ha ha.


A lot of drug deals used to go down at the Midnight Movies” and I once found three $100 bills and two bags of weed. It must’ve been another time in another place because I actually turned in the money. I won’t say that about the weed.

 

Me and a good buddy once went to a movie and devoured a Chinese take out feast. The theater was mostly empty and we isolated ourselves. As I recall the fried dumplings were outstanding

 

Funny stuff! I knew a guy who worked in a Carvel ice cream shop. He made a couple of ice cream cakes using freeze dried coffee instead of the chocolate crunch for the crusts.

 

Now that’s funny.

 

Maybe that was part of the KFC family bucket combo! If he found biscuits and cole slaw we may be on to something!

 

I dunno, fried chicken at the movies sounds damn good to me! And just toss those bones in the dark!

 

I was a high school teacher before retiring. One day I gaze towards the back of the room and I see ‘Devil Boy’ ( Some people called him Satan’s Child) doing something suspicious. It turns out he’s rolling a joint. After addressing the issue, I noticed maybe close to a half an ounce of weed on the floor. The first time I met him he opens his mouth wide to reveal his pet black widow spider.

 

Dem bones.

 

On opening nights or opening weekends of major films, Disney would send in head-counters to make sure the number of heads matched the number of tickets sold. I don’t recall other companies doing that but Disney did. (Disney was also Miramax and Buena Vista etc.)

 

do sex acts count?

 

I worked at a movie theater in the 1970s, one of the first AMC multi screen facilities. We routinely found huge amounts of trash in the theaters after showings. Lots of food and booze carried in by customers all the time. We would find bags and boxes from the carried in food, and empty beer and liquor bottles all the time.

We also found a lot of change on the floors of the theaters left behind by customers, and sometimes dollar bills of varying denominations. We always kept the money we found. It was like our tips, of which there were none otherwise.

We were paid almost nothing as college students working part time. Virtually every employee ate popcorn and drank soda without paying on every shift. Some employees let friends in for free as a routine practice.

We did not reuse cups or popcorn boxes though.

 

ive never been so lucky, I have had people (in my youth) who would sneak around to the rear exit and open the door allowing friends to get in free....and sometimes you could just wait around for a bunch of people to exit a theater and walk back in the exit and lose yourself in the crowd....

 

Watch you don’t slip going out the door.

 

I snuck in some Chinese food to see Rambo. I always bring my own food but I properly throw my trash in the right receptacle.

 

Honestly, people should use a receptacle!

 

We regularly bring in our own Ginger Ale and pretzels/doritos.
Just too expensive and theaters don't offer GA.
The local 'no superhero/cartoon content' only offers flavored water and regular water at prices that dwarf Whole Foods

 

I would guess that some odd things happened at those ongoing midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings that went on for years and years.

 

Come again?