While working at a movie theater, I've had my share of both good and bad experiences. I've dealt with hard customers at the concession stand and weeks with very long hours over the almost two years I've spent working at a theater. However, some of the most annoying experiences I've had there have been dealing with customers inside the theater. These are just a few behaviors that I've noticed that need to stop while inside the theater.
The first one should be obvious to everyone by now: silence your cell phone and don't take calls in the theater. This is such a well-known form of basic theater etiquette that I've never dealt with anyone taking a call in the theater. However, I do have to deal with people texting or playing a game on their phone during a film. It distracts other guests and doesn't really make a lot of sense on a personal level. Why are you busy playing on your phone? Don't you want to watch the movie you paid money to see?
Another behavior that customers should avoid is the lazy way they handle their trash. Most theaters, including the one I work for, often have trash cans located by the exit of the theater for a good reason. This is so they can easily dump their trash on their way out. Despite this, I often come across buckets of popcorn, drinks and hot food containers littering the theater floor while trying to clean it. It's as if these customers didn't even attempt to pick up after themselves.
A bad behavior that ties into this is when customers often shove their popcorn and food containers under the reclining seats. This makes it extremely difficult and time-consuming to clean. You must realize that the ushers that clean that theater has to work as fast as they can because they have to get it done before the next theater lets out. Most theaters often let out anywhere between 30 to 5 minutes of each other, which means we have little time to clean some of them. This is why we ask that the customers to help pick up after themselves a little bit. It makes our job a little easier and helps us clean the theaters for the next show a little faster.
If you have children who are loud or not behaving, then you should take them out of the theater and into the hallway until they calm down. You shouldn't just stay in the theater and hope that everyone just ignores the child. A rowdy child is often hard to ignore when you are trying to pay attention to the film. I understand that it's difficult to deal with children at times, but there are other guests you have to be considerate of.
The last one I've seen really gets me angry. If you're eating sunflower seeds then bring a cup to spit the shells in, don't spit them into the cup holder. They are often difficult and time-consuming to clean, and we often have to scoop them out with our bare hands (which is disgusting). The same thing goes for gum too, you should really keep a wrapper for that.
These were just a few of the irritating behaviors I felt like venting about to you. I hope anyone who reads this will ultimately think twice about their behavior in a theater and learn to have a bit more courtesy for the other customers and the employees. It would really help make just a small sliver of the world a friendlier place.
