I Work at

So, I have started work at Cinemark. I worked Friday and Saturday. Today I have off, but I head back in on Monday.

Friday was a long shift, 8 hours, from 6pm to 2am. I learned how to rip tickets correctly. I learned how to say “your theater is off to the left” when in reality the theater was off to my right. I also learned how to sweep up popcorn and other debris. 

The tickets part is easy. You have half of the theater to direct people to. You have to know what movie is seating at the moment. If the movie has finished, has the theater been cleaned for the next showing? If it has not, you need to have people wait a couple minutes, if it has been , they are all set and can go sit down. Friday was the opening night of the movie Date Night, so we had a line for that, that was interesting. 

Cleaning is also easy. A group of ushers swarms into the theater after the movie has finished and all the patrons have left the auditorium. Some of us have brooms and dustpans, others have a plastic bag for bigger items. A theater can be cleaned pretty quick, maybe between 5-10 minutes. After it is cleaned we let the ticket taking usher know that it is ready to be sat and turn on the ‘seating now’ light.

On Friday I had to help close the theater. That was interesting. The theater is so empty after midnight. No more patrons enter the theater, we just have to wait for people to leave the movies that they are in. When the theater is empty we rush in and pick up only the big items. After we, the ushers, are done some janitors come in with leaf blowers and get the small stuff and mop the hard floors. It being easier does not mean that it goes any quicker. There is a lot of waiting for movies to finish and people to leave. We did get to go home a little early on Friday, maybe 1:45am.

Saturday was pretty similar. I started out taking tickets, and ended my day cleaning. about 2.5 hours of each. While taking tickets I let Chuck Norris, his wife and two kids into Clash of the Titans. That was pretty neat. Letting a movie star into the movies. I imagine that he will be my only actual movie start sighting while being an usher.

At this point nothing on me hurts, except for my feet from all the standing and walking around, so that is a good thing. Working at Target made my forearms flare up and I couldn’t use them for several days after having to quit Target. That was crazy, and unfortunate. I am making less at Cinemark, but at least I am making some money, and having fun. And, I get free movie tickets for me and one guest! Thats pretty good, and better than the measly 10% discount that Target gave. I think I might have lucked out with this new job. The hours are way better too.