When I decide to pay to see a movie at the theatre, I have usually seen enough advertising for the movie to know a bit about the plot, the actors and occasionally the director. With commercials on tv, to reviews in magazines and weekly papers and often a great deal of chatter online, not only do I pick up on the plot and such, I am repeatedly bombared with the name of the film.
What I fail to understand is why people come up to the box office and have no clue what the title is of the movie they want to see. I'm not going to be picky and complain about the people that mispronounce Barnyard (Barn Jard), Poseidon (Poise-i-don, Po-sid-eon) or Talladega Nights (Tadellega) but I am slightly peeved when people have asked for Over the Edge, Invisible or Lady in the Lake/Pool.
What really gets me is the people that come up and basically make us guess which movie they're referring to. Sometimes, we have no clue; other times, we box office folk know which movie the customer is digging for, but act clueless watch them suffer and get frustruated. A couple examples:
- An elderly lady came up and asked for a ticket to the Michael Douglas movie. Had I not already seen You, Me and Dupree, I could have really acted clueless, but she was old so I decided it wasn't worth it.
- Someone asked for a ticket to "the car movie", but didn't specify whether they'd prefer the animated or live action film. Granted, if they had small children, I could safely bet on the former, but really, guessing can be quite tricky.
- Along the same lines as the second example, two senior citizens requested tickets for the Meryl Streep movie. This would've been easy had A Prairie Home Companion and The Devil Wears Prada not been at our theatre at the same time.
The absurdity of the questions people ask us during the course of our shifts continues to baffle me. My co-worker was asked if John Tucker Must Die was a murder mystery. Another customer even referred to it as John Tucker Might Die. When The Devil Wears Prada was in theatres, I remember a set of parents asking if the film was a scary flick.
And, of course, I've already been asked on three different occasions what Snakes on a Plane is about.
Seriously.
I'm ashamed to say I honestly didn't even see that one coming.
4 comments:
"And, of course, I've already been asked on three different occasions what 'Snakes on a Plane' is about."
You're joking, right? Sounds like the kind of folks down here.
My favorite scene that has to do with selling/taking tickets in a theater:
From Valley Girl: Nicholas Cage taking tickets, wearing 3-D glasses.
Jock: "Is this movie in 3-D"
Nick: "No, but your face is!"
Wow...I can't even imagine people WANT to see Snakes on a Plane but apparently millions of people do.
People are stupid sometimes. Sounds harsh. But it is totally true.
Sorry, but sometimes you are just way to critical of people.
sorry, *too
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