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change. She informed the lady that it was
$11.50 to get it. The lady then pointed to the
board and claimed that it said it should be
$12.30. The lady was then informed that she
was looking at the session times board and that
12.30 was actually the first session of the day.

Shallow Grave was a black comedy about
hiding a body. We always warned people who
were not sure about the film that it was very
black and might not be to their tastes. One
couple came out of this film after 45 minutes.
These people had been given an accurate
description of the film by an usherette. They
came back to me in the box office and told me
it was too violent. I reminded them of our
warning. I was then asked to define a black
comedy. After doing this, they understood that
we were not trying to mislead them in any way.
They thought a black comedy was a comedy
with black people in it. Maybe she was
expecting Shallow Grave Meets The Cosby
Show?

Reading the newspaper often presents
problems for our patrons. Many times they will
argue with us, claiming that the paper listed a
At the top of the main entrance stairs there was poster on the way out. He thought it was a long film at a certain time. Upon checking, it usually
a cut out of an usher. On this were placed the trailer and that his film would be on after it. has a simple answer. They have looked at the
name of the film that was in each theatre. One session times for the Dendy Cinema in the
week we were screening the film Dave. I was Sometimes people can find the location of the City. When more than one day’s sessions are
ushering outside the Lounge cinema when a theatre, but not the actual entrance. One listed in the paper, the patrons only ever look
patron asked me where her film was screening. afternoon, a little old lady was found trying to at the last line. Therefore, on a Friday night
I pointed to the sign and told her it was in the walk through the mirror to get into the Lounge. they will come in and expect to see a film that
Orpheum. She laughed and said, "I thought We referred to her as “Alice through the will not be screened until Saturday night. There
that sign was your name!" Hello. I’m Dave, looking glass”. Another little old lady could is then a complaint about our newspaper ad.
your friendly usher. not get into the Hayden. She walked through When we show them how they have misread
the doors but did not turn left and walk along it, we are either told that the paper is too small
The cinemas are all named and labelled, but the passage. Instead, she pulled back the to read clearly or that their paper was different
many people find it hard to get to the correct decorative curtain that is against the wall, took to ours. It has also happened that people
place. As I was checking patron’s tickets, a a step forward and went face first into a cement complain because they could not see the
couple walked past me into the theatre, so I wall. session they wanted to see, that was listed in
asked them for their tickets. The man the paper three weeks earlier.
responded with, "Oh &%$#! Growl, growl, One Monday night, two women came to the
growl." I asked him if there was a problem. He 6.30 pm session of The Age Of Innocence. One One night a lady asked whether a friend had
said, "That stupid girl let me into the wrong of them gave the box office girl 2 x $5, l x $2, left a ticket for her at the box office. She was
cinema." That session was very busy and only l x 20 cents and l x 10 cents. The staff member told that her friend had sold it to someone else
had about three minutes to get everyone out, gave back the 30 cents, plus another 50 cents due to her being so late. The lady replied that
clean the theatre and admit the next audience.
As you can imagine there was a big charge up
the stairs and the usherette could only rip
tickets. There was not time enough for her to
check each ticket. I explained this to him but
he still said it was her fault. I then asked him
what directions the box office girl had given
him. He grumbled that he did not know. I then
informed him that the name of the theatre was
printed on his tickets. His wife was laughing
by this time. I also took him halfway down the
stairs to the signs pointing to each theatre and
told him that this was also here for his
convenience. Another patron heard all of this
and asked me if I had been especially trained
in putting people in their place as I had done
that very well.
One evening whilst working in the box office,
a man came up to me and said, "I bought two
tickets for Four Weddings and a Funeral and
we saw Speed. You told me it was upstairs.
Are there two theatres upstairs?" After further
discussion, I convinced him that there was a
cinema upstairs, not just the bar. He told me
he had never heard of Speed until he saw the

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