The lost art of customer service

Tonight I bought 3 tickets for two different movies at 3700 Candlers Mountain Road (700). My experience for the first film, seen at 5:30pm, was all right considering that there was only one young man responsible for ringing up tickets and running the only open concession stand. When I asked if the theater was hiring, he said that 6 people had just been hired, but I only saw two employees.

When I returned to see the second film, which began at 9:55pm, I was late arriving at the theater. Before going to see my movie, I stopped to get my refill for my extra large tub of popcorn. The only open concession stand was starting to tear down for the night. The young lady behind the counter told me that she would make a fresh batch of popcorn right away, and then began cleaning out the soda fountain instead. I stood there for a few minutes watching her clean the soda machine, and then left my teenage daughter at the counter to wait for the popcorn while I met up with our party in the theater. A few minutes later, my daughter came into the theater and told me that she was told that the popcorn machine was heating up, and they would bring our tub of popcorn into the theater when it was ready. It never came.

I wanted the management to know how their employees treat customers who inconvenience them by desiring popcorn after the final showing of a movie starts. It seems to me that when someone buys a tub of popcorn that may be refilled once, that the popcorn would be available at least until the movie was half over - especially on a 50 cent movie night where the bulk of your profits for the evening are made in the concession stand where patrons pay $6.25 for a tub of popcorn.

I am currently unemployed and 50 cent night is really the only time my entire family can go and see a movie with all the trimmings. I purchased 6 tickets, an extra large popcorn, and three extra large drinks. It would have been worth the money if I would have gotten what I paid for and cheerful service from employees who demonstrated that they appreciate my business. I am unlikely to purchase concessions from this theater in the future because of my experience tonight.