Movie theaters have days called bargain days. Bargain days are just like any other day, except during bargain day, one can purchase bargain tickets, which are just like any other tickets except they are usually cheaper. Dipson Theatres has its bargain day every Tuesday.

The catch, if there is a catch, with bargain day is that one cannot purchase bargain tickets for all movies. Those durn theaters, keepin’ us down by not selling the cheap tickets for the good movies, right? Well, that’s not how it works. Theaters would gladly offer bargain tickets for all movies, but certain distibutors do not allow theaters to sell bargain tickets. That’s right, it’s the distributor that hates you, not the movie theater.

This past Tuesday I was the only concessionist/box office representative/usher working at my local Dipson Theatres. During the first round of movies on my shift, one nice, cheery lady came in and demanded, in the generic nasty old lady tone, that I sell her three tickets at the bargain price for Nancy Drew because Dipson Theatres engages in false advertising and does not let customers know that [this week] Nancy Drew and Surf’s Up are exempt from bargain tickets.

Well, it is true that one cannot purchase bargain tickets for Nancy Drew and Surf’s Up. However, this is printed in the local newspaper immediately following movie showtimes for each movie. I told the woman I would have to ask my manager and then I checked the paper, proving the woman wrong. I showed her the paper and she threw it back down. She then asked for three tickets for the movie and commented, in the same nasty tone, on how not selling bargain tickets on bargain day is an unfair practice. I tried to tell her that it was not the decision of any person at the theater, but she did not want to hear it.

Obviously, there were a few problems with the woman’s argument. First, if you have a problem with a policy of a business, the person behind the sales counter wearing the cheap polo shirt with a sewn-on corporate logo is not the person to take up your complaint with. Ask to speak to a manager, the person wearing clothes suitable for an office environment. The manager is paid greater than minimum wage because [s]he the person you bring your complaints to. They also are somewhat affiliated with setting up policies, unlike the lowest level employee you cannot wait to scream at.

The second problem was that the first words out of the woman’s mouth upon entering the business premises were a complaint and in a nasty tone. Our country is not one of martial law and vigilante justice. Argue out your complaint like a calm person who knows what’s going on and the manager you’re speaking to might actually take you seriously.

The final issue with the woman’s complaint is that it was wrong. As previously mentioned, movie distributors are accountable for the availability of bargain tickets for movies. Thus, if you don’t even know that you have a valid complaint, try to avoid the first two problems and find a manager and don’t get overly excited. The entry level employees will thank you by not spitting on your food.

Let’s review some recent happenings in the life of icorey:

Corey was offered the job of Student Web Developer for RIT’s Alumni Relations today. He is very excited about this job and graciosuly accepted his position.

Corey will be coming home when his exams end this week. He is planning on working at the Dipson for the two weeks during his vacation. Of course, he’s looking forward to being back at the Dipson, but he knows he’ll wish he was back at school after about ten minutes of Dipson time.

Corey has a roller hockey game later on today! But before the game, he needs to purchase a roller hockey girdle. He would also like to purchase a book on PERL (Corey is supposed to know PERL for his new job). After the hockey game, Corey needs to work on his Writing final paper.

Corey is planning on heading back to RIT Sunday. He has a game with the B-team that day at 6:00 pm. He is very much so looking forward to this game. His team lost last week in a shootout after leading 3-1 at one point. Corey is thinking about being a puck-hog and skating the length of the ice (with the puck).

Make sure to wish Corey good luck on his upcoming exams.

If the code is showing in this post, please ignore it for now. I’m tring to fix the admin control panel. Sorry about any inconveniences.

This post is about how movie theatres work. At movie theatres, a "week" starts on Friday and ends on Thursday. This is because new movies generally come out on Fridays. And, usually, which movies are playing and when they are playing during the next week are not made available to employees until that week arrives. Understanding this, let’s look at the conversation I had with a pair of customers yesterday.

The couple was about in the age range of 55-65. They came in and the lady asked to if she could find out the showtimes for Cars for Friday and Saturday. Knowing that the sheet with showtimes for the next week the manager puts behind the concession stand had already been taken away (he only leaves it there for one day until the actual week comes), I told them since Friday and Saturday are part of a new week, I don’t know exactly when the showtimes will be. The looked at and responded to me like I was stupid. "A new week?" "Well, our week starts on Friday and ends on Thursday," [Laughs of disdain]. Then the couple remarked, "Ridiculous".

Next, I told them that the showtimes will probably be very similar to this week, with shows every hours and at least seven to eight shows per day. With that statement I practically told them when the showtimes were. Then the man remarked, "What about at night?" I told him during the night as well, but if you don’t consider the evening part of the day, then of what is it a part? The they asked a couple times if there was a number to call, which there’s not, because our message only tells the person calling the showtimes for the current week. Then they walked out pissed.

I didn’t know for sure when the showtimes would be, but I more or less told them when I said it would be similar to this week. If you’re going to be unagreeable, stay home. Oh, and take your wet napkins out of the cup-holders.

P.S. We also do not control what is in fandango (or other sites) and in the newspapers (well, we tell the newspapers the right stuff, but occasionally there are typos).

1. Too many guys (should be none),
2. People scare me.

And those are the two reasons why MySpace is stupid!

Regarding some actual news, information, or semi-intelligent thoughts, for those who do not already know, I am going to RIT. That’s about all I know. There is a dual degree program available for computer engineering, and as far as I know, I am not in it. I would like to be, but i do not know how to be in it. I hope I can still be in it.

I’ve been working a lot lately. Today I popped around 40-50 very large bags of popcorn (maybe more, probably not less). These bags are large (very large). For those who are popcorn cooking virgins, the act is not a calm one. At only two points in the entire 210 minute process did I have chances to rest. Those chances were short-lived (about 20 seconds each). It was insane. I was supposed to work tomorrow, but someone switched with me so I can play baseball. The game better not be cancelled. Since I am no longer working Friday, I work for a total of 30.5 hours this upcoming week. I want money: large amounts of money.

Here is a special piece of information to those who are lucky enough to live in Buffalo and read this site within the next nine hours: Jerry Seinfeld will be at the Dipson Theatres in the McKinley Mall for a private screening of Prairie Home Companion at 10:30 AM. Get out your cameras, ’cause Jerry’s coming to see a movie!

To reiterate, it will really suck if baseball is cancelled tomorrow. I need money, and I better not be passing up a chance to make money for no reason.