I work in the biggest cinema in Sweden. We have a LOT of customers every day and especially weekends. A colleague calls for me to check on something a customer forgot, so I go talk to the customer to get a clearer picture of what he lost.

Customer: “I lost a Christmas present.”

Me: “Okay, do you know where you lost it?”

Customer: “Here.”

Me: “Here in the lounge?”

Customer: *Shrugging* “In the cinema.”

Me: “In the auditorium?”

Customer: “I guess.”

Me: “When?”

Customer: “Before the movie.”

We have about 50 to 60 movies every day.

Me: “What movie?”

Customer: “That children’s movie.”

Most movies on a Saturday before 4:00 or 5:00 pm are children’s movies.

Me: “What time? And do you remember the name?”

Customer: “Around five, I think. No, I don’t.”

He says that, even though he JUST saw the movie today.

Me: “Okay…” *Giving up a bit* “What did the present look like?”

Customer: “A box.”

Me: “Any brand? Colour?”

Customer: “I dunno… About this big.” *Shows with his hands*

I totally gave up and I went to grab the first Christmas box that I could find. Thankfully, that was the right one, and it clearly had a brand and a colour — and not even close to the size the customer showed me. This conversation could have been over In less than a minute but he just couldn’t answer the questions properly.

I work in an old movie theater with only two screens. It is a pretty laid-back place to work and our managers allow us to read and/or do homework while working at the box office since many of the employees are college students. This happens to my coworker during one shift.

Customer: “What book are you reading?”

Coworker: “Oh, it’s really good. It’s set in a dystopian future—”

The customer interrupts him and scoffs.

Customer: “What a town we live in, where even a theater employee knows what ‘dystopian’ means!”

This was only one of the many condescending comments we got when customers noticed us reading. One customer even remarked, “Oh, good for you!” when they saw me reading “The Divine Comedy,” which I was reading for class.

When I’m a teen, my family is visiting my family and we go to a movie theatre with the younger generation of kids and teens. We go to see one of the “Transformers” movies and I am seated beside my cousin who is so dyslexic that, even as a teen, he can’t read.

During the movie, all of the baddies are checking in over walkie-talkies in preparation for an attack. They are speaking their own alien language, so I lean over to my cousin to read the subtitles to him. The music swells as the scene progresses, so I get louder with it. Then, it stops suddenly to build excitement for the coming battle.

In this sudden silence, I yell the final subtitle.

Me: “ALL HAIL DECEPTICONS!”

The roar of laughter from the almost sold-out show, my family, and their friends shook the theatre.

To this day, the younger ones of the family who were there still rib me about it.

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A woman who appears to be in her fifties or sixties walks up to me at the box office.

Customer: “When are you guys getting [Movie]?”

Me: “Hmm, I haven’t heard of that one. Do you know when it’s coming out?”

Customer: “It was supposed to come out last week. But you guys didn’t get it.”

Me: “Ah. If it was supposed to come out last week and we didn’t get it then, we probably won’t be getting it. We’re a smaller theater, so we only tend to get the big blockbuster movies.”

The customer immediately becomes shocked and agitated.

Customer: “That’s… that’s not what I’m talking about! This is a big, famous movie! When are you guys getting [Movie]?!”

Me: “Well, as I said, if we didn’t get it opening weekend, we likely won’t be getting it.”

Customer: *Now flat-out shrieking* “THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! WHEN ARE YOU GETTING [MOVIE]?!”

Me: *Thoroughly confused* “Ma’am, again… if we didn’t get it when it opened, we probably won’t be getting it at all.”

The customer — I’m not joking — gasps and clutches her chest. She then backs out of the front door, continuing to shriek.

Customer: “THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!”

She then quickly walked away, ranting and raving. Curious, I looked up the movie on my phone. It was some random made-for-Netflix movie that had been out on Netflix for two months already. I don’t know why she expected us to get it when it was never intended to be in theaters anyway.

The summer before my first year of college and between fall and spring semesters, I work at a movie theater to help pay for school. I’m a computer engineering major, one of three women in the whole school for that major. I also look much younger than my age.

A customer orders his popcorn and soda.

Me: “That’s $10.47.”

The man hands me eleven one-dollar bills. Because it’s policy, I count them out where he can see.

Customer: “Look, honey, the minimum-wage girl can count to eleven. Aren’t you proud?”

I give him his total before pressing “calculate” on the register.

Me: “Your change is fifty-three cents. Enjoy your movie.”

The money from that day likely went towards my Calculus 3 textbook. The next summer, I got an internship at a software development company and thankfully left the movies behind.