(I work in a movie theater. I’m working box office late one night about an hour before our final show. Several customers have come in and reported that a motorcycle parked out front has fallen over and attained damage. We cannot do anything about it at the moment, as we have been unable to locate the potential owner as a guest. We are unsure if they are even at the theater or simply at another nearby store — the theater is in a large shopping center. We also want to avoid the potential to accidentally cause panic due to the recent rash of theater-shootings. We’ve been looking into it, however, and are also reviewing security camera footage to see if we caught the event. After a while, a woman who is seemingly panicked and acting very strangely runs into the theater with her boyfriend.)
Female Customer: “You’ve got to do something! A motorcycle fell over and it’s all messed up in the parking lot!”
Me: “Thank you for letting us know, ma’am. We’ve been informed of this by several other guests and are working on the situation now.”
Female Customer: *furious* “What do you mean, ‘working on it’?”
Me: “We’re attempting to find out if the owner is a guest or not and inform them. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do, as we cannot interrupt all the screenings we have going on. Our managers have been questioning guests, however, and we‘re looking into seeing if we have security footage of the event.”
Female Customer: “You should go tell everyone in every theater!”
Me: “Unfortunately, we really can’t do that. We have hundreds of guests and close to a dozen movies going on at the moment. We can’t interrupt everyone.”
Female Customer: *scoffs and begins laughing sarcastically* “Well, aren’t you helpful?!”
Me: “Ma’am, we don’t want to exacerbate the situation. Stopping the films and making emergency announcement and whatnot could unintentionally cause panic or confusion, and would likely upset guests.”
Female Customer: “Ugh! You’re useless! If you don’t stop the movies and go in to tell everyone, I will run to each theater and scream it!”
Me: “Ma’am, I’d highly advise you do not do that.”
Female Customer: “You should go out and pick up the bike, then!”
Me: “Ma’am, that’s definitely not a good idea. That would make the situation a lot worse, could cause further damage to the bike, and would cause legal problems, as we could potentially be held liable for the damage.”
Female Customer: “I’ll do it, then!”
Me: “Ma’am, please don’t.”
(She ran outside in a panic, and did indeed begin to mess with the bike. It was too heavy, so at one point, she actually started to lift it a few inches and then DROPPED it again. I called my manager, who was shocked that the woman was outside causing potential further damage, placing herself potentially on security camera, and leaving her fingerprints all over the bike. She eventually returned, still fuming. She bought tickets, which we allowed because we wanted her there in case the owner showed up so she could give him insurance information for any more damage she might have caused. She spent the next 20 minutes shooting me nasty gazes, complaining about how I was “not doing my job,” etc. She finally went into her theater. The real kicker? The owner eventually came out and it turns out that he was the one to knock it over in the first place, and he just didn’t bother picking it up for whatever reason. He was very interested in the woman who was messing with his bike, though, and wasn’t pleased she took it on herself to touch it. I’m not sure if she ended up having to pay anything, but I certainly hope she did.)
