When The Drama Unfolds Off The Screen

I work in a movie theater. A middle-aged man comes in during a busy holiday and watches the greeter for whenever they are distracted helping other customers, and then sneaks into the screens.

We catch him later on security cameras, as he has managed to watch multiple movies using this tactic while only paying for one. Since we can get into a lot of trouble if that sort of thing happens too much, we keep an eye out for him.

It’s another holiday and the theater is swamped, and he comes in. I’m the greeter that day, so I keep an eye on him. He does indeed theater-hop at one point when he thinks he’s not being watched. I send a manager in, and they agree to let him stay in the theater he hopped into, but if he’s caught hopping again, he’ll be kicked out.

Sure enough, a short while later, he slyly tries to sneak into the next theater, which is already playing. My manager agrees to watch the greeter stand while I go in. I approach him in the dark.

Me: “Excuse me, sir, may I see your ticket?”

He knows he’s caught and struggles to think quickly.

Customer: “But I had to come to this theater. I think I lost my glasses in this one!”

Neither time he came in did he have glasses with him.

Me: “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

He screams loud enough that everyone turns and looks.

Customer: “NO!”

I ended up leaving and sending in my manager. She left the theater five minutes later, shaking her head and muttering about calling the cops if he didn’t come out after the next time she went in.

Shortly after, my manager went back in with a group of employees, who I am told surrounded him in the theater and blocked his view, and returned another few minutes later with the man, who was absolutely fuming that he was actually being kicked out.

He then went up to the box office and demanded his original ticket be refunded since he “didn’t get his satisfaction as a customer.” He was refused a refund, and last I heard, our GM had put him on a temporary ban that will become permanent if he tries this again.