Cutting jobs at the cinema

[dottypotter]

Does anyone use a torch to find their way to the seat now. So dark and they seem to have cut back on the staff member that does this?
Not sure this was a good move.

I am 40 and been going to the cinema since the 90s and have never seen this. Even the old Cecil cinema in Hull.

I worked in a cinema 22 years ago and defo had a torch

I used to show people to their seats. I also liked the dark because I'd then find a corner and fall asleep for the film!

There's another thread at the moment about a Vue cinema which has just doubled its prices. Loads of justification from posters, due to the overheads. But if a cinema isn't paying for enough staff, then the cost shouldn't be so high. There's no one in the film now, making sure people behave either.

I was an usherette in the 90s in a one screen cinema and had a torch. I also had an icecream tray to carry round my neck.
But our local multi screen Odeon hasn’t had ushers on the doors to individual screens for as long as I can remember , you show your ticket at the main entangled then make your own way first to your specific screen then your seat.

Not seen ushers since the eighties. I like cinema but very few films interest me lately.

A torch? The last time someone showed me my seat with a torch in the cinema was so long ago that I think there was an ice cream intermission.

Some cinemas still show you to your seat. I go to one that serves food and cocktails, and they show you to your seat, and bring your food etc.
The cheaper ones often have someone at the bottom of the steps who'll check the ticket and point to where the seat is.

I think cinemas are dying. Lockdown finished them off. We used to go all the time, cheap showings for kids movies on Saturdays. It was something we really enjoyed as a family. Just lost the habit over lockdown and there's not much we want to see anyway.

There is a beautiful restored vintage cinema in Edinburgh but even there the staff didn’t have torches, the alcohol slushie was nice though 🍹

With the high prices they charge and the lack of so many blockbuster movies due to Covid it’s not surprising that cinemas may be struggling.

Our local Odeon has had no air conditioning for at least a month now and they are claiming they are waiting for it to be fixed. We think it’s more that it’s been deliberately turned off to save money. They haven’t reduced ticket prices either so we won’t be going again until it’s fixed as it was absolutely awful sitting in the dark in a roasting hot cinema and we won’t make that mistake again.

I find if you arrive late such that the lights are dimmed just stand near the door for 10-20 seconds and your eyes adjust and it’s very easy to find your way around. The screens and projectors are ridiculously bright so light up the room fine once your eyes adjust. Most cinemas seem to have illuminated row and seat numbers too

When did you last go to the cinema OP? The 1950s?

They dont sell albatrosses in the interval either

As a student I worked at the Odeon in the early 2000's. We used to escort people to their seats for big blockbusters like Bond or Lord of the Ring on opening weekends. I used to love my torch.

Yes poster I realise that there are no usherettes selling ice cream. It's however potentially dangerous to enter a cinema in the dark.

You might want to miss the adverts out.

"They don't have the person who plays the piano during the film any more either. It's all talkies now."

NotDavidTennant thanks for making me properly chuckle with this comment. I also had visions of some Arthur Askey-esque Saturday morning cinema show with lots of loud shushing at the rowdy kids and torch-lights being shone on the amorous couples.

Sorry OP I know you're discussing it as a safety issue but it did conjur up a bygone era to me and many on this thread it seems 😁

Your right on that one no air-conditioning but they were giving away free water in the heatwave.

I haven't been shown to my seat in a cinema for decades op. The idea is you turn up before the lights go out.

It happened in the 1970s and further back. I guess the OP hasn’t been to the cinema for a while.