Work at the Great AMC

[GeeksUtopia]

Now people had their stabs at GameStop for a while, about how their trade ins suck, their treatment of their customers are poor, but now lets put AMC (American Movie Cinema) on the chopping block.

So as an employee that has been working for this company over a year now, feel free to ask me any question about the following: Management, Supervisors, the stubs promotion, pricing, employee benefits, and the logic behind what to do with budget cuts

 

[dyre]

Not sure if the same applies for AMC, but at Lowes, those guys always ask for my ID, which makes it difficult for me to take my brother to rated R films that he wants to see (because I'm 20, not 21). Why're you ticket booth people such sticklers about it? It's not like you'll ever get caught.

 

[Berithil]

The local theater here in town is great. They're not extremely rigid on the rules (the manager let my brother, who was a month away from 17 at the time, buy a ticket for horrible bosses because he was "close enough"). It's pretty easy to get tickets for someone who's below 17.

That said, my brother and I went to Washington to stay with some friends this weekend. There were four of us who were going to go see Paranormal Activity together. Only two of us were 17+. First off, the people there were pretty snotty. Also, it turns out that this theater not only has a policy for a 21+ year old to accompany an underaged kid to the box office, but they also had to stay for the whole movie. On top of that, there was a security guard outside the auditorium carding everyone who went into the movie. So, obviously, the two younger ones weren't able to see the movie, even though our friends mom came and said it was alright (she wouldn't of been able to stay).

Now, I'm not sure if this is the norm, and I'm just lucky to have a really cool theater locally, but this is the first time I've come across a movie theater that had such rigid measures in place.

 

[White Lightning]

Why is your Popcorn and stuff so goddamn expensive? it's like $20 for a Large Popcorn and a Large Drink. It's not even that good either, sure it's large but geez $20? What the hell? I could buy dinner for that much.

 

[GrimTuesday]

The local theater here in town is great. They're not extremely rigid on the rules (the manager let my brother, who was a month away from 17 at the time, buy a ticket for horrible bosses because he was "close enough"). It's pretty easy to get tickets for someone who's below 17.

That said, my brother and I went to Washington to stay with some friends this weekend. There were four of us who were going to go see Paranormal Activity together. Only two of us were 17+. First off, the people there were pretty snotty. Also, it turns out that this theater not only has a policy for a 21+ year old to accompany an underaged kid to the box office, but they also had to stay for the whole movie. On top of that, there was a security guard outside the auditorium carding everyone who went into the movie. So, obviously, the two younger ones weren't able to see the movie, even though our friends mom came and said it was alright (she wouldn't of been able to stay).

Now, I'm not sure if this is the norm, and I'm just lucky to have a really cool theater locally, but this is the first time I've come across a movie theater that had such rigid measures in place.

Where was this theater you went to in Washington? I've never ran into that sort of shit except for when it was a really popular movie right after it had first come out (The only time I've seen stuff like that was the week Jackass 2 came out).

 

[Savo]

Do you get free movies, and if so, how many?

 

[Gatx]

Do you actually care about theater hoppers?

Not sure if the same applies for AMC, but at Lowes, those guys always ask for my ID, which makes it difficult for me to take my brother to rated R films that he wants to see (because I'm 20, not 21). Why're you ticket booth people such sticklers about it? It's not like you'll ever get caught.

I had to read that again because Lowes is a hardware store chain where I live.

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Why is your Popcorn and stuff so goddamn expensive? it's like $20 for a Large Popcorn and a Large Drink. It's not even that good either, sure it's large but geez $20? What the hell? I could buy dinner for that much.

The reason for the high prices, is cause the concession stand items pretty much pay for the entire theater. From the workers, to the plumbing, to the electricity. Also we raise the prices cause we have to make up for the people that keep sneaking in food.

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Do you get free movies, and if so, how many?

You get immediate family tickets plus one or two extra tickets for friends

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Not sure if the same applies for AMC, but at Lowes, those guys always ask for my ID, which makes it difficult for me to take my brother to rated R films that he wants to see (because I'm 20, not 21). Why're you ticket booth people such sticklers about it? It's not like you'll ever get caught.

Reason why is cause the police officers are always on lookout and if they find one, the booth people get the heat and possibly loose their jobs.

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Also another problem with working at AMC is that the majority of theaters in my area is basically run by children, most of which abuse their positions. Not only that but just recently the AMC corporation decided it was a good idea to cut the comission (basically the only form of tips) from the employees.

 

[dyre]

Not sure if the same applies for AMC, but at Lowes, those guys always ask for my ID, which makes it difficult for me to take my brother to rated R films that he wants to see (because I'm 20, not 21). Why're you ticket booth people such sticklers about it? It's not like you'll ever get caught.

Reason why is cause the police officers are always on lookout and if they find one, the booth people get the heat and possibly loose their jobs.

Police officers actually waste their time trying to find people watching R movies?! Ugh, why do these cops have so much free time...

 

[black lincon]

Not sure if the same applies for AMC, but at Lowes, those guys always ask for my ID, which makes it difficult for me to take my brother to rated R films that he wants to see (because I'm 20, not 21). Why're you ticket booth people such sticklers about it? It's not like you'll ever get caught.

Reason why is cause the police officers are always on lookout and if they find one, the booth people get the heat and possibly loose their jobs.

Police officers actually waste their time trying to find people watching R movies?! Ugh, why do these cops have so much free time...

I'm actually curious about that as well, I worked at 3 different AMC's in the chicagoland area, one of which actually had police officers there all the time, it had a bar, and I've never seen the police do that, mostly because it isn't against the law. AMC does have people who's job it is to ensure that the people in the box office are IDing, they're called mystery shoppers and they do other stuff besides that but it's one of their jobs, and they are often underage but the cops don't have anything to do with it.

 

[Lionsfan]

Man people take movie rules seriously where you guys are. Once I was driving myself around I never got carded for an R-rated film. And police checking people' id's? Is that even legal? Is there even a law against it?

 

[Dags90]

I had to read that again because Lowes is a hardware store chain where I live.

snip

It's an understandable spelling error. Loews is/was a national movie theater franchise which was bought out by AMC a few years ago. The theater closest to me is now branded as an "AMC Loews" theater.

Man people take movie rules seriously where you guys are. Once I was driving myself around I never got carded for an R-rated film. And police checking people' id's? Is that even legal? Is there even a law against it?

Eh, they don't want to lose their jobs. My friend and I got carded for seeing Magic Mike, which I thought was pretty weird seeing as I was 22 at the time. At the same theater, my brother broke in to watch a free movie (like, ripped a door open) and they didn't call the cops when they caught him.

I was pretty surprised how quickly they'd give a cash refund though.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I really like my local AMC Lowes... The rules are pretty lax.

The popcorn and soda prices are insane though. I was okay with paying 10 dollars for a combo, thats really were theaters get their money from and my theater is right next door to a grocery store and more than one time I'd just walk in with a plastic bag filled was goodies but every now and then one MUST have real movie theater popcorn.

But now they're charging like 13.50 for the same combo. WTF? It was over priced at 10!

Also I really miss the free version of the AMC Movie Watcher program. I can't believe they got rid of that and replaced it with one you have to pay for.

 

[GeeksUtopia]

I really like my local AMC Lowes... The rules are pretty lax.

The popcorn and soda prices are insane though. I was okay with paying 10 dollars for a combo, thats really were theaters get their money from and my theater is right next door to a grocery store and more than one time I'd just walk in with a plastic bag filled was goodies but every now and then one MUST have real movie theater popcorn.

But now they're charging like 13.50 for the same combo. WTF? It was over priced at 10!

Also I really miss the free version of the AMC Movie Watcher program. I can't believe they got rid of that and replaced it with one you have to pay for.

Yeah they x'ed the movie watcher so they can bring in a new form of movie watcher benefits cards (stubs) to make an extra buck. Which they offered commission to the employees then they took that away, and the employee benefit of having free movie posters

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Now when you say AMC? Do you mean the thingy that casts The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad?

(Aussie here)

nah it's a movie theater here in the United States