Firstly:
The other day, my wife and I went to a movie. Tickets at that time, at that theater, were $6.50 a piece. This was before you could pay with a debit/credit card, so we made sure we had cash with us: $20.
After purchasing our tickets, we made our way to the concession stand with our $7 remaining in hand. After perusing the menu for a few moments, we made our decision.
"I'll have a large Coke, a small popcorn, and nachos."
The concession stand person got our snacks together, set it all on the counter and said, "That will be $8, please."
"$8?" I asked, rechecking the menu...
Large drink: $3
Small popcorn: $2
Nacho chips: $2
Total: $7
I explained this to the concession stand person, pointing to each item in turn. They nodded as I pointed to each item, and then pointed to the last item on the list and said:
"And a dollar for the cheese. See, right there. Nacho cheese $1."
So it turns out, nacho CHIPS were $2. Nacho CHEESE was a $1. Put it together, and you get $3 "nachos".
"Have you ever had anyone order just plain "nacho chips" with no cheese?"
"No," they admitted. "Not so far."
Secondly:
Another time, before the movie began, a young man in a purple blazer came down to the front of the theater and asked people to please step out with crying babies, and to make sure that all cell phone ringers were set to silent.
"Cool," I said to myself. Maybe we won't have a bunch of distractions.
About 20 minutes into the movie, a baby started crying a few rows in front of us. After a few moments, the lady got up and started up the aisle.
"Great," I thought, "very considerate of her."
Then the lady got to the top of the aisle, stopped, and watched the rest of the movie from there with her crying baby. Of course he only cried about, give or take, 37% of the time.
At about the halfway mark through the movie in a very quiet section I heard, "Hello...I'm watching a movie...the Hulk...it's okay...yeah...yeah...alright...uh huh...about another hour...okay...talk to you later."
At least he had his ringer off...
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Two Arguments for the Home Theater
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4 comments:
My first question for you, is did you go to the theater "the other day" or did you actually go a couple days ago? And what theater only charges $6.50 to get in?? Or can you get a large drink and a popcorn for $5?? The theaters I end up in would charge and arm and leg for the two tickets, drink and popcorn!!
JenP
Jen -
Once it is past yesterday, it's hard for me to differentiate. :) But you can probably guess by the price.
Just to play devil's advocate here:
Once upon a time (that would be "the other day" to Aaron) people got out of the house. They did things with other people. They socialized, they worshiped, they mingled and learned.
THEN, somewhere along the way, people started saying "you know, this getting out with other people thing is a hassle. I think I'll just stay home where I don't have to deal with people that I might not like."
THEN, as they stayed home, they discovered that they didn't have to worry about things like manners, politeness, social graces and courtesey.
APPARENTLY everyone else discovered pretty much the same thing, because now when these same people got out with other people they found them to be even more rude and abbrassive than before.
Public places (such as movie theaters) no longer had crowds of people and so they had to charge more for the few who ventured out into the cold world. So those few people said "Yikes! It cost too much! Maybe I should stay home too!"
AND SO, in the end, eveyone stayed home and everyone was happy. WELL, not really happy, but at least they didn't have to put up with other people. Although they couldn't remember why.
Not that I disagreed with anything you wrote.
ZeroMan -
Don't get me wrong...I love going to the movies. I just wish there weren't all those other people there...
:)
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