Boycott the Sevenplex Theatre

A friend and I (Brian Kessler) went earlier this evening to enjoy a lazy Monday night at the movies. As a resident of Union and wishing to see Message in a Bottle, The Union Sevenplex Theatres seemed a logical choice for our viewing pleasures. We arrived in time for the 9:30 showing and it seemed we were going to be privileged with a private screening. Well, we were, only it was not necessarily a privilege. Someone had the bright idea of economizing by turning the heat off, never mind the two paying customers in the back of the theatre. When my friend went to inform one of the workers during the first quarter of the movie that we were freezing, the manager was notified. However, after she came back, the heat never came on and instead the temperature dropped even further.

This however, was not the only problem. About an hour before the movie ended, someone in the sound room thought to enjoy themselves listening to what seemed to be a radio. Having learned the effectiveness of complaining and not wishing to miss any of the movie, we sat silent for the remaining hour until the credits.

I wish I could say the problems ended at this point, but the worst grievance was yet to come. After leaving the theatre, I politely asked a worker if I could speak with the manager. She phoned him and I waited. In a fairly short amount of time, a man claiming to be the manager showed up. He tried to assure me the noise was "bleed through" from another showing. I am not convinced of this, but the point is, I shouldn't have heard the noise. Righteously rejecting his excuse, I asked how he might wish to make amends in order to appease us and keep us coming back as paying customers. The manager made the reasonable offer that he could give me a free pass, to which I suggested two free passes was the least he could do, considering there were two of us. Picking up on the word least, he asked me what more he could do. I replied, "Well, you tell me, being as you run this place."

Around this time, (this is where the third and most heinous grievance comes in) a man I can only surmise was the owner thought to interrupt our conversation. He asked what the problem was and I explained it. His reply was that none of the other customers thought to complain. When we told him there were no other customers, he then told us if that was the case he would be fining the manager, he withdrew the manager's offer of passes, and in hostile and abusive terms he told us that if we didn't like the place, we didn't have to return there.

I'd like your readers to know what sort of man they are enriching when they frequent his establishment and decide for themselves whether they wouldn't prefer to find an establishment that cares for it's customers. What ever happened to service with a smile?