I arrived for my first Farce theater check. You go to the guest services, speak with manager, get the amount of prints and any other info you can. Then you wait for the movie to start for the previews. If there is 3 prints, check 5 show times to ensure you see all 3 prints. It takes about 1.5 hours with the report taking mere minutes. It is a very easy $20

I am at the 7:30 pm showing which is my 4th check when this female with a clipboard comes in. We chat it up real quick. She tells me which company sent her. She then asks if I could please share with her my results so she doesn't have to waste her time. Excuse me however that is against regs and I already have been there since 6 pm which translates to my time wasted. You take an assignment, please do not take the easy way out. I will help where I can however I am not going to lie for ya!

I am a bit peeved that I would be even asked that and then given a 'tude for not complying.

btw has anyone heard of T E S?

Good for you gypsy. She must have learned at an early age that she doesn't have to actually do the work if you can find a short cut.

Give her the wrong info because if she does not want to waste her time. The wrong info would send the right message to "her" MSC because her notes would be off and she would not get paid. BTW, was she talking about -->veriTES?

You, GM, are lucky the "Harry Potter craze has died, but you may get caught up in the "Hunger gameS" Phase, where they are showing on 12 auditoriums back to back, and you need to be at each one. Go figure

@sojo917, it is not how many auditoriums there are but how many copies of the tape. For 12 I would say 3-4 copies. You just need to figure how to watch one copy and in what auditorium its is playing and then all other auditoria would be on a loop.

KateH Wrote:
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> @sojo917, it is not how many auditoriums there are
> but how many copies of the tape. For 12 I would
> say 3-4 copies. You just need to figure how to
> watch one copy and in what auditorium its is
> playing and then all other auditoria would be on a
> loop.

What tape? Movies are digital now, no more tape or film. Our local drive in just had to switch over to keep operating, I will admit the movies are sharper now.

I do not mean big wheels of film. I meant how many copies of each movie. The movie theater gets the version with the ads ready for each version and then shows them. So you just need to know how the rotation works.

gypsymonkey Wrote:
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> It takes about 1.5 hours
> with the report taking mere minutes. It is a very
> easy $20


$20.00 for 1.5 hours of work and then reporting time and travel time? That seems like low pay to me. And you don't even get a free movie, popcorn and drink!

She's probably the kind of idiot who would report that wrong information, and then when she is questioned by the MSC would say .. oh but that's what the other mystery shopper said they were.

I was told by a theater manager that the movies now come on a little memory stick. They simply stream it to the various theaters. Whether a movie is showing on 1 screen or 12, it's one memory stick. Again, this is from a theater manager but it seems like he was pretty knowledgeable. The ads come on one as well right from the vendor. They are coded for the audience (G, PG, PG-13, R, etc) and therefore the ads you see for one PG movie should be identical - the same ads in the same exact order with the same trivia questions, etc - in every PG showing at that theater. Interesting stuff. Memory sticks and streaming. Pretty soon we'll be able to stay home and watch on our 3-d helmets.

sethd85 Wrote:
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> She's probably the kind of idiot who would report
> that wrong information, and then when she is
> questioned by the MSC would say .. oh but that's
> what the other mystery shopper said they were.


We are MS'pers, how much of US are we really telling the other MSh'er we are running into on an assignment. The original waste timer has to report on her own facts, not someone else's. In questioned she says that is what the other shopper told me, then those are grounds for her own dismissal. An idiot will cause their own demise not someone else.

gypsymonkey Wrote:
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> I arrived for my first Farce theater check. You go
> to the guest services, speak with manager, get the
> amount of prints and any other info you can. Then
> you wait for the movie to start for the previews.
> If there is 3 prints, check 5 show times to ensure
> you see all 3 prints. It takes about 1.5 hours
> with the report taking mere minutes. It is a very
> easy $20
>
> I am at the 7:30 pm showing which is my 4th check
> when this female with a clipboard comes in. We
> chat it up real quick. She tells me which company
> sent her. She then asks if I could please share
> with her my results so she doesn't have to waste
> her time. Excuse me however that is against regs
> and I already have been there since 6 pm which
> translates to my time wasted. You take an
> assignment, please do not take the easy way out. I
> will help where I can however I am not going to
> lie for ya!
>
> I am a bit peeved that I would be even asked that
> and then given a 'tude for not complying.
>
> btw has anyone heard of T E S?

Good for you! Maybe you should have given her wrong info--TES follows up if they think something is wrong and have questions! (TES is now Verites. I have been working for them almost every week for 15 years.) I would not expect a competitor to help me and wouldn't even ask!

Sybil2 Wrote:
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> $20.00 for 1.5 hours of work and then reporting
> time and travel time? That seems like low pay to
> me. And you don't even get a free movie, popcorn
> and drink!

Sybil, it depends on your idea of what's "worth it". The atmosphere is so calming, the assignment is no big deal. Of course, I'm so close to my theater that my travel time is negligible--that is probably not true for most people. The theater I work at knows me very well and the staff likes me. No, you're not supposed to get anything else out of it, but.......

The trailers are still sometimes "built" by the theater staff, depending on the theater chain and movie. That chain has a list of the trailers for every showtime. Some prints have them already attached. One chain in my area has the movies come through their broadcast system, no prints or memory sticks. They have no idea what the trailers are. (Btw, James Cameron still uses film. He refuses to use digital. The theater was concerned about their equipment working when his latest movie came out. It's amazing to see those 3D reels! They are HUGE!)