My brother, Matt, bought tickets on a Tuesday so that he and I could attend the Zeppelin Movie on a Friday at a big AMC Theater in NYC. He purchased them at the theater with a credit card to avoid online fees. On Friday, Matt and I met early for dinner, and then we went to the theater, and waited on line to get in. The ticket attendant directed us to the proper floor and with that information, we went downstairs where we presented our tickets to another attendant. We got our popcorn, sat down and waited through twenty minutes of previews for the Zep movie to start. 

But it was another movie that started; not the Zep movie. Thinking we were in the wrong theater, we gathered our stuff (in the pitch dark) and went next door where we sat down only to be greeted by Snow White. 

Since hardly anyone was watching Snow White, we left our coats and ran out to ask the attendant where the Zep movie was, and she didn’t know. She called another guy who looked sheepishly down to the ground and said “Yeah, there was a problem with that movie and we canceled it. I can give you your money back if you follow me.” But first we had to fetch our stuff, and when we came out, the guy was gone. 

After he refunded Matt’s credit card, Matt told him he was very unhappy and would like some vouchers or something for the wasted time. But the attendant said he couldn’t give Matt any vouchers. Nor could he give him a free popcorn or soda. He kept looking down at the ground, and sort of smiling to himself, which made Matt angry enough to ask for the manager. 

The manager came over looking exactly like Pippy Longstocking only without the freckles. She must have been about twenty-five at most. And she seemed to be multi-tasking too many things at once. After some arguing back and forth she started apologizing and said, “I will give you two free vouchers to come back whenever you want.” She then insisted Matt buy tickets online through an AMC account so that they could have his email and notify him of cancellations. 

In all our years going to theaters in NYC, we had never heard of a movie being canceled and another movie being shown in its place. Besides, why didn’t the ticket checkers inform us it was canceled when they were seating us?

“With AI this would never happen,” Matt vented as we left the theater adding, “Really young people trying to manage these big theaters don’t seem to know what they’re doing. It’s now a gamble to know what movie is really showing at any particular time. The world has certainly changed.”

I say to Matt, move Upstate, NY and enjoy our old-fashioned Callicoon Movie Theater where you can still buy tickets at the box office even for cash the night of the showing.

RAMONA JAN is the Founder and Director of Yarnslingers, a storytelling group that tells tales both fantastic and true. She is also the roving historian for Callicoon, NY and is often seen giving tours around town. You can email her at callicoonwalkingtours@gmail.com.