What a different experience!

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I wrote before about going to see a film with a friend. We went to a small independent cinema in town which has just two screens. I was worried about finding a place to park – I never drive into town but I was taking the friend – and getting there in time, so in the end we were early, but we were able to get a coffee from the friendly lady at the desk, sit in comfy seats and read the ‘What’s On’ newsletter and chat while we waited. And then we went in and watched all the trailers, which was quite a novelty as neither of us had been to the cinema in quite a while. A couple of the upcoming films looked good, and we enjoyed our outing so much we decided to do it again the following week. I looked at the listings to find where we could see a film called ‘The Penguin Letters’ which we both fancied, and this time the only place that was showing it in the morning was the big out-of-town cinema complex. So on the appointed day I picked her up again and we drove to the cinema. There was plenty of parking, but to qualify for free parking you have to enter your registration number into the machine once you get inside. So we went in, feeling happy that we were in good time – just comfortably early but not too early. The cinema is part of a larger complex containing restaurants, a bowling alley, indoor crazy golf etc. But when we got to the door the automatic doors didn’t open. Well it was only 9:45 am. We opened the normal doors and went inside. The lobby was deserted and all doors were closed. There are stairs and an escalator up to the next level, but the escalator wasn’t working. We went upstairs – again all doors were closed and the place was practically deserted. The cinema itself is on the top floor, up another flight of stairs or escalator. Again, the escalator wasn’t working, and at the top of the stairs was nothing but a huge metal shutter. The place was like an empty multi-storey car park. A couple of optimistic people were standing on the stairs. Everything was closed, there was no sign of any staff, nothing was working, there wasn’t even anywhere to sit down. It would be hard to make the place less welcoming. And of course we couldn’t register for the free parking within the allotted time. We waited, standing about at the bottom of the second flight of stairs. A few more people arrived in dribs and drabs. Some had come for the 10 am show; others for the 10:15 start. Then people started to arrive for the 10:30 showing. Still we were just standing there. One man tried calling the cinema phone line but of course he just got a robot that told him to look on the website. Eventually, a member of staff arrived and said they had a problem and couldn’t open the shutter so we would have to go up in the service lift. This sounded a bit dodgy to me, as if that stopped working as well we could end up trapped behind the metal shutters… anyway one load of people went up, and then they managed to get the shutter opened and we all went upstairs. First we had to queue for the parking machine, and then again to get tickets, and of course there was only one member of staff on the desk selling tickets, drinks, snacks etc. Even though there were only a few customers it took ages to get everything they wanted. Finally it was our turn; we said we wanted to see The Penguin Letters and asked if it had started – scheduled start was 10 am and it was now 10:35! The man said it had only just started and gave us tickets and without looking at them we rushed over to the little check-in desk where another staff member scanned our tickets and pointed us to screen 8. So in we rushed, and quickly took our seats. On the screen was a scene of a house in a rural setting with trees around and a few chickens – it could easily have been Argentina (where The Penguin Letters is set). But then a little girl ran out and a voice called ‘Lilo!’ Hmm, I thought perhaps they were still showing the trailers after all… but after a few minutes more we realised that no, this was the actual film – and it was the wrong one! I don’t know whether they misheard, or just assumed we must be wanting that because of the time, or were just flustered… whatever, by this time it was so late that we didn’t think we could change. We would have to go back down the corridor to the desk, explain the problem, and find out where we were supposed to be (the place has 12 screens so we couldn’t just run up and down looking into every one!) and we would have missed a good chunk of the story. So we stayed and watched ‘Lilo and Stitch’. As a morning’s entertainment it was actually not bad, but it wasn’t what we wanted – having read and heard about ‘The Penguin Letters’ we were looking forward to seeing that! When it was finished, my friend said ‘Let’s go and tell them we saw the wrong film’. I wasn’t sure about that – I thought they would say ‘Well why didn’t you leave at the start?’ and make a fuss – but no, as soon as we explained what had happened the man immediately said ‘Have some free tickets’ and without a murmur gave us two free tickets to any showing, valid for the next year. Maybe this sort of thing happens often. So I guess that was quite a good outcome, apart from the fact that the friend was only around for a couple of weeks, so we didn’t get another chance to see the film we wanted. At least her grandchildren now have a couple of free tickets to use! But as far as the whole cinema-going experience is concerned, I know which I would choose next time! 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