From when I was 16 until I was 18, I worked at a movie theater. I did just about everything. I tore tickets, sold tickets, cleaned theaters, worked behind the concession counter, ran the projectors, and even became an assistant manager. I earned minimum wage almost the entire time I worked there, but I didn’t care. The job was a blast.
The job came with several perks. The most important one of course was free movies. We also could drink as much soda and eat as much popcorn as we wanted. No free or discounted candy though. Although many times when we cleaned a theater after a showing we would amazingly find unopened candy boxes. I remember thinking that Starburst was an especially awesome find because even if the bag was opened, each candy was individually wrapped and was thus acceptable for consumption. I know, we were gross.
During my two and a half year employment, I collected a sizeable amount of what most people would call junk. Indeed, looking at it now I too consider most of it junk, but I’m a pack rat and I can’t bear to part with it because “I might need it one day.” Unfortunately my large collection has been whittled down to about a box’s worth of trinkets. I lost several posters and promo kits after a pipe in my parents’ basement burst. I wore through most of the t-shirts and hats long ago. I was forced to throw away a ton of movie trailers during a move. There are other items I know I still have but I just can’t seem to find them. These include several movie trailers, some Star Wars Pepsi cups, and even a reel from the movie Rush Hour.
One of the things I did get a lot of were buttons. I used to think the buttons were cool, but after pulling them out of the box it seems that most of them were from crap movies. I mean, how many people have seen Star Kid. How many people have even heard of Star Kid? I barely remember it myself. For myself and my fellow movie theater employees, these buttons served as a sort of “badge of honor.” We would collect the buttons and wear them on our vest as a sort of indicator as to how long each of us had been working there. For example, a Titanic button was better than an Armageddon button because Titanic came out first and thus made the wearer cooler. We would continue to wear the buttons long after the movie had stopped playing at the theater. Man, were we a bunch of retards or what?
I used to have stacks and stacks of these things. The theater would get shipped about five or six trailers for each movie. When the trailers were no longer being shown I was always sure to snatch a few for my collection. Unfortunately most of the trailers for the good movies disappeared quick, but I managed to get a few decent ones. A few people I worked with were lucky enough to snag a few of the Star Wars Episode I trailers. Sure the movie sucked, but they make nice collectors items.
