It depends on how long you have worked here. I can do anything except booth, which means going upstairs to do the movies. But when I come in to work I get assigned to a specific job.

When you first begin here, you work as an usher because you don’t deal with the money. The usher rips the tickets. Then they move you to concessions. And then you move to the box office where you take the money.

I learned working with money because before I didn’t know there were different ways of counting it back and I was a little scared. Now I can do it.

I have learned how to deal with people. There are a lot of nice people and you have regulars. Then there are difficult people and no matter what you do, they are going to give you a hard time and you just have to deal with it.

I have learned a lot about how to clean and I’ve learned common sense. Sometimes people puke in the theater and out here and you have to deal with that. I’ve learned how to make sure the theater is clean.

You have to stay on your toes because a lot of things can go wrong. Sometimes the crane machine breaks, it takes a person’s dollar so you can’t say no, I can’t give your money back. And also the hockey machine — the puck can get stuck and you need to know how to fix that, how to take a screwdriver and open it up. You also have to clean the bathrooms and do theater checks.

We do have problems, usually on Friday and Saturdays. Sometimes you have to baby-sit a movie where one of us has to go in and make sure everyone is quiet and seated.

The popular movies with teens, that can be a problem with cell phones and kids texting each other. You have to give them a few warnings and if you have a problem, you get a manager.

I like it all. It’s a nice first job. It’s harder than it looks but I like the hours and the people are really, really nice.

mardijo@chartermi.net | 775-NEWS (6397)