Aggravation at the Movies

I just hate being aggravated by the service industry. I went to the movies on Saturday evening at 6:55pm to see Knowing. I have a frequent movie goer card that gets me discount concession items and if a movie has been out for two weeks or more I can see it anytime of the day for $5.50. That is one of my favorite parts about the movie theatre beyond that they are new and the seats are very comfortable and cushy. After waiting in line for five minutes I reach the employee at the theatre and give him the name of the movie I wanted to see, then I give him my frequent movie goer card. He just looks at me and I hand him my trusty debit card. He swiped and then handed me back my card without speaking. Upon review of my receipt I realized that he charged me the full price of the tickets, $9.00. I looked at the employee and inquired if I was to receive my frequent movie goer discount, he was like "I guess". He said he was going to void the initial transaction and re-run my card for the correct amount.

Meanwhile the next customer in line was getting very impatient. He was standing two inches from me, taping his foot and being very antsy. He didn't realize I was not going to leave until the money problem was resolved. I don't care that he was impatient but I just wanted him to respect my personal space.

This morning I checked my bank account and I realized that the employee never voided the original transaction. I had been charged $9 and $5.50, I was immediately furious that I had to deal with this problem over such a little amount. But I know myself and I know that it would eat at me until I resolved the problem. I could not let it go. I knew I needed to call them and get the credit due to me.

I used the Live Search feature on my phone to locate the phone number. I called and the number didn't work. I then looked online at the yahoo movies website and I dialed the number listed and it was no longer in service. I then tried the yahoo yellow pages and that number didn't work either. I was like WTF, why is it so difficult to get their stupid phone number. I finally found it after ten minutes of searching on the yellowpages.com website.

When I called I was immediately connected with the manager and I explained to him my problem. He took about fifteen minutes looking up the information to confirm the two charges. Then I still cannot believe what he told me...wait for it. I NEEDED TO COME TO THE MOVIE THEATRE SO THEY COULD PROCESS ME MY CREDIT! I was flabbergasted. I had already wasted about thirty minutes trying to resolve a $9 problem. Now I needed to take more time and go to the theatre. This was not the customer service experience I bargained for.

I was able to stop by the theatre tonight and it only took me about fifteen minutes to get the problem resolved. This means that I spend a total of forth-five minutes on this task. The manager in training was perfectly nice but I was still annoyed at the extra aggravation. I guess upon future visits to this theatre I am going to have to be extra anal to make sure the charge me the correct amount up front.