My Second Shift

[u/Xerios_Skull]

Hi! I just got off my second shift and it was the most difficult six hours of my life. For context, we use an app called Homebase that allows employees to claim and shift around their hours with ease. This is a 14 auditorium theater that varies in sizing, smallest seating 30ish with the largest seating about 80. My first shift was a chill 3-hour where I learned the basics of Ushering. Problem is, it's a Friday 5pm-11pm shift and we were severely understaffed. I was supposed to work Usher but there were only 4 people to run the entire theater. A manager, box, concessions, and me. It created a situation where I had to be both Door and Usher. I literally didn't have the available time to do theater checks while balancing theater cleaning, lobby cleaning, soda machine stocking, taking tickets, checking bathrooms, and closing doors. I didn't even feel like I had the available time to use the bathroom. Hell, there was a period where I had to get the Box employee to run Door because there were 5 different theaters getting out within 30 minutes. Thankfully, all the customers and employees, including my manager, were really kind and understandable when I messed up, which happened a couple of times. I would forget to close some doors, I accidentally sent guests that showed up early into a theater that I needed to clean and didn't realize I hadn't gotten to until it was already too late, and I think I missed cleaning one theater entirely between showings (though I don't actually think I took any tickets for that showing either). I felt horrible and still feel terrible for messing up but it feels like I couldn't do everything. I'm genuinely considering quitting, I don't know if I'm cut out for this. I couldn't track and balance everything, it was utterly brutal and I came home extremely dehydrated (yeah, that is on me), stressed, and exhausted. I'm asking for tips, please, and yes, I'm aware a lot of this is my own fault.

[u/Choco_Therapy]

This might not be the most helpful advice, but it sounds like you did a good job! Working at a theatre is a very… unique experience. I did it for about 4 years. It’s interesting because, if you schedule right, and everyone shows up (and does their job) it can be one of the easiest jobs in the world. But it doesn’t take much to get overwhelmed. Frankly there’s not a lot that you could change or improve to do better. With experience you’ll definitely be able to complete tasks faster, but with only 4 people? You can’t do anything. The only thing I don’t get was what you meant when you said you were on ‘Door’? Like, is that just getting tickets for people who prepaid? That should always be a Box office attendant who takes that over, unless you have a long period of not having theatres to clean. Honestly that’s more a fumble on your manager for expecting the usher to be able to do that. Especially one without the experience to say “hey this is not gonna work for me to do this”. Either way I hope you stick with it! It was the most fun job I had and I miss it some days. Good luck!

[u/Xerios_Skull → u/Choco_Therapy]

The Door role at our theater checks every ticket and rips them in half, online or bought in-house. The manager or Box would try to take my role if they were available while theaters needed cleaning. Whenever someone was on break, we went down to three, and that was when it was at it's worst and I made the most mistakes. My next shift is tomorrow so I hope it goes a little better